Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-10-19
\ Fighting Man First.

A Fighting Man First.
; If the instructions, orders, sugges-
: lions and plans for the successful and
; vigorous prosecution of this war his
printed, it would be apparent to the
world that Woodrow Wilson, though
> he may be eager for peace, is ever a
fighting man first. He is an idealist,
they say: a rhetorician; man of
theory and an altruistic liberal.
Granting all that for the purpose of
comparison, albeit it is we'll enough
known that Mr.. Wilson is a severely
practical politician when he must be,
the point to be made is that he is no
idealist; no Utopian when it comes to
fighting this war. He is as cold as a
wedge about that. Win it! That is
his constant instruction. Win it, and
speed up in the winning!
|
No person is more keenly alive to
the hampering, devastating effects of
the governmental system of doing
business than the PRESIDENT, but
even with the power he has, he must
work with the tools at hand. Wash
ington is full of stories of blunders,
stupidities and egoisms that are
crimes; petty authorities standing in
the way of progress; rigid adherence
to precedent that willis action; lack
president himself; delays that have
been culpable, almost reasonable;
lack of foresight; divided authority
that has held important plans in
, abeyance-all the numerous draw
backs and errors and bungles that
have marked our frantic haste to
prepare. But, with it all, he has
, been as patient as might be. striving
to get action with as little friction as
q possible and at times getting action
9 without considering friction.
e No person acquainted with the
|, facts and not partisan, will deny thai
there have been grievous faults ir
Washington, and will be-some pres
: idential. No person who knows thu
. president attributes omniscience t.
g him or makes him superhuman. HI
Z is human in just the same degree al
y the rest of US. He makes his mis-
takes. His greatest mistake is il
y clinging to men of his own selection
, after their worthlessness in their po
sitions is known. That seems to b.
an obsession with him.
q, What Europeans Say.
: II you ask any Englishman who
r knows, and who is entitled to ar
3 opinion, or any Frenchman. or any
: other man who has been through the
e crucible since 1914-any of the biz
I men who have come from other coun
tries to this country to work with vi
about the progress the United
States has made thus far, you will
= find that he has no criticism, but II
3 astounded at the amount of worl
that has been done, the results thai
have been accomplished, and tolerant
of the mistakes that have been made
They know. They have been through
the game. And they mean what they
say, also. To be sure, they realize
the errors; but they also appreciate
the energy and the results of the
mass accomplishment, and applaud it
He (the president) is under nc
t delusions over what courses this wal
I may take. so ar afs the popular es.
) TEEN of it may be concerned. He
knows that it is the history of all
| wars, of all administrations, from
, the earliest war to this one, that
; there comes period when vox
r popun is raised against those in
power. He knows that no admins
tration can 60 through two years
) say, Of war like this and not be as
sailed. And there is where his
vision, seconded by his Scotch trait
of thrift, comes in. That is why we
note his insistence to congress on
{ sufficient money, on enormous
l money. on all sorts of legislation to
l provide him with war-making and
2 transporting machinery. He de-
l mands it and gets it, for he foresees
: the storms, the possible loss of pop
ularity, that will mean the loss of
= getting power. His house will be in
, order when the country turns, as il
? undoubtedly will if the var is greatly
3 prolonged No shrewder
r craftsmanship has been known in our
2 time than this forestalling of the
I possible protests of the future while
1 the opportunity was ripe.
r And there are persons who say thi;
z man is entirely an idealist. with nc
S skill of practice or provision, They
&, ~ T.. Ia,