Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-22
POLITICS AND THE WAR


Democrats in the Senate and Hous'
to run absolutely counter to the al
ministration in immediate plans lol
the conduct of the war. The sltua'
tion, which developed yesterday Il
directly due to the Presidents over
weening ambition to be the absolute
dictator of the nations war meth
| ods and policies. If i'll comes OF IT
the President and Stone alone are Il
| blame.
To combat Senator Chamberlain
bill for a war cabinet and a minister
of munitions, President Wilson has
lined up against him the entire Re
publican membership of the Senate
and many of the Senators of his
own party. He has broken with the
high-minded Senator Chamberlain
whom he has to thank for the pas
sage of the White House food con-
troll and selective draft bills through
the upper house of Congress and in
whom the administration placed
such reliance that he was called in
to consultation with the President
when the war message was in pre-
paration. To save the face of Sec
retary Baker. whose colossal blum
oers have aroused the indignation
OF the country, he has stopped to
impugn the patriotic motives of this
same Senator Chamberlain and has
been small enough to call him liar
when in his heart he knows, as all
Americans know, the oregon man
was actuated by the most patriotic
desires and that he is in as good
a position to judge the truth as the
President himself.
For the sake of trying to keep all
the power of government within his
own hands the President has de-
serted the high principled Senator
from Oregon to consort with the dis
credited Stone, whom the President
not so long since included in "the
little band of wilful men" whom he
intimated were acting in the interest
of Germany in America, for 1t is be-
yond belief that the President and
Senator Stone both spoke on the
same day along lines so similar with
out previous arrangement or un-
derstanding.
AS to the Stone address, little need
be said. The country knows him for
the miserable old b1atherskite1 that
he is. His own State has repudiated
him and until the present moment
since the very beginning of the war
he has stood in disfavor even at the
White House. Senator Lodge. Sem
ator Penrose and Roosevelt himself
will attend to his case.
But the Presidents stand is diff
ferent matter. That is serious. He
resents any interference with his
policies. He presumes to tell Con-
gress what bills shall and shall not
be introduced He wants to be both
executive and legislator, both Presi-
dent of a republic and military die
tator. His inexcusable attack on SEN
ator Chamberlain leaves Independent
men of all parties in Congress but
one thing to do-to fight for demo-
cracy in the United States govern
ment even as our soldiers are fight
ing for democracy in France. Either
that or they must admit that Con-
gress is a mere auxiliary to the White
House, with no more real power than
the German Reichstag, if as much.
on that issue Congress is called upon
by President Wilson to take sides.
There can be but one choice for the
true American. He must choose to
stand for popular government, and
standing so must vote with Sepator
Chamberlain and the other inde-
pendent Democrats and Republicans
to curb the power of the executive
and to assemble the resources of the
nation and coordinate the several
branches of war activities. The fight
must be carried to the bitter end,
unfortunate as it may be to have
such a contest develop at a time
when the entire attention of the mar
ton should be directed harmoniqusly
to one end.
But let nobody imagine that this
split between the executive and the
independents of Congress indicates
any difference between the two as
to the prosecution of the war. On
that score all Americans are as one
We are in this conflict to win and
win we will, although we may find
it necessary to pause at times to
correct an error of judgment or
scotch a snake within our own
grounds. The country Is so intense
ly interested in. the successful con-
duct of the war that it will not per-
nit even the President to stand in
the way of what it believes to be
the best means to that end, and it
is so devoted to democracy that it
will defend it's democratic govern
ment even from the hands of a mis-
taken patriot or a benevolent die
tator. And as for playing politics
in the war. the President himself is
just now getting a taste of the folly
Of that.
The Germans. dispatches say, are
wearing paper clothes. which is not
so much worse than the paper shoes
some of US Americans are wearing.