CHAPTER X

THE BIG FOUR

I’m for that hard-hitting type of manhood which stands adamant for the _square deal and no surrender_ under all circumstances. It is one thing to wish for justice--quite another to stand up and _fight for it_.

Probably not one man in a thousand is geared with sufficient heart action to run counter to _a false public opinion_. It takes moral courage to do this, even on a small scale, whereas to ride a bucking broncho one needs physical prowess which is quite another kind of bravery. We’ve all known men who would fight their weight in wild cats but would run like a frightened rabbit at the sight of a pretty woman. To get up and _make a speech_ would have been out of the question for them.

I heard of a case where a fine, quiet fellow who had been elected as a delegate to a small county convention, was instructed to arise to his feet at the moment of a certain nomination and shout “I second the nomination!” Instead of following instructions _he fainted_. This so excited the delegate who was to “move that the nominations be closed” that he forgot his part, with the result that an opposition candidate was quickly proposed, carried the convention, and, in due course, _was elected_ by the vote of the people.

Men of the type of President Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, each distinctly different in personality, are about as scarce as hen’s teeth. There are just two such men in our hundred and odd millions today. They stand unique in the courage of their convictions, and their ability to reach _the boundary lines of public opinion over the world_. Lloyd George belongs in the same corral.

Speaking of President Wilson, one is amazed at his perspicuity. In procedure directly opposite from Roosevelt or Lloyd George, he has no counterpart either in pattern or turn of mind. Everything yields before him--he appears to be _indomitable._

The need of such a man at this hour is apparent. He asserts the rights of the nation as a whole in such a way that the individual trails in behind him without a quaver of fear or a compunction of conscience. The President seems to know the road and results bear testimony to the fact. In the shortest possible time he has mobilized the greatest nation in the world to a war basis of such magnitude that its martial tread _extends around the world_. This being the first globe-girdling war in all history, who can say that any other man would have done better--_or even so well_?

Fortunately, this country has another man who, in the absence of our present leader, could have stirred the American nation into action in behalf of its own security. Hardly need it be said that this man is _Theodore Roosevelt_. His distinguished services in the past would have proclaimed him the leader in such a vast enterprise _had the emergency existed_. Taking things as they are, his influence has been of tremendous importance in effecting _a united effort_. His willingness to go to the front himself at the head of a Volunteer Division had its own weight in determining the whole nation that _the battle was ours_ as well as for those more adjacent to the fighting zone. But, to start with at least, this is a young man’s war, and the four sons of Roosevelt that went to the front constitute an ample offering from this great man at this stage of affairs.

If Lloyd George were a citizen of these United States, I’d give him a seat beside the President on the score of _bull-dog tenacity_. And I’d give him a look in on Roosevelt for _brain activity_ and _physical courage_. And a seat between both of them for his ability to _scorch the hides of the recalcitrants_.

Three big men these--_Wilson_, _Roosevelt_, _Lloyd George_. They sit tight for what’s right. They stand exalted in the estimation of all right-thinking citizens of the world, and at this period of their lives are peerless in the beneficence of their influence upon mankind.

And now for the fourth man on my slate--stand forth _General Joffre_! Your initiative at the first battle of the Marne saved the world from disaster. You had _one chance in a hundred_ and--you saw and you took it. Your victory saved civilization a colossal setback. Had your beloved France been forced to surrender, the dream of the enemy would have been transformed into fact with Mad Moloch in the saddle for many a weary year.

_Here’s to the Big Four_--long may they live to witness the gratitude of all mankind!