The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-01
WILSON VS.. ROOSEVELT
HERBERT WESTCOTT FISHER

Of Professor Irving Fisher OF Yale, is
tho author Of "Afaking Life Worth
Living" and has madc noteworthy
contributions to current political dis
cussion.)
! AS an Independent voter I have
| for a long time been unable to line
| up with Mr.. Roosevelt on those pub
lie issues which have struck me as
most important; and 1 have shared
! the Irritation with which his violent
| q had almost said bumptious) style
| of opposition is wont to affect his OPP
| Moments Seldom has he spoken with
! such an air Of sincerity as in his eff
fort at Battle Creek, his greatest,
most inclusive. and most scathing at
tack on Mr.. Wilson The air of sin
cerity was accentuated, moreover, by
! certain restraint of manner Gf not
| of matter)-a restraint which is all
too rare in his fighting moods and
| which, in this case, threw his essen
tial denunciation into all the stronger
relief. In a word, the Roosevelt
speech was tricky.
Mr. Wilson, whatever be his in
firmities of judgment, has spent his
life in getting results against opposi-
ton; and from those who have par
ticipated in the opposition he has re-
ceived the name obstinate" Yet
| out of Mr.. Roosevelt's word-min this
Wilson energies a complete coward.
Mr. Wilson accomplished the great
object of stopping Germany without
| a war; yet, if Mr.. Roosevelt is to be
believed, this achievement dlsgraced
| the United States forever. A speech
! with such conclusions is very strong
speech indeed. A wavering indie
pendent who heard it announced that
| it was so Strong that 1t had con-
| verified him to Wilson.
If anyone believes that these rid
| iculous conclusions could be arrived
at without trickery, let me specify
| few of the tricks. Mr. Roosevelt is
| trying to cheat us into the unargued
assumption that Mr.. Wilson's war
| problem was like Mr.. Lincoln's after
| the firing on Sumter. 1t appears tnat'
while the submarine issue was acute,
Mr. Wilson refused to talk Fourth
| of-July patriotism. And since MI
| Roosevelt would rather strike than
cool off, to cool off before strikes Mr..
| Roosevelt as Striking when the iron
| is cold.'' And he asks: Would Lin
coin, after the firing on Sumter, or
Washington after the decision of re-
!
to stir up patriotism Probably not.
Probably Mr. Wilson would not
either. When war has become I'M
avoidable-a war to free America
war to free slaves-a war to pre-
| serve the Union-a war to stop Ger
many-Washington, Lincoln and Will
SON would probably all three talk
! patriotism But when the thing
wanted is a chance to avert war-to
settle a dispute without war-all
| three would try to hush the first
symptoms of popular excitement
And what Lincoln did when the
| circumstances were really like the
circumstances that confronted Mr..
Wilson was like what Mr.. Wilson did
not unlike Such was what Lincoln
did in the matter of the Alabama
case and others, and he did it with
such lexasperating delay that the
Rooseveltian temperaments of that
time INDUCED in great deal OF fiery
Rooseveltian denunciation, lamenta-
ton and vituperation of our infa-
| nous cowardice toward that exc
| cradle England
| This is Mr.. Roosevelt's first trick
-presupposing a likeness in unlike
circumstances in order to denounce
unlike procedure.
Trick number two is Mr.. Roose-
velt's attempt to quote Mr.. Lane
against Mr.. Wilson. Mr.. Lane is Mr..
Wilson'S Secretary of the Interior,
and he said: Underwriting has not
proved a success Here Mr.. Roose-
welt is tricky in no less than three
WAYS. First, Mr.. Lane was referring
to Mexico, while Mr.. Roosevelt Dor
rows his words for the case of Ger
many Second, Mr.. Roosevelt tries
to inveigle our intelligence into the
Carefully unspecified) position that
it is essentially foolish to try some
thing in one case that has proved I'M
successful in another. And why In
heavens name shouldn't we try notes
first, before trying the next thing?
Was the English campaign in Gal
lipoli a foolish one, because 1t failed?
It did fail And now the English
with truly Wilsonian perseverance
are trying something else.
But, third, Mr.. Roosevelt further
tries to inveigle US blindfold into the
Carefully inarticulate) conviction
that not only do notes fail Gas in
Mexico they failed and had to be
succeeded by conference), but that
therefore they somehow must have
failed with Germany, whether Mr.
Lane said they did or not And here
CATER you wake up from Mr.. Roose-
ve1t's hypnotisrn) you rub your eyes
indeed You had somehow thought
that, with Germany at least, the notes
Lhad succeeded III
If what Mr.. Roosevelt doesn't like
is simply Mr.. Wilson's method of
delivering the goods, he is wasting
his breath on the American public,
who have already got the goods And
If what Mr.. Roosevelt doesn't like is
the goods themselves, it must ge that
he would prefer the other goods
namely, war. Yet, heretofore, when
anyone has suggested that Mr.. Roose-
welt was arguing for war, he has be-
come infhriated. What else is he
an guing for this time? If you think
he is arguing merely for more ex-
petition, trace his criticism from the
highly satisfactory upshot of Mr..
Wilson's method back to that first
note in which Mr.. Wilson promised
"striet accountability to Germany,
and see if the expedition can't turn
out to be anything but a war expedi-
| ten.
AS Mr.. Roosevelt describes the
series of events, negotiations go on
| for O. long period and one morning
Mr., Wilson wakes to read in the
newspapers that Germany has done 1t
agaifa-for perhaps the sixth time.
Vet true to his level-headed char