Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-03-22
No. 1-Mr. Wilson Under Attack.

slogan of Democracy in the coming conflict,
and right upon that statement the anti admin
istration critics are training their 42-centi-
meter guns. -.
A good perspective of the political battle,
whose first phase is now apparent, may be
gained from Hawaii The%very remoteness of
arenas gives opportuIft for surveying the
field from avantage-poht. Critics of the presi-
dent recognize Mr.. Wilson's determination to
maintain peace, but say that in practise his
idealism has been weak and yacilating, his
policy unsettled and self-contradictory, and
that only luck has kept the United States out
of war. s@'
The main points uponwhch the president is
being criticised are these: o.
The secrecy of administration procedure. 1t
is declared that while he entered office declar-
ing that the people would be taken into conf
dence. his administration has been the most
secretive in many years. Suppression of vital
facts regarding the Mexican and European
Situations are charged up to him with wealth
of detail.
He is alleged to- have changed front on many
occasions. ..E.+ -.:-
He went into office opposing the trade com
mission idea and continued to oppose it until
the echoes of his campaign speeches had died
away, then suddenly he forced, so the story
goes the, inclusion of the trade commission
plan in the antitrust legislation. ..s
His change of front on the tariff commission
proposal is another point of criticism. He
openly admitted changing his mind on this.
The reversal of attitude on national defense
is another loophole through which the hostile
sharpshooters are taking pot-shots at the presi-
dent. For many months after the war broke
out he decried agitation for preparedness"
and scored the alarmists.' just over year
ago he said that nothing had occurred in
Europe to change the American program Be-
ginning with July Of last year, he eyinced al
new spirit, say the critics, and one which
proved his previous policy to have been both
mistaken and dangerous. Since the despatch
of the note to Germany of July 21, 1915, de-
manding disavowal of the Lusitania sinking,
Che president is alleged to have been more and
more active for new preparedness" pro-
gram.
Even in his work for national defense the
critics profess to see uncertainty and inability
to grasp the situation. Thus they say that at
the beginning of his recent speech-making tour
he minHnized the danger of the United States
and advocated little more than the military
program outlined in his message, while by the
time he had reached ST. Louis he was calling
for .'incomparably the greatest navy in the
world''
The resignation of Secretary of War Garrison
Afforded the opposition gunners a shining OPP
portunity to pour shrapnel into the Democratic
trenches. They pointed out with glee that
in his message to Congress the president put his
stamp of approval on Secretary Gar ison' IS pro
gram, or at least on the main principles of that
program, and that few weeks later the presi-
dent declined to support his war secretary and
yielded to the political influence represented by
CONGRESSMAN Hay, Senator Chamberlain and
others. They characterize his support of the
Philippine BILL including the Clarke amend
ment, as another instance of submission to po-
litical influence against his own better judg-
ment and the resentment of Secretary Garrison
The latest Mexican outrage has given addi-
tonal speed to the anti Wilson missiles being
hurled so freely "Watchful Waiting ISL
sneered at and scoffed at by Republican orators
and anti administration newspapers from
Maine to California. There is no question that
the Villa raid at Columbus has inspired the
critics to renewed efforts and made some of the
administration defenders a trife uneasy.
For all of these charges, briefly outlined
above, the critics are furnishing wealth of
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