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240 2 The Heart of Wilson’s Problem in Europe as I Saw It. My Letter to Colonel House. As the end of the war approached, and the attention of the world began to turn toward the coming settlements, thoughtful men in all countries became anxious, even alarmed, over the sudden recrudesce of the old internal struggles and jealousies within the nations of Europe. How would Wilson’s program be effected? Would it be possible to secure a real democratic peace, or organize a genuinely effective League of Nations? I found myself deeply aroused upon this subject, and began to consider that almost everything turned upon how successfully Wilson could continue to lead the working classes in Europe—and indeed in America—who were, as I had become thoroughly convinced, his truest supporters. I knew well how little information reached the President regarding the organization and the real policy of this working-class opinion through the ordinary diplomatic channels, or penetrated the censorship exercised by all allied nations, especially Italy, and I was deeply concerned lest he fail from want of appreciation of the real power he could, if necessary , command. I knew also that as soon as he reached Europe he would be surrounded on all sides by the highest representatives of the triumphant Allied governments, some of the most interesting and delightful men and women in the world; he would be dined and wined; he would be shown, to arouse his indignation, the terrible devastation wrought by the Germans in northern France and in Belgium. In short, it would be difficult for him, as it had been all along forAmerican visitors—over and over again I had myself experienced it—to see anything whatsoever of the leaders of the great mass of the people, in all the nations, who really believed in him and were his true supporters. It was for this reason that I wrote my urgent letter of November first, address- The Heart of Wilson’s Problem in Europe | 241 ing it to Colonel House with the hope that it would be placed in the President’s hands as soon as he arrived. I made inquiries later, and I do not think the President ever saw it, although he had seen a number of my earlier letters in which I advanced, though less specifically, many of the same conclusions. I am presenting it here—with unimportant omissions to save space. . . . The new lines of the struggle every day more clearly present themselves—I mean the real struggle that is coming when we try to secure a truly democratic peace in return for our vast investment of blood and treasure. Internal differences of opinion in each nation have been sternly repressed in order that the war might be fought with a united front. Wilson has been accepted by elements which do not believe in him or in what he stands for. There were high and true words in his speech of September 27 which struck a chill to the very souls of the reactionary and imperialistic leaders of all the allied nations—including our own; and at the same time his re-affirmation of his principles has greatly heartened the liberal and socialist forces I have been seeing in all these countries. The Conservatives over here have never believed that he meant what he said, or, if he did, they expected he would compromise at the first shock. In America by now they know Wilson better, and we see clearly the reason for the bitter attacks now being made upon him by Roosevelt and Lodge—and by [Will] Hays, the Republican leader. They see the contest for what it really is—war to the knife upon absolutely fundamental principles of human life and human organization. Over here the conservative forces are just beginning to see clearly that in Wilson they have to deal with a stern, just man with such power as few men—as any man probably—ever had before in this world, and who really means to do what he says he will do. For the first time the new order has a leader of genius. . . . Now, the point I wish to make here is this—as I have made it before in these letters. The elements in all the allied nations which sincerely support Mr. Wilson and his program are the working classes and the socialists with a varied number of liberals, especially in England and Italy. I will not repeat...

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