Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1918-01-23
WIN THE WAR

United States Senate passed res
olution in favor Of postponement
of the carrying out Of the order of
the fuel administration. The vote
cannot be called partisan, for
weighty Senators of the Demo-
cratic side generally aligned them
selves with leading Republicans in
this condemnation of President
Wilson's Administration AS to the
fuel administrator and his fantas-
tic remedy for a situation due to
gross inefficiency on the part of the
executive government at Washing
ton, it may be that that gross in
efficiency conceivably brought
about a situation so grotesque as
to need grotesque cure. We are
not just here dealing with that
question. The stupendous interest
of the Senate's vote is in the fact
that it cannot be regarded as any
thing less than a clear-cut vote of
lack of confidence in President
Wilson's Administration. There
seems no doubt that but for tech
nical intervention by one Repre-
sentative similar vote would have
been cast in the lower house.
1t is high time that the President
should realize that the era of I'M
critical support is at an end and
that his Administration must
shape it's course very differently if
it is to regain and maintain the
confidence of the country. A series,
nay a habit, of cill-judged appoint
ments and of tenacious support of
appointees who have failed to con-
vince the country of their efficiency
is, part of the existing evil. An
other part is lack of timely COM
prehensive action, due to the per-
sistent failure of the President to
follow the course of all the other
countries at war by calling to his
aid in a real war council those who
are by common consent the ablest
men in the country, whatever be
their political affiliations. Radical
change in these two respects can
alone remove the loss of confidence
which is reflected by the dramatic
action taken by the American SEN
ate.
Under any other system of demo-
cratic government such a vote of
lack of confidence would be follow
ed, as a matter of course, by a
change of Cabinet and a reorgan-
ization of the Government. The
fact that the President of the
United States is placed by the
chief activities of his office in
position corresponding to that of
prime minister throws upon him a
responsibility to the Congress and
to public opinion of which he is
not Invested by the loftiness of his
office in it's other phases nor by the
permanent period of his tenure.
Mr.. Hitchcock, Democratic
Senator, of Nebraska, truly said on
the day of the Senate's resolution:
"* the whole thing
points to what is becoming pub
lie knowledge that we have no
coordination in our Govern
ment; Doctor Garfield does one
thing and another department of
the Government does another
thing. This situation this morn
ing speaks strongly for some
sort of reform in our Govern
ment, and eventually we will be
forced upon the necessity of
locating powers somewhere for
the purpose of bringing about
coordination it's ut
terly impossible for the Pres
ident to do everything"
Referring to the need of war
,- council, he added:
eff we had such a Cabinet
(meaning war council above
the Cabinet) now things would
not be in such disastrous shape
and orders such as this would
not be necessary
Does the President want Amer
lea to be efficient in this war?
Does the President wish to restore
confidence in his Administration