Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-09-30
ROOSEVELTSEVERELY
ABRAMS WILSON IN
H|SOPEN|NC SPEECH

successful close; nor of the men who
wore the blue and the gray for four
long years in the great struggle Of the
civil war. II the American people of
today are willing to accept such lead
ership, they will give justification for
the belief that they prize ease and
comfort above the principles for which
their forefathers suffered and died
INVITE DISASTER.
1--WE Of the United States invite dis
aster, we sacrifice every principle of
manhood. II we raise a breed Of men in
this country who determine vital is
sues in such fashion. Sucn men when
they face any issue merely ask II it Is
difficult to meet 1t honestly and brave
ly; and II 1t is, they instantly pro-
coed to meet 1t dishonesty and timidly.
They measure the acts OF their public
men in terms OF immediate material
content and ease. They do not re-
quire them to act In terms Of right and
justice. They, say that they stand for
the administration because it has kept
us out of war, and has averted a
strike. They refuse seriously to con-
slider, the presidents refusal to do his
plain and honest duty by meeting great
crises honorably and courageously.
'Tf our people follow the president
who has kept them in the easy path Of
temporary comfort and material ease
at the sacrifice of national honor and
of true Americanism. and Of the i'm
| mutable principles of righteousness.
then as a people we shall lose all
| moral greatness in the present, and
most assuredly we shall see this loss
| followed by the loss of material great
ness in the future.
AN ounce of performance outweighs
a ton Of promise. In all these cases
whenever there was any risk. any dan
ger to be encountered, President Will
son has promptly retreated. He has
| then sought to cover his retreat by ut
tering high sounding words. But in
these cases his high sounding words
amount to absolutely nothing. Only his
acts, or failures to act count In the
anthracite strike We settled the prin-
ciple that the public rights are superior
to any private rights in matters Of vital
public moment. President Wilson sur
rendered this principle at the demand
of the great labor leaders, without in
vestigation and regardless of the facts,
and shifted the burden to the public,
while abandoning the rights of the
public. For justice in dealing between
capital and labor he has substituted
the policy of craven surrender to
whichever side has the superiority in
brute force. Once more in our internal
affairs as in our external affairs, he
has stood for peace at any price. He
refuses to look ahead. He shows not
one shred OF that stern and unyield-
| ing courage which enables a leader to
face temporary risk. discomfort and
hardship for the sake of a lofty Ideal
and a splendid ultimate triumph. He
was cowed by the big labor leaders
exactly as he had already been cowed
by Germany and by Mexico. He him
self acknowledged the evil of the sit
uation when he said, 1t must never be
allowed again But by his actions he
has guaranteed that 1t will arise again,
whenever there is in the White House
a man too timid to face threats or front
danger. Mr.. Wilson's acts In the White
House have shown that what he seeks
in any emergency of this nature is
momentary relief, temporary safety,
purchased at whatever cost of present
ignominy and at whatever risk of fu-
ture disaster. President Wilson has
announced that In theory he stood for
arbitration in such matters; but the
minute that he was threatened he not
only abandoned the principle. but sup
ported the assault on 1t. The union
LEADERS announced that they had stead
lily refused to arbitrate,' and that In
their action they were supported by
the president of the United States.
: President Wilson was the guardian OF
the public veal. He betrayed the pub
lie veal. This is specifically set forth
: in the official announcement Of the
chairman of the union representatives
who thus described the contest:
LET THE PUBLIC PAY.
} TN times like this men go back tc
) primal instinct-to the day of the
, caveman, who, with his half-gnawed
bone snarled at the other caveman who
| wanted to take his bone away. We
leaders are fighting for our men. the
railroads are fighting for their stock.
holders. and the shippers for them
selves. And the public will pay And
President Wilson let the public pay
He let the contest be decided not or
principles Of justice, but by the rule.
obtaining between cavemen snarlinl
over a bone. No wonder that ths
rugged cavemen or Industrial warfare
treated with utter contempt the feebl.
appeals of the apostle of peace at an,
price. BY his actions President VII.
son did lasting harm to the nation
The vice of his procedure was four.
fold. He delivered deadly blow a
the principle Of Industrial arbitration
( He immensely weakened the power O.
3 the national executive TO act unde
such conditions on behalf Of the public
e He established the shameful and peril
Gus precedent that the government o
the United States can be coerced. ant
3 legislation extorted from congress, b,
9 terrorization and the threat OF vic
8 lence. He aided in securing . settle
: ment which puts q premium on tn
r overriding Of Justice by appeals L
: brute force.
0 president Wilson seeks to justif
: himself on the ground that Ii wa