Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-16
1ME TO RESTRAIN THE SPIRIT OF p~ARrIsANsHIP.

man who can be thoroughly and consistently non-partisan in
even though at times both mistaken and partisan. When,
the President championed the interests and rights OF
can leaders, including President Taft, forgot their partisan,
ship, and gave their fealty to the President of the United
States. In this the republican leaders thoroughly reflected
the sentiment of the great mass of the American people
regardless r1 Of political utilization or race or creed. us
When President Wilson in his message to Congress
championed national preparedness for the defence of our
beloved country. he struck a responsive chord in the nea ipt
ism in his closing paragraph in that document when ne
eve serve a great nation. We should serve it in the
spirit of its peculiar genius. 1t is the genius OF common
men for self government, Justice, liberty and peace. we
should see to it that it lacks no instrument, no facility or
vgor of law, to make it sufficient to play its part with en- IN
ergy, safety and assured success. In this we are no partl-
sans but heralds and prophets of a new age.
How it Jared on sensitive ears to hear the President of
the United States, who had thus appealed to American
patriotism, quoted as saying: The republicans have no
issue in the next campaign except the tariff and the democ-
;rresjs IS bl,e m 20 wnmc o Which, cannot be stopped W" Anyone
who tells you otherwise is talking through his hat
republican, Eamof leaders CONCERNING eSlcer the carrying out of his policy
of national defence. He expects them to lay aside partisan
S paTas al5h !taRjt the h nsSt i dS the fs h rinse s may again throw his
Our columns bear witness to our frequent tribute to the
good things done by Woodrow Wilson. We do not feel car
ed upon, therefore, to close our eyes or ears, when he for
gets himself, when he asks republicans to turn the other
We do not desire to discuss this incident from the per-
sonal point of view, but rather as an illustration of one of seri-
this nation in time of great peril. A President of the United
States cannot disassociate himself utterly from partisanship
To-Day, play m partisan tomorrow, ana tne Gay following
appeal again effectively to a united American people This
is especially true on the eve of a great national campaign in
volving the election Of a chief executive.
The need of leadership in non-partisanism in a great
national crisis like that now confronting the American peo-
pie is all the more marked in view of the tendency OF most
people to carry their party with them at all times.
Most of us are human enough to oppose, any measure
how the great Lincoln was constantly handicapped in his eff
forts to lead in saving the nation, by the occasional extreme
few rabid aboltionists who could not hold themselves while
slavery survived, did not support Lincoln in his efforts to
the other hand, Douglas, Lincoln's former opponent on the
stump in Illinois and his recent competitor for the presi-
dency, ~steadtasty and zealously supported him in that try
ing hour, as did a host of other patriotic democrats.
The immortal LINCOLN was a statesman and not a mill
visers occasionally handicapped his efforts to prosecute the
war to a triumphant close. In these days when we are wit
with the European war, it is worth while for us to recall the
charge that partisan politics figured in our Civil War:
some valuable victories in the early days of the conflict; he
had organized, drilled and put in the field a magnificent
spires of Richmond, the Confederate capital. After seven
days of furious fighting, McClellan's friends claim he was
crippled and relieved from command because he was a demo-
crat. Then when Lee invaded the North and the authori-
ties were panic,stricken, Mcclellan was again called upon
and at the bloody battle of Antietam he turned Lee back and
forced the Confederates to cross the Potomac:
Whatever the merits Of the case may have been, and
mere charge of partisan politics evidently played havoc for
charge alone was calculated to generate a feeling of partisan
bitterness that could not fail to interfere seriously with the
efficient prosecution of the war.
The American nation is not at war now. 1t is a time
of tremendous peril, however. On the one hand we are told
failure to provide means of national defence against armed
Europe will invite foreign encroachment and precipitate
war. On the other we are assured a great navy and a
powerful military establishment, actual or within close
reach, will tend to make us aggressive and lead other ma
lions still further to seek to match our preparations for hos
tilities, no matter what excuse may be advanced.
We are at the parting of the ways as regards realiza-
ton Of the American dream of promoting universal peace.
We all want the same thing but we propose different means
of attaining that end. Both propositions cannot be fully
right; both have good arguments to sustain them. If either
one is right and we adopt the other, then peril will follow.
In a crisis like this it is the duty of President Wilson him
self as well as of republican leaders to forget party and par
tisanship for the time-being and seek to pierce the veil of
the future so far as possible! We all desire to avoid the
mistakes of other nations that have led to war with all it's
manifold horrors and untold sacrifices and its indescribable
sufferings.
Most of us are ready to help hold up the arms of Presi-
dent Wilson in his efforts to solve the great problem of ma
tional preparedness Alright. While republicans are adopting
this patriotic course, it is hardly the part of wisdom to faunt
the flag of craftsmanship in the faces of those making this
patriotic response to appeals to their Americansm.
This is a time for straight thinking at Washington, as
we'll as on the part of the American public. 1t is no time
to stir up undue partsanship at home or indulge in sudden
virtuous Indignation expressed in terms of jingoism abroad.
We cannot wisely try to punish Austria now for what we
cOndOned in Great Britain or Germany. We cannot eff