Evening journal., 1915-11-11

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22.-Never has a
national administration doubled on itself
with quite the speed and agility Of that
now ensconced in the White House.
The grim determination with which Mr..
Wilson grasps an issue and VOWS to jam
II through Congress is equallod only by
the ease with which he lets it 90 when
he finds IL worthless. Thus two years
ago, when the newspaper correspondents
were proving themselves useful in put
ting out feelcrs for the White House,
the President declared himself warmly
in favor Of presidential primary legisla-
tion. He was not quite clear whether
this was practicable or not, but with his
usual optimism he confidently announced
that the issue would be pressed. In
-stantly a howl went up all over the
country, n vigorous protest that the adj
ministration should contemplate impos-
ing by Federal legislation new system
which would bring nothing but confusion
TO the States. II was shown that years
might elapsc before any such system
could be instituted, that State constitu-
tions must be changed and that even the
course of the seasons must be reversed
in some States. if Congress were to de-
wise workable plan The cuckoos at
the Capitol saw chance TO bask in the
Presidential sunlight and began draft
ing bills and giving out interviews. But
Mr.. Wilson is gentleman who after
awhile is able TO see through a hole in a
ladder, and after pc had shot his vision
between the rungs, Senator Pomerono.
of Ohio, to whom the President had re-
ferred the question, came along with a
tersc but authoritative legal opinion
which left nothing of the issue. and Mr..
Wilson has not peeped on the Presiden-
tial primary question since.
Reversal on Gardner's Issue.
The most notorious reversal of the
administration has been upon the sub
iect OF national defense. The redoubt-
able Augustus p. Gardner, of Massachu-
sets, broke loose upon this issue a cou-
pie of years ago and bluntly informed
the country that foreign enemy could
sail across the Atlantic and walk AM
over the United States practically um-
challenged, because of our military un-
A specific suggestion of
Captain Gardner was put up to the
White House and the President replied
that national defence was an academic |
question which he had heard discussed /
ever since ne was ten years old Gard /
ner's agitation, he intimated, afforded
good mental-exercise, and he added in .
about so many words that some people ,
might as well discuss the question of
national defence as anything else. To-
day Captain Gardner is recognized to
have been right, even by President /
Wilson. The country, shocked by the
invasion Of Belgium and wrought up by
the killing of helpless non -combatantsI I
on the high seas. is demanding a much
larger army and navy and the admins /
tration is putting out another line of
feelers, some of them so exaggerated as
to shock even the warmest advocates
Of preparedness. The President has
committed himself in black and white to
an adequate" military program: and
the country Knows perfectly. wen chat 81
adequate defence is TO be provided IL
can be secured only at an expense ofl
hundreds of millions of dollars.
Back-Tracking on Sugar Duties
President Wilson stubbornly pressed /
for removal Of all duties on sugar
when the Underwood Simmons tariff
bill was in process. No one but the
President apparently wanted free sugar
and most of the Democrats in Congress
realized that the loss of more than fifty
millions in revenue annually through