Fergus County Democrat., 1916-03-23
Tom Stout's Weekly Letter

week ago To-Day In support OF the pres
ident in his diplomatic negotiation.
with Germany has apparently put the
quietus, for a while at least, upon th'
little coterie of gentlemen who hat
been very busy for months organizing
an anti-Wilson propaganda over Oh
this side of the country. There are
some men who have been more or les:
actively identified with the democratic
party, often to that party's detriment
who didn't like Woodrow Wilson whel
lie was elected and who have grown
in their dislike for him throughout the
three years of his administration.
They have nagged and scolded and
criticised and back-fred and done
everything possible to discredit the
/ president and his works in the eyes
of the country The attack by these
| fellows attained it's greatest bitterness
a short time ago when the president
was right in the midst of one of the
most critical situations of his and the
country's careers. Our foreign COM
plications were most delicate, the is
sue of peace and war hung by a thread
and, knowing this to be true, his enc
mics tried to hamper Wilson by align
ing the congress of the United States
against him and thus making him i'm
potent to continue with any degree of
success his negotiations with foreign
powers and, thereby, bring him into
disrepute with his own people.
u 4 II
Some day all of the ms and outs of
the upheaval preceding the vote on
the McLemore resolution of warning
will become known to the public but
= ,,xl& .xc
terry just vet. It was one Of the
strangest phenomena in the iegisla-
tive history Of the country and, in
many respects, one of the most dis
creditable The whole ruction was
started by enemies of the president, or
rather enemies of his foreign policy,
and a lot of upright, sincere and con
scitentious members of congress fell
victims to the hysteria SO ingeniously
fomented during the two weeks which
! Immediately preceded the vote Of con-
fidence, week ago. OF the men in
congress who We're largely responsible
for the outburst. some lost their nerve
when it came time to go on record
with their votes, and voted to uphold
the president.
| 10 days ago that the hold which Pres-
dent Wilson has on the democratic
majority in the house is gone. that
his influence is no longer needed by
those who direct the affairs of this
body and that he would never again
be able to have his wishes in matters
of legislation or public policv carried
out as was the case throughout the
sixty third congress. The vote on the
McLemore resolution indicated that
President Wilson is as strong with the
democrats of the house as he ever
was despite the detection Of the Bryan
| influence and the passive antagOn'sm.
on many important question. of Floor
Leader Claude Kitchin. Although the
controversy was good thing for the
president it served to inform not ONLY
foreign nations but also antagon,stc
elements in his own body polite, that
! Woodrow Wilson still stands the ac-
knoWledged leader of the party in
power in this nation aud that time
has not lessened the devotion with
which 80 per cent of the democratic
members of the house stand ready to
| follow him in his direction of public
affairs.
| There is a general unanmity Of
opinion in congressional circles as to
the necessity of taking vigorous ac-
tion with reference to Mexico. There
! is also a very general apprehension
over the possibilities of having to op-
| pose a more or less united Mexican
| population before we get through. 1t
| is realized that the Mexican tempera-
ment is somewhat tickle and fears are
entertained here that the appearance
of an American army on Mexican soil
may serve to cause the various fac
tions down there to forget, for the
I time being, their internccine activities
I and pitch in together against the hated
"gringoes." If this should come about,
this country will have undertaken a
| job the end of which no man can fore
! tell
With all of these collateral issues
breaking into the regular Legislative
program the day of possible adjourn
ment advances so far into the future
as to be invisible to the naked eve.
We are now some weeks behind the
regular schedule Many of the largest
appropriation bills are still in commit
tees. The preparedness bills are yet
to come before either body. 1t is just
possible that some of the work which
has already been accomplished will
come to naught. The house hustled
through the conservation program, but
what the senate is doing to that pro-
gram is distinctly discouraging to all
believers in real conservation, and the
result will either be a disagreement
in conference or veto by the presi-
dent. | do not believe the house will
agree to the sort of water power bill
that the senate passed last week, and
do not believe that the president will
sign it if the two houses agree to such
a measure. Some of the friends of
honest conservation in the senate, in
| Guiding Senators Walsh and Myers,
voted for the Shields bill, so-called, on
the theory that the house will stand
pat and compel amendments which
will protect the government and fu-
ture generations from the i'll effects
of efforts of the nti-conservationists.
TOM STOUT.
IIFhvF F0R THF FAST nm