Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-10-30
WILSON in APPEAL
PARTY SUPPORT
President Urges Return of Demo-
cratic Majority in Both Houses
of Congress
CREATES STIR
Republican Leaders Say They Will
Make Answer on the Stump.

Washington, d. c., Oct. 25.--
President Wilson Friday issued an
appeal to the people to return a
democratic congress in the Novem-
ber elections If they approve of his
course in this critical period.
Return of a republican majority
to either house of the congress, the
president said, would be certainly
interpreted on the other side of the
water as reputation of my leader
ship
The presidents action created Q
stir at the capitol. Republican
leaders declared it meant politics
had been reconvened and that the
president would be answered on the
stump during the closing days of the
campaign.
Several republican senators is.
sued statements, declaring that re-
publicans in congress had been more
loyal to the administration than the
democrats in voting on war measur-
| es.
Text of Appeal.
Following is the presidents ap-
peal in part:
Ay lSllOW COuHIEyUl6H. Inc
congressional elections are at hand.
They occur in the most critical pc
riod our country has ever faced or is
| likely to face in our time. If you
have approved of my leadership and
wish me to continue to be your UNI
EN- barrassed spokesman in affairs at
home and abroad, / earnestly beg
that you will express yourselves un-
mistakably to that effect by return
ing a democratic majority to both
the senate and house of represen-
! tatives.
Il am your servant and will ac-
cept your Judgment without cavil,
but my power to administer thu
great trust assigned me by the con-
stitution would be seriously i'm
paired should your judgment be ad-
verse and must frankly tell you SO
because so many critical issues de-
| pend upon your verdict. No scrupple
of taste must in. grim times like
these be allowed to stand in the way
OF speaking the plain truth.
The Ieadersaof the minority, in
the present congress have unques-
tionably been pro-war but they have
been antiadministration. At almost
every turn since We entered the war
they have sought to take the choice
of policy out of my hands and put it
under the control of instrumentalit.
les OF their own choosing.
This is no time either for di-
vided council or for divided leader
ship. Unity of command is as neces-
sary to win civil action as it is upon
the field of battle. If the control OF
the house and senate should be tax
Ell away from the party in power an
opposing majority could assume con-
troll Of legislation and oblige all
action to be taken amidst contest
and obstruction.
THE return of republican ma
jority to either house of the con-
gress would moreover be interprc-
tative on the other side of the water
as a reputation Of my leadership.
THE peoples of the allied coun-
tries with whom We are associated
against Germany are quite familiar
with the significance of elections.
They would find it very difficult to
believe that the voters of the United
States had chosen to support their
president by electing to congress a
majority controlled by those who
are in fact not in sympathy with
the attitude and action of the ad-
ministration.
''If in these critical days it is
your wish to sustain me with un-
divided minds, / beg that you will
say so in a way which it will not
be possible to misunderstood either
here at home or among our asso-
ciates on the other side of the sea.
l submit my difficulties and my hopes
to you.
Woodrow Wilson"