, 1918-10-31
PRESIDENT APPEALS TO NATION
didates to Senate and House il
His Policies Are Approved.

Washington. Oct. 25.-President Will
son OH Friday issued an appeal to the
people to return n Democratic Con
gress in the November elections if they
approve his course in this critical pc
riod.
Return of IA Republican majority to
either house of the congress, the Presi-
dent said, would be certainly inter
preted on the other side of the water
as n reputation of my leadership"
The President said he would accept
the country's verdict without cavil. but
that, If ii was adverse, the powcr to
administer the great trust assigned to
him would be seriously impaired.
The text of the Presidents communi-
cation is as follows:
My Fellow countrymen
The congressional elections are at
hand. They occur in the most critical
period u country ever faced or is like
ly to face IN our time. If you have
approved of my leadership and wish
me to continue to be your unembarrass-
ed spokesman in affairs at home and
abroad,'I earnestly beg that you will
express yourselves Enthusiastically to
that effect by returning n Democratic
majority in both the senate and the
house of representatives.
l am your servant and will accept
your judgment without cavil, but my
power to administer the great trust AS
signed to me by the constitution would
he seriously impaired should your judg-
ment be adverse, and | must frankly
tell o so, because so many crucial
issues depend upon your verdict. No
scruple of taste must in grim times like
these he allowed 10 stand in the way
of speaking the plain truth.
| I hnyn M thnttUht nf S,tUuactinu thnt
any political party is paramount in
matters of patriotism. | feel too Keen
ly the sacrifices which have been made
i'll this war by all our citizens, irrespec-
Tive of party affiliations. to harbor such
an idea. l mean only hat the difficult
ties and decisions of our present task
are of n sort that makes it imperative
ly necessary that the nation should give
its undivided support to the government
under II unified leadership and that n
Republican Congress would divide the
leadership.
The leaders of the minority in the
present Congress have unruestionably
been pro-war, but they have been anti
administration. At almost every rurn.
since we entered the war, they have
sought to take the choice of policy and
the conduct of the war out of my
hands and put it under the control of
Observation-Disclosures of their own choos-
ing.
This is no time for divided counsel
or for divided leadership. Unity of com
mand is as necessary in civil action as
it is upon the field of battle. If the
control of the house and senate should
be taken away from the party now in
power, an opposing majority would as
sume control of legislation and oblige
all action to be taken amidst contest
and obstruction.
The return of a Republican majority
to either house of the Congress would,
moreover, certainly he interpreted on
the other side of the water as a repudia,
ton of my leadership.
Spokesman of the Republican party
are urging you to elect IL Republican
Congress i'll order to back up and sup,
port the President, but even if they
should in this way impose upon some
credulous voters on this side of the wa.
ter, they would impose on no one on
the other side. Ii is well understood
there as well as here that the Republi.
cans desire not so mucb TO support the
President as TO control him.
The peoples of the allied countries
with whom we are associated against
Germany are quite familiar with the
significance of elections. They would
'''' II - 'iIltuii W btIltNt lilsl lllt'
voters of the United States had chosen
to support their President by e%lecting
to the Congress Il majority controlled
by those who are not in fact in sympa-
thy with the attitude and action of the
administration.
! need not tell you, my fellow coun-
trymen. that | am asking YOUR support.
not for my sake nor for the sake of a
political party. but for the sake of the
nation itself. in order that its inward
unity of purpose may be evident to all
the world.
In ordinary times / would not feel at
liberty to make such an appeal to you.
In ordinary times divided counsels can
he endured without permanent hurt to
the country. But these are not ordi-
nary times. If in these critical days ii
is your wish to sustain me with undi-
vided minds. ! beg that you will say so
in a way which it will not he possible
to misunderstood either here at home
or among our associates on the other
side of the sea. | submit my difficult
ties II my hopes to you.
WOODROW WILSON.
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