Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-05-07

many--especialiy the little sticklers
for consistency-have been greatly
troubled by WOODROW Wilson'S treat
ment Of the party platform. This
trait, and that other significant d
of absolute s~elf-assurance, Nj. Mao
Farlane interprsts strikingly. OF the
presidents attitude toward the Balti-
more platform be says.
He has proven himself the greatest
abso1utist in our history. He has
trampled upon presidents. He has
broken with tradition. He has reyiv-
ed dead practices. He has instituted
a new order, He has wiped out Penn
sylvania Avenue. He has made the
capitol a wing OF the white house. IN
him are the seats of power-in him
the resolutions OF party difference-
in him are policies framed and III
him is legislation enacted. Congress
sional committees do a little winnow-
ing. and congress holds a ratification
meeting once IN a while--that is their
function. Meanwhile the country ap.
plauds. Even congress, up till the
tolls trouble, has leaped through the
hoops with precision II not with
grace. In the earlier article I wrote:
aHe has the most u%ndaunted faith
in the results OF his own mental pro
ceases. Els personal u have
apparently noteven4 been taxed-nc
man knows whether the bottom Of
them lies just under his present keel
Of fathoms deeper. and in this con
nection spoke OF "the spell of the
cocksureness OF Woodrow Wilson.
For a year the spell OF that cock.
sureness has been upon the nation,
and vet, when he was reading his
tolls message, 1t appeared to depart.
AT first he seemed to have all his old
accomplished ease of bearing. He
stepped lightly to the reading-desk,
affable smiles wrinkling his features
as he reached up and shook hands
with the speaker and the yice.presi
dent, then turned to face the IRON,
and paused. His hair had grayed
perceptibly since the first time he had
stood there, and deeper shadows were
chisled in his cheeks; but his voice
as he began to read. n would have
said, was entirely unchanged; there
was not break nor a hesitant word
yet toward the end a strange not,
entered note OF pleading that wa
almost patlos, noticeable particular,
as he said: e ask this of you in sup
port Of the foreign policy Of the ad
ministration.n
THE foreign policy OF fhe admins
trationln What a sad thing at tili
moment to many appears the foreigl
policy Of the Observation-Disclosures
ling before NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. befor,
Observation-Disclosures in front OF Mexico
| say appears, for sc for it is only az
pearance--a single ray of sunligh
may lift the shadow OF doubt and win
dictate that policy triumphantly; bu
for the moment it lies under gray
suspicion in many minds.
Yes, / am sure that the cock-sure
ness "a wanting at that Tlomen
when the man stood Just beneath TIL
speaker and the vice president an,
talked out over the heads of senator
and Representatives to their master
and his. the people.
But why should the spell break
Was 1t because OF fear-because Q
something awesome to his soul i
those secrets of the state department
which are guarded so jealousy froI
the ken of congress? Or was it ratl
er because Woodrow Wilson is pecr
liarly a peoples president, who, a
he frankly says, derives all his powe
from a correct Interpretation Of tn
popular wish, and was he not now, TO
the first time, going into action with
out his commons at his back?
b mind of b people 2 the toll
repeal is In part favorable, in par
confused. and in part q respectful
withholding of Judgment. Did tn
president know it, and was his sell
confidence therefore gone? can no
pretend to know, but it seemed tina
the humility of his language was TIL
humility of his heart, q correspond
ence, by the way, not always to b
observed in his utterances.
His sudden and b%ewildering change
Of policy then come In for treatmen
in these paragraphs:
In his campaign he was for FREE
tolls for our coastwise ships; in ofic'
he urges their repeal. He tells Ger
tain ladies that he can not furthe
even slightly the cause OF equal sui
frage because the platform is silen
upon III! Yet within q few week
backward or forward Of that possibl,
d-isingenuous utterance he recon
mends presidential primaries, upol