Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-16
No Message of President Will.
son, 1t Is Said, Was Ever
More Coldly Received-Con-
gressmen Not Hostile. but
Sobered by Realization Of ror-
tertous Events-The 9th
Congress Begins a New Era
in the Personal Fortunes of
the Nations Chief Executive.

washington, Dec. s.-Congress has ad-
| vanced another preliminary step by re-
| ceivins in Joint session President Wilson'S
| annual message. All In all. the delivery
| Of this communication was an exceptional
| event: the interest in its contents was
p~reoccupying. Never before has President
Wilson stood before the legislative
branches so firmly established in their
confidence. He has presented two or three
extraordinary messages during his ad-
ministration, but probably none quite so
1 much out of the ordinary or go moment
Gus to his administration and the coun-
try.
notwithstanding this, no message from
President Wilson was ever received so
coldly by senators and representatives.
This did not seem to be on account OF
antagonism or hostility. Some ascribed
it to the fact that the President did not
speak with personal enthusiasm. He APP
peared weary and exhausted. But 1t has
| been noticed that the legislators are not
| as enthusiastic as usual. Men have been
| sobered by the procession of stressful
happenings. There is a serious realiza-
ton of the protentous times.
tlIt sAt 'Sih- WV 80
the United States. the joint session
showed real appreciation. There was pro-
longed applause on both sides of the CEN
ter aisle. He put much emphasis upon his
words, and the response from his hearers
was instantaneous. Otherwise the cheer.
ing, always interpreted by the galleries
as of some significance, was quite for
NAL.
WILSON STOCK DECLINING?
With the opening of Congress begins a
new phase in the administration of Wood
row Wilson, a new era in his personal
fortunes. In midsummer and early fail
It seemed to many as If he were, indeed,
at the crest of the wave. The Lusitania
notes had thrilled the country which stood
unitedly behind him in the national emer
gency. His Mexican policy was beginning
to bear fruit, and both as to Mexico AMI
Europe the American people as a whole
were profoundly grateful that he had
kept the country out of war. To the lone
~ President in his seclusion at Cornish
and during those trying midsummer days
and nights in Washington when he stag
Gered under the heaviest burdens carried
by any President since Lincoln, the SYM
patty of the nation went in amazing
measure. Republican and democratic poll
ticians united in saying that II the presi-
Dental election were to be held in Novem.
Der It would be the statesman in thu
White House first and the rest nowhere,
for they all knew men of political faith
opposed to that of the President who were
then enthusiastically praising his hand
ling OF our international relations.
Now, early in December. the situation
has changed, as political situations so
often do change with astonishing r~apidity
in this mercurial country of ours. The
crest Of the Wilson wave has receded.
His stock Is off, perhaps not many points,
but still 1t off sufficiently to have at
tracted a good deal OF attention had it
been listed on the stock exchange. One
does not nave to lay ones ear to the
ground to hear certain Earring notes; one
does not have to observe closely to see
that there is a political uneasiness about
the White House grounds that Is not
to be explained by the fact that the
presidential election is nearer by four
months than when the future seemed so
promising and so secure. Wherein lies
the change and what Is the prospect for
regaining lost ground? These questions
present themselves insistently as the
politicians take stock of the situation
at the beginning of a session which is
to be by all odds the nest exciting and
the hardest fought of many years.
SOME OF THE REASONS.
Primarily. the President has notably
lost ground with the women of the coun-
try. and when it is considered that they
are now voting for president in eleven
Of our States, the significance of this is
not to be overlooked. Next, there is a
surprising and, to mos informed people,
an unjust wave Of dissatisfaction with
our foreign policy, which is in such con-
trast to the popular feeling of last sum-
mer, and is the more difficult to under.
stand in view of tho remarkable change
for the better in Mexico. where the out
look is fairly bright, thousands of exiles
returning to their Mexican homes and a
belief existing that Mexico will astonish
the world by the r~apidity of her recuper-
alton from her revolutionary ills.
THE L~UsITANIA CASE.
1t Is the question of the Lusitania settle
ment which still hangs tlre-wherever the
fault lies-that seems to be troubling many
people. particularly those who are strong
ly anti-German. The COMMUNICATIONS.
on the other hand, feel more bitterly than
ever towards the President because OF
what they consider his pro-ally partisan
ship. The sensible ones among them do
not defend, of course, the conspiracies of
the mountaineering kind. but they have
not been convinced by the long delay
in the sending Of the British note, which
was p~igeonholed from May to Noyember
against the wishes of many officials in the
state department, and has so far produced
no tangible benefits for American trade.
They are disconnected. too. by the fact
that stories had been circulated among
them, for some three weeks before the
event happened, that Captain Boy-Ed and
Captain Won Papen were to go because of
a determination on the part of the ad.
ministration to stiffen up its foreign policv
before the meeting of Congress, in order
to head off possible congressional criticism
by such men as Senator Hoke Smith and
others Of democratic and republican faith.
BRITISH TRADE POLICIES.
Another cause Of popular dissatisfaction
with the administration is the feeling of
many importers and exporters who are
suffering from the exactions and ~restric-
tons of the British trade policies tina,
constitute a blockade Of the United States
They are particularly not pleased with tbe
boast in Parliament last week of Lord
Robert Cecil that Great Britain's flee, had
accom- lished what 1t wished to without
having seriously involved the country