Life — February 7, 1918 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

'T was once said in this paper that Mr. Wilson was out to beat the rich. And in a way he was, and doubtless always is. But in these times of sore trial and vast disturbance his aims have had to be enlarged, until nowadays he seems to be out to beat nothing less than the Devil. If, incidentally, he has to beat the Germans, it is only a detail, and beating the rich, so far as is neces- sary, is just another. There are lots of people, lots of them in all the allied countries, who would be entirely satisfied just to beat the Germans. They want to win the war, and would let it go at that. They do not insist on beating the Devil; do not object to him in all particulars, and would think twice before approving a proposal to bind him for a thousand years. They are conservatives. They liked pretty well the old life and the old way of doing things, and in so far as it was the Devil's way, they have patience with that. These people in all the countries are the backbone of the great Carnal party. They are strong here, strong in Britain, and very strong indeed in Germany. In all countries they want to win the war, and they are effi- cient and indispensable fighting people, so that whichever side is to win must have their help, But of course Mr. Wilson is not a Carnal. On the contrary, he has been the leader of the Celestials in these States for nearly five years, and is now, apparently, by force of character and circumstances the world-leader of all Celestials. And his aim, as said, is to beat the Devil. In so far as he can beat him without beating the Germans he would doubtless be willing to let the Germans off. He will not stand in with him to beat anybody, presenting in that respect an attitude in edifying contrast to that of the Prussian war-lords, who are so evidently disposed to accord to the Adversary anything he feels to be his due, provided his assistance helps them out. It is this alliance between the Devil and the Prussians that rivets Mr. Wilson to the job of beating Ger- many. Dissolve the alliance, and there might be peace, but while it holds, there must be war, “Eh TPE*E * Beating the Devil And while there is war the Carnals must fight in it as well as the Celestials, and therein lies the difficulty of Mr. Wilson's position. He has to use the Carnals and their arts and weapons without losing his own grip.on the con- duct of the war. They are better at war than he is. They think nothing of his proficiency in that branch, and are constantly crying out that he is ‘ing a mess of it, and constantly in- sisting that he shall put them in full charge of the job, So he might if there was nothing to it except to beat the Germans. But he is out to beat the Devil, and the Car- nals, if they got their head, could not be trusted to carry out the whole of his program. So he practises to keep Celestials in charge. The Carnals may fight, they may organize, they may sweat and pay and work their heads off, but it is the Celestials that have the political power, and Mr. Wilson in- tends that they shall keep it. He puts none but Celestials in control, though some of them seem ill fitted for the duties he calls them to. The exasper- ated Carnals execrate him as a schem- ing politician. He is a politician, but he is a politician who is out to beat the Devil, and to do his share to re- organize the world so that it will be a better place for all kinds of people to live in, and he dots not want the job messed in the doing. e It tells in Rose Wilder Lane's life of Henry Ford how Henry, after vari- ous experiments in manufacture and “out THE way! I'M AR “OUT THE WAY YERSEL! mechanics, got the notion of making a democratic motor car that would go, and go well, and could be made in quantity and sold cheap. Henry worked a long time—ten or fifteen years—at that problem, and finally perfected a good engine and demonstrated its ca- pacity in road races. Then capital offered to take him over and put his engine into high-priced cars and make him abundantly rich. But Henry would never let the control of his machine get away from him. He hung on, scraped along, borrowed a little moncy here and there, started his factory, sold his prod- uct, and presently pulled off his huge success with the cheap, democratic mo- tor car, which has done more to change American life than any one modern thing you can think of. Just so Mr. Wilson hangs on through thick and thin to his purpose to beat the Devil and realize the Celestial democratic world ideal that is in the back of his head. He hangs on to the control of government just as Henry Ford did to control of his machine be- cause it was necessary to the realization of his purpose that he should retain it. He is confusion and a stumbling-block to the Carnals, Germans included, and always will be. They do not under- stand his purpose, and would like him no better if they did. They distrust his arts, despise his car and disparage his engine. But he is the hope of all the Celestials in the world, and seems the best hand in sight to do up the Adversary. ELS. M. MENT O° CAVALRY.” I'M A TANK.” —-