The Coconino sun., 1916-10-27
PRESIDENT WILSON TAXES BOTH SIDES
 0N MOST ALL QUESTIONS, SAYS ROOSEVELT
How the Great Coal Strike Was Settled Under Roosevelt Administration Must be Men
 Otherwise No Nation Can Live

an outline of the. position we ought to have taken; but, almost without exception, these fine words have had the meaning weaseled out of them by other words; and usually there have been no deeds whatever. Take, as an instance, the question of prepared ness, and of the means necessary to secure it In the fourteen months ex- tending from December Sth, 1914, to February 10th, 1916, there were fif- teen messages, letters and speeches of President Wilson which I have read. In these fifteen messages, let ters and speeches, during those four teen months, President Wilson took forty-one different positions about preparedness and the measures neces- sary to secure 1t; and each of these forty-one positions contradicted from one to six of the others. In many of his speeches the weasel words of one portion of the speech took all the meaning out of the words used in an- other portion of that speech; and these latter words themselves had a weasel significance as regards yet other words. He argued for pre- paredness and against preparedness. He stated that our army was ample; and that we did not have enough troops to partol the Mexican border in time of peace He said the world was on fire, and that sparks were liable to drop anywhere and cause us to burst into flame; and he also said that there was no immediate danger. He said that there was no sudden crisis; and then again that he did not know what single day would bring forth. He said that we were on the verge of a maelstrom; and then that there was no special or critical situ- ation. He said the danger was con- stant and immediate; and also that there was no fear among us; and also that we were in daily danger of see- ing the vital interest and honor of the country menaced and the flag of the United States stained with im- punity. He said that we were in very critical danger of being involved in the great European struggle; and also that there was no need to discuss the question of defense, or to get ner- vous or excited about it. In one and the same speech, he said that a suffi- cient number of men would volunteer, and that if they did not he would be ashamed of America; and he also said that he did not know of any law which laid upon them the duty of coming into the army, if it should be necessary to call for volunteers. He said that we needed 500,000 volun- teers, and that if there was any le- gitimate criticism of this demand it was because it was too small; and as soon as Congressman Hay objected to the plan, he promptly abandoned it, He said that the National Guard was not the proper body upon which to rely; and then not, only changed his own mind but forced his own Secre- tary of War out of his cabinet, be- cause this Secretary possessed less flexible convictions and was unable instantly to reverse himself when go ing ct full speed.
 When the President argued every which way and stood on every side of every proposal, it was no wonder that Congress was puzzled. Public opinion was not led by the President He followed it in sharp zig-zags, now in one direction and now in another as he believed it at the moment to be going. In consequence, the laws just passed for our military establishment have been positively mischievous, and they will have to be repealed ol amended before any really good legi. station can be adopted. The course of the administration has so thorough. ly discredited itself in the public mind that it has been almost impos. sible to get recruits. know of many old soldiers who have refused to re. enlist because of the unsatisfactory condition of our military laws at this moment, and, above all, because o1 the shameful mishandling of the mill. tary forces during the past three years. If the recent rate of recruit ing is a sample, it will take five years to increase our army by as much al twenty thousand men, allowing fo, the discharges.
 Six years ago, in 1910, as soon ai the Democrats got in possession oi the House, they stopped work on thu navy. From being the second maya power in the world in point of size we have, during the last seven years slipped down to being the fourth; ant under Secretary Daniels, and thanks to the action of President Wilson, oul