Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-20

rhc President is at liberty. both in
law and conscience. to be as big "a man
as ne can. His capacity Will set the limit
and IL Congress be overborne by him "
will be no fault of the makers of the
Constitutional will be from no lack of
constitutional powers on its part. but
only because the President has the ma
tion behind him and Congress has not.
ME. WILSON wrote these words long
AVA before he had any idea that he would
ever fill the office in which he saw such
boundless possibilities OF constructive
leadership. In grave crisis. which has
ousted executives in France and Italy
and threatened to dislodge the British
Premier it is reassuring to realize that
our Government is not to be shaken by
caprice or hysteria and that at its head
Is man who feels free "to be as big a
man as he can
Many have wished in the past that our
Administration might be so constituted
as to reflect popular change of opinion
more swiftly. 1t is fortunate that the
Power which has become the spokesman
for the Allies is as stable as n rock for
the duration OF the war. The American
ultimatum to the German autocracy is
the Allies ultimatum, and 1t will stand
without one word changed even though
the personnel of all the Cabinets in Eu-
rope be completely changed.
Changes in the personnel Of the Amerl.
can Cabinet would be for administrative
Improvement and not for political STRAIT.
egy. Our political parties. unlike those
OF Europe, disappear in crises. This is not
because Americans are any more patriotic
than Europeans. but because the Chief
Executives powers are such as to raise
him above parties. Nonpartisan in
crisis, virtually i!removable, he is in
position to command a loyalty from the
people such as the King of England com
mands as the human symbol of the State.
The British Premier, owing his tenure
of office TO Parliament and coming 10 that
office only through a career marked by
intense partisanship, never can win that
wide loyalty from all sorts and conditions
of men.
Lloyd George has temporarily modelled
the British Government on American
lines. Just as Mr.. Wilson has gone to
the people over the head Of Congress,
when necessary, so the Premier has gone
to the people over the head of Parliament
The parallel is very close. Mr.. Lloyd
George has gone before the trade union
to make personal appeals
Of just the dramatic sort that Mr.. Wilson
made at Buffalo. Both men have stecred
their course by ignoring the politicians
and keeping close to popular sentiment.
guided by the ups and downs of a news.
paper war, that Is only another way of
saying 1t is guided by the currents Of
popular opinion. If Mr.. Wilson has
Dverborne congressional strategy and
prejudice in such incidents as the Roose.
velt volunteer bill and the fight against
Hoover. ii was because he i,new he had
the people with him and that Congress
had not.
We are now to see hqw these principles
are TO work out in the greatest task that
Mr.. Wilson and Mr.. Lloyd George have
yet faced 1t is becoming evident that
the two statesmen are working In closer
harmony every day. and this is really
great triumph. An American President
working at odds with the Premier at this
time would mean calamity. For, while
II Is military unity that will be sought
first at the Paris conference. military
unity Inevitably implies political unity
In common war aims all along the lines
Mr., Wilson and Mr.. Lloyd George are anti
as are the great majority
Of the American and British peoples. 1t
IL on this ground that they are at one
with each other and their peoples and it
IL on this that their strength is based,
because this principle is the strength
Of the Allied cause.