The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-09-28
THURSDAY. SEPT. IS. 1911.
THE WILSON'S IN POLITICS

The candidacy of Woodrow Wilson
for the Democratic nomination for the
presidency serves to call attention to
another Wilson, who was also a Demo-
cratic leader i'll his day ana like the
present New Jersey executive. went
from the presidency of a university to
the political arena. William L. Will
son was president of the University OF
West Virginia when he was nominated
for congress by the Democrats OF his
district. He won his first election by
a majority of thirteen votes and for
fourteen years held his seat in the
lower branch of the national legisla-
ture.
In the last administration Of Presi-
dent Cleveland Wilson was made the
chairman of the ways and means
committee and as such he was large
~ responsible for the Wilson-Gorman
tariff bill. which among other things
included free wool and which was
passed in the senate by the aid Of a
North Dakota member elected by a
Republican legislature.
The disaster which followed the en-
actment of that law was the great
est the country had ever experienced
and swept the Democratic party from
power in the following election.
The remarkable similarity between
the two Wilson's is that one was and
the other is a statesman by the book.
William L. Wilson was eloquent and
scholarly just like his later namesake.
When he discussed free wool before
farmer audiences he was so scholarly
that he could make them believe it
was the salvation of the sheep raiser
to have competition with Australian
wool growers; when he talked free
coal every producer in his district ex-
cept Henry Gassaway Davis, a Demo-
crat. agreed with him; when he talk
ed free lumber the lumbermen ap-
plauded. He had the theory. He
had learned it in the text books of
the Golden club. He could reduce the
cost Of living by making everything
produced by labor compete with for
eign labor. Such. in a word, were
his theories. How like those of the
aspirant for the presidency who bears
the same name.
But party success changed William
l.. Wilson from a theorist to a prac-
titioner; from a critic to a construc-
zionist. He put his college theories
and Golden club logic into practice.
The result was that the mills and
mines were closed; farmers had no
markets; merchants had nc buyers,
and labor had no employment. The
cost of living was reduced to the low
est in half a century. for whole famf-
lies Of w%orkingmen were fed or soup
at charities. CoXey's army marched
on Washington demanding employ
ment and begging for bread. Iudus-
try was paralyzed and business was
suspended.
William L. Wilson died a few years
later of a broken heart yer the wreck
that his philosophy had wrought. The
application of his theories should
have swept the country with unparal-
leled prosperity: instead it brought
disaster and ruin. 1t was not the
fault Of Mr.. Wilson, for at heart he
was as honest as man could. be and
in public and private life above re-
proach His. training did not qualify
him to handle in a practical manner
the complicated and complex economic
problems OF a great nation. He could
not make the ideal practical and he
failed. to the unmeasured damage of
the people of the whole nation and
his own bitter disappointment.
Woodrow Wilson may have a more
practical view of public affairs than
the author of the Wilson-Gorman bill
but he has not shown it in his public
u%tterances and his public acts have
been too circumscribed to form the
basis of an Intelligent comparison. He
has tho sam temOera n1enf tho so~e