The Alaska daily empire., 1917-03-24
WOODROW WILSON
(New York worldl


 been eyentu and other four years except those of Lincoln have made so much history of first i'm portance
 his policies detest them but nobody can deny him la place among the mastertul Presidents who nave nave stamped their genius for all time upon the Boyee' of the United States The courses of American ms tory have been changed nightly by the fact that Woodrow Wilson was President ana because ne nas been President the processes of American government will never again be quite what they were m the past Whatever the verdict of history may be upon the various policies of the Wilson administration no diff cuty will be experienced in fixing the repSonsbty Since March A. 1s13 Mir. Wilson has been the govern nent of the United States in great a degree as Jefferson of Jackson and in even greater degree than Washington Lincoln.
 Mir Taft was never President during his four years in the White House; the Republican party was President Mir. Roosevelt President part or the time during his two terms; the Republican ola Guatu was President part Of the tune anu tnere were BlOl ous intervals in which Wall Street reigned supreme after the of Frederick the Great who did what he pleased and allowed his subjects 10 say what they pleased-Mr Roosevelt playing the role or the Sarru lous but obedient popuiace.
 The President of the United States during the last four years has been Woodrow Wilson, and no other-not the Democratic party not Wall Street not the Cabinet not Congress, but Woodrow wilson ana he alone What is good is his, and what is bad IS his. Never for moment has he relaxed his grip up on the government Never for moment has any oth' CT mind and purpose than his controlled the policies of the Administration. He has yielded to nobody He has compromised with nobody except the American people Abused and villified as few Presidents have been denounced by his enemies alternately as weak ling and a despot a coward and dictator he has gone his if not serenely at least with sure and certain step
 His critics are fond of pretending that they not understand what he Is trying to do but no doubts assail him He knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. When he cannot reach his goal by one path he abruptly changes his course and fol lows another path but always with an eye single to the goal itself.
 No other President ever so completely controlled Congress little Ostensbe effort to control Congress He has shaped legislation by none of the old and familiar devices Nobody has been bribed by patronage support his policies and measures, nor has anybody been punished by the withholding of pat rcnage for opposing the Administration There haS been denuncatiou of Congress or of individual members of Congress. Yet every important issue no matter how violent the opposition. the President has managed to have his way. He has ruled by the sheer force of abty-because his is the biggest brain and his the broadest vision in Washington. His vic. tories suen and reluctant Congress have been veritable triumphs of mind over matter.
 Even his bitterest enemies are compelled to ac.
 knowledge this extraordinary intellectual power. When
 Mir Roosevelt indulged in his OutburstS of foam and
 fury at the general reluctance of the American people ! to plunge blindly into he could give reason
 for this state of opinion except that President Wilson
 had "chlorotormed the conscience Of the country In other words, 1OOOOOOOO people had been hypnotized f by the President that they thought only what he
 wanted them think, believed only what he wanted
 them believe and did only what he wanted them
 to do A superman indeed, if this be true-a super
 man above all other supermen in history; yet it is not
 true. Mir. Wilson's influence public opinion lies
 iu the ability tO understand it. and give 1t adequate expression. not in the ability to dictate nations
 sentiments.
 Nevertheless Mir Wilson has exercised greater influence over the pOnUCal thought or the American
 pcople-over the political thought of the whole world
 for that matter-than any other of his genera tiOn. He has become in a way the anniversary spokes man Of democracy and universal leader of democ- racy When Europe speculates as to what the United States thinks what the United States will do it asks what MT Wilson thinks and what Mir Wilson will do. Even his political opponents at home pay the same tribute to him. In each crisis they have looked to him for decision and admitted that his decision must necessarily be final.
 In all of the attacks that have been directed against his foreign policies. it is singular fact that muIate deAnte foreign policy of it's own as a sub stitute for Ms. Nor has any Republican member of Congress ever introduced resolution to force the residents hand-aithough the power to declare war is exclusively prerogative of Congress.
 The chief complaint of Mir Wilson's critics is
 that he is belligerent that he is net warke that he is too proud to fight" For the welfare of dent with Mir Wilson's genius for go@fnmept and his power to impose his political will upon others would be grave to the Republic if these extraor. dinary gifts were supplemented by military ambition and a passion for military glory.
 It was the great good fortune of the United States in the Civil War that it had Abraham Lin coin for President all of whose principles and habits or government were incorrigibly civilian Thus al President who might have made himself absolute military dictator held steadasy to the creed of the
 Illinois country lawyer, and that creed the creed upon which all the foundation stones of the Republic rest IL is still the good fortune of the United States that in the darkest crisis of modern history it has President with the same unquenchable passion for justice and liberty, who looks upon military power only as the instrument of civil power and worships no gods of conquest or imperialism.
 If the world. after this war. is to be re,estab-
 shed upon the basis of democracy, the political prin clpes of Woodrow Wilson must prevail Nothing else it. On the verge of the crisis when 1t is inevitable that the United States must draw the sword in defense of its rights and its honor, the American people face the future in supreme confidence that they will enter into the under the leadership that knows ulteriOr purpose-a leadership that is wise and sagacous and self-re strained and that will safeguard republican institu dons as the most precious possession of mankind
 No other American is so well fitted by tempera 1 ment, by training by ability and by mastery of the science and art of government to solve the prob. lemS that must confront this country during the | next four years. No other American in the end is | so likely to dominate the political thought of the | world and guide it along the difficult path of lib erty and democracy, There is nobody else to whom the American people could safely entrust their | destiny or whose faults well virtues so sure. lV mako of nf thnl