--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Lambourne, Alfred collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 1 published: 1919-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Lambourne, Alfred, "Visit of President Wilson," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 1 (November 1919): 52–54.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2301unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2301unse start_page: 52 end_page: 54 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2301unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Visit of President Wilson Visit of President Wilson The visit to our inter-mountain city by Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, is to be con- sidered absolutely apart from personal likes or political affiliations. It was a question of altruistic ideals as de- livered to the people by the chief executive of the na- tion. The President was in our midst; he became our guest to advocate a great cause; he was the bearer of a great message and that it might be truiy received by us, he passed from coast to coast of our broad and splen- did land. It was well that we acted the part of host in a manner befitting to the man who stands at the head of our nation and who bore to us a message fraught with such vast importance to the people of the earth. A Covenant, The League of Nations, A Hope for the Peace of the World that was the message. The Presi- — dent in his tour across the continent wished to place before the citizens of the United States the result; the crystalized deliberations of the Allied Powers at the Con- ference at Versailles. He wished to show the base upon which the pyramid of mutual understanding, the future welfare of the people of the world, is to be con- structed. Was not this a great message? Is it not one worthy our closest consideration? The Now is the crucial pe- riod of time. The acceptance or rejection of the Real Treaty, The League of Nations may affect for centuries of the future the conditions and progress of the human race. It was a most wonderful day of the beautiful sea- son when the Nation's* Chief Executive was with us. The clouds of the sky, the foliage of the earth, were radiant in the mellow light of the September sun; glory was spread over valley and height. It was a day that gave pleasure alike to the enthusiasm of youth, the strength of manhood and the wisdom of age. The thoughts of war, of savagery, of terror, or of desolation were far away. It seemed not possible to us, that "man's inhu- manity to man makes countless thousands mourn." It rilimilltllinilllllMllilillllinillllliiiliiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiii hiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiimiiiimmii,~ aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiim minium immmiiiimiiimiiiimimm mmi imiiii i mil iuiu'= seemed that the miseries of war-stricken Europe, must be only a dream, that such miseries to us would be im- possible- And yet! We know the past, who can speak in knowledge of the future! It is stated that the Tabernacle never before had such a throng as that which assembled there on the night of Tuesday, September 23, 1919. The holding ca- pacity of the huge structure was tested to the utmost. As a user of pure English, as a calm, simple, trenchant, dignified speaker, President Wilson is world-famous. But it was the message which concerns us most. Out of the past, yea, even out of the present, world agony is there to come, in The League of Nations, the long-wished-for dream, or is the hope but a chimera? Are the ideals of President Wilson but a dream of Utopia, impossible of fulfilment, at least in the present selfish condition of the human race? Were the Chief Executive's colleagues, Clemenceau, Lloyd-George, also mistaken? This we know, the selfishness of mankind has been shown, is being shown to the utmost. And yet, within the hearts of men there is also the desire, the longing for the higher, the more perfect hope. Shall we, or shall we not, trust the future of the race to The League of Na- tions? Our answer is, We shall. Alfred Lambourne hiiniiii imimmmmmiw miimiimiimmi iimiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmiiummmmmmii mmiiimiiiliiim f.imiiii ii mini —