The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-16
WOODROW WILSON.


date of the party to the principle of
single presidential term. Woodrow
Wilson, and without anything that
savored of opposition, has been for
mally designated again as the presi-
Dental preference of he Democratic
party.
But this has been an inevitable de-
movement of the developments in the
Democratic party during the past
three years, or ever since Mr. Wilson
progressed from the position of titular
head of the Democratic party to that
of it's guiding and controlling genius.
Practically from the very day that
he assumed the presidency, Woodrow
Wilson has directed the affairs of his
party in an absolute manner.
His will has been law with the rep
resentatives of Democracy in both
branches of congress in matters small
as well as those of consequential pro-
portions.
He has framed the policy and plans
of the party on all questions
1t has followed him wherever he
has led. and sometimes blindly.
There have been rumors from time
TO time of rebellion in the Democratic
ranks at the rather autocratic activf-
ties and tendencies of their leader. but
they have never outgrown their swad-
ding clothes or died a-born-ng. ,s-
And to all intents and purposes. the
Democratic party has apparently
never before been so united and har-
INGENIOUS as it is today; and certainly
it never has been under such a Wig
orous and successful leadership.
No national convention of the Dem
ocratic party since its very beginning
has been such a veritable love- feast
as has the gathering of the Demo-
cratic hosts at ST. Louis this week.
And If the stories about it, from
wide variety of disinterested sources
are true. as they undoubtedly are, it
has been more of a ratification meet
ing than a convention of deliberative
functions.
In addition to placing it's seal of
approval on the desires of Woodrow
Wilson for a denomination to the
presidency, and with unanimity and
enthusiasm that is most unusual in
the political history of this country, it
has accepted his views on the issues
of the hour and on the platform, or
campaign creed with which its party
uance in office.
All this can only be fairly construed
as indisputable evidence of the re-
markable impress that woodrow VIII
son has made upon the Democratic
party, from its major leaders to its
most humble members; of the large
ness of his caliber, of his talent as
leader. and of his astutenesS as mas
ter politician
1t is beyond the mark for any one
to insist that Woodrow Wilson has the
Democratic party "buffaloed," to use
one of the popular expressions of the
street; that the rank and file of the
Democratic party are following him
and doing his bidding through fear.
AS correctly as the eye can see
from this distance and through the
bfnocular of the news, or the ear can
hear through the news sounding
board, there is no basis for the slight
est suspicion that such was the atti-
tude of even a small portion of those
who participated in the conduct of the
Democratic national convention.
The enthusiasm for woodrow Will
son at st. Louis this week appears to
have been most genuine, and the will
ingness not only to accept his leader
ship again but also to adopt his per
sonally constructed platform and 9TH
err suggestions, including the one for
the denomination of Vice President
Marshall. seems to have been of IL
cheerful sort
So il must be that woodrow Wilson
rules and dominates the Democratic
party in such an absolute way, be-
cause the Democrats of the nation
thoroughly believe in him. in his poll
cies and his pretensions.
No other alternative can be sug-
gested.
This means that Woodrow Wilson
enters one of the most crucial national
political campaigns in the nations his
tory with a united party behind him,
and with a party behind him that is
entirely in sympathy with his pur-
poses and aspirations
such a political foe is to be reck-
oned with
And it will be a sorry error for the
Republican party, regardless OF Its
excellent accomplishments at Chicago
last week. to become obsessed with
the idea that woodrow Wilson and
the Democratic party, now one and
the same-for he is the Democratic
party-it will be a sorry mistake. in
deed. for the Republicans to imagine
that a victory at the polls in Novem-
Der can be easily won.
Even those who disagree with the
methods and policies that woodrow
Wilson has pursued and outlined fol
the future
Even those who take exception. and
which they have sufficient reason fol
doing, to the manner in which he ha:
handled the nations foreign affair:
and especially the ones which pertain
! to the Mexican situation-and these
are to be the big issues of the presi
Dental campaign as will preparedness
and the adequate protection of Amer
lean industry and with which the tar
r7oIicias. of are not In