The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-02-16
REPUBLICAN, PAPER HITS THEM HARD.

Under the caption, Stand BY the President" the Kan
y Journal. a rabid Republican organ, of February 9,
use Senators who refused to stand by the President in
alings with Germany the following terrific blow:
Were it not for the personnel of the coterie of
hve senators who opposed the adoption of Senator
Stones resolution approving the presidents course in
serious regret at the lack of unanimity on the part Of
that body. But when it is remembered that La
Toilette, vardaman and Works comprise three of the
five dissenters, the vote may be called a virtually
unanimous endorsement of the executive. It would
be difficult to conceive of any measure upon which
Messrs: Vardaman and La Toilette in particular could
bring themselves to admit that the majority was right
or that they themselves did not hold a monopoly Of
wisdom.
"The sturdy championship of the presidents
course on the part of the Republican minority; vigor-
ously led by Senator Lodge, is extremely gratifying.
though none the less the solemn duty of all bona fde
representatives of the American people as a whole.
There is not the slightest reason for believing that
constituents of La Toilette, vardaman, Works, Gron-
ma and Kirby approve the withholding of support
FRO mthe president. There have been frequently ex-
pressed individual opinions that perhaps the president
should have waited for more overt acts on the part
OF Germany, but these have been only personl opin-
ions and they have been periodically subordinated to
the paramount necessity of bulwarking the president
with the unqualified and ungrudging support of the
entlre country In a crisis which so vitality concerns its
honor and its welfare.
Politics and individual opinion have no place at
such a time. The president has set forth his reasons
for his course, a course indisputably within his consti-
tutlonai prerogatives and one which fair-minded
Americans will agree was the only one he could have
adopted under all the circumstances of the situa-
tion-a situation which does not take it's beginning
from recent policies but to which contributions have
been made ever since the war began. The latest
blows at Americas national honor and it's rights are
only the elimination of a long series of events point
ing to the climax which has now come. For every
man who honestly believes the president acted too
hastily, there are undoubtedly thousands who Just as
honestly believe he had ample provocation for a SINH
lar step long ago.
But the issue is not one which should be debated
as to Its nlcetles and its intricate technicalities. 1t
is the solemn duty of every American at this time to
stand squarely behind the president and for that rea-
son even the reluctance of five senators is to be re-
GREETED. The world does not know the uuintette as
well as 90 Americans and to the world there is pre-
sented only the spectacle of five out of seventy-three
senators refusing to stand on the side of the chief
magistrate in a crisis affecting the honor of the coun-
try. automatically that is only about 6 per cent.
but II the proportion was maintained, it would indi.
cate that 5000, 900 out of the 100, 900, 900 Americans
do not endorse the presidents stand-a fantastic COM
parlson, 1t is true, and one not to be considered as
accurate.
There is no reason for believing that Wisconsin
approves La Follette's vote or that Mississippi is behind
Vardaman or that California supports Works, even in
the ight OF the Japanese %bugaboo,' or that the
Dakotas and the great Northwest sustain Gronna in
his vote. When Stephen A. Douglas was asked as to
his course at the outbreak of the war between the
states he declared that there were no longer parties
only partiots and traitors. The day of traitors has
gone by but today there are only Americans and anti
Americans" """