Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1916-07-06
BLUNDERS or THE
ADMINISTRATION
Wilson Has Failed In Foreign
and Domestic Policies.
ROOT SHOWS HIS ERRORS,

Address as Temporary Chairman of
New York Republican Convention
Points Out Sins of Democratic Com
mission and Omission-"We Have
Lost Influence Because We Have
Been Brave in Words and lrresolute
In Action"
In his address as temporary chair
man of the New York state Republican
convention, delivered in Carnegie Hall,
New York, the Hon. Elihu Root said:
We are entering upon q contest for
the election of Il president and the con-
troll of government under conditions
essentially new In the experience of
our party and of our country. The
forms and methods which we are
about to follow are old and familiar,
but the grounds for action. the demand
of great events for decision uponena-
tional conduct, the moral forces urg-
ing to u solution Of vaguely outlin-
ed questions, the tremendous con-
sequences of wisdom or folly in nation,
al policy, all these are new to the great
mass of American voters now living.
Never since 1864 has an election been
fraught with consequences so vital to
national life. All the ordinary consid-
erations which play so great a part in
our presidential campaigns are and
ought to be dwarfed iuto insignificance.
Democratic Party to the Bar.
For the first time in twenty years we
enter the field as the party of opposi,
ton, and indeed 1t is q much longer
time, for in 1896, in all respects save
the tariff, the real opposition to the
sturdy and patriotic course of Presi-
dent Cleveland was to be found in the
party that followed Mr.. Bryan. 1t is
our duty as the opposition to bring the
Democratic party to the bar of public
Judgment, to put it upon it's defense
SO Tar as we see just and substantial
grounds to criticise it's conduct and to
ask the voters Of the country to decide
whether that party, organized as it is,
represented as 1t has been since 1t
came into power, has shown itself
competent to govern the country as 1t
should be governed and whether It's
spirit, it's policies, and its performance
are the best that the American people
can do in the way Of popular self gov
eminent.
In the field of domestic affairs some
facts relevant to these questions had
already been ascertained when in Au-
gust, 1914, the great European war
began. During the year and a half of
Democratic control Of government in
q period OF profound peace there had
been a steady decrease In American
production, In exports and In
and a,steady increase In Imports and
expenditures. Enterprise had. halted.
The Democratic tariff had be~entframed
upon an avowed reputation Of all pro-
lection, however moderate and reason
able, and because all protection was
~repudiated practically al information
from competent witnesses as Is the eff
fect new provisions would have unoa
business was rejected. It was with
JuAtt cause that the enterprise a. tha
country halted, timid and s~irresolute.
becalaee i felt and feared the hostility
of governMsnt
Forsian conSsslt.on Afssr War.
The great war has not changed the
lesson which we had already learned
when + began. It has. but obscured
further demonstration. 1t has caused
an enormous demand for some things
which the United States Is able to pro
duce 10 large. quantities. and IN these
lines OF production, ,Yhleso other indus
tries stiIl languish, there have been ex-
tenstve employment Of labor, great.ex-
ports and q great Influx Of money.
But this is< Temporary. It must loon
cease ard when the factories have
stopped and their laborers are mo
Edonge.f employed we m~ustAaeal with q
Situation for which wise forethought
fdould make provision. More impcr-
tant sttll, the war has paralyzed the
peaceful industries of all Europe and
has stopped that.competitive foreign
production which III July, 1914, bad al
ready entered American markets to
ssupersede American products under
The tarin law OF 1913. The war has
thus eiYen to American products an
immunity from competition Tar more
enecttve than any possible protective
hut that q Temporary and
when#the wal IS over. when foreign
production begins again, the American
market compared with Impoverished
Europe WIN IS more than ever before
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