Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-01

In their ieremiads over the Presidents appeal
for the election of Democratic Congress- hepuD-
lican leaders droly remindful OF the sancIimo-
nious buccaneer who went to hugging the Ten
Commandments. They beat their breasts ana "aS
their boards what they term White House
craftsmanship" yet all the while they are steering
as obviously d partisan course politicians With
an issue ever adveutured their appralslng eyes
rolling hungry toward the ship of state.
Outrageous" cries the voice from oyster Bay
forgetting his words of 1898, when the prop
lens OF another war lay gravely upon "ashlhsIoh.
Remember that, whether you viii II or not your
votes this year will be viewed by the natlohs ol
Europe from standpoint only. y reIuSal 10
sustain the President this year WILL in their eyes
be read as a refusal to sustain the war and TO
sustain the efforts of our peace commission TO Sc
the fruits of the war. Such "a relusaI' "uuCu
the Colonel, then candidate for the GoFerLoislIp
of New York will give heart to our deIea'eo
antagonists" and I'VE will gain less than we Ou8ht
from the war if the Administration Is not suS-
tanned at these elections Likewise senator
Lodge. whose Plymouth Rock conscience IS so
shaken by a Democratic Presidents appeal Tor
unity of control in these critical times, SAID OF
nationally beloved Republican President: IL we
give a victory 10 his political opponents we say
not only to the United States. but we say TO the
world we say to the Spanish Commissioners thaI
we repudiate its (the vars result and repuolate
the man who has led VIGOROUSLY the war ana IS
now leading us back to peace-William Mckinley.
But consistency can hardly be expected OF pOnJl-
ca! strategists who in breath profess TO be nrm
supporters of the President, and in the next urge
the election of a Congress that would be under
ministratiOn. OF course these gentlemen are
for the war Who that is not pro-German is other
wise? But, discrepantly enough, they are against
the policies and the leadership under when the war
is being prosecuted to victory. They wish America
and the Allies to win, but from the outset they
have cavilled at the methods by which success was
being attained. They are not partisan. On, no!
Rut they chriishly refuse the Administration Jot
of credit its war record and seek TO dlsplace
unity of counsel by divided Government ana, as
the President has said, "ODlige all acIloh 10 pe
IA ken amid contest and obstruction.
Little minds and great empires, we are IolC'
..oo i'll together" What confidence could the coun-
trv place in a Congressional majority which would
take it's from Colonel RooseYelts petty Yitu-
2eration and Mr. Hays inane craftsmanship! "haI
hone of far-visioned and harmonious action on
world issues would there be with the House ana
Senate in a slough OF silly Republican politics
No one questions for moment the wholehearted'
magnificent patriotism of the rank and HE OF ke-
mi Iican citizens. AS the President himself de-
cIared in his appeal for the return OF a Congress
that will support him, Il have thought OF sug-
costing that any political party is paramount in
matters of patriotism; feel too keenly the sacr-
fices which have been made in this war by all our
citizens irrespective OF party utilization, to harbor
such an idea" But the fact remains that RepUb-
Iican leaders with little mindedness unworthy OF
the great rank and file they presume to represent,
are seeking TO put their own partisan interests
above the interests of America.
Doubtless it is mere prejudice that leads them
on this unadmirable course, or mere inability to
think in terms of the nation rather than of
marty. or perhaps as in Colonel ROOsevelt's case,
sad habit of viewing even the greatest problems
and the greatest achievements through an atmos-
phere of jealous egoism. Democracy is managing
the war too efhcentcy to suit these sensitive par
tisans The Presidents diplomatic strokes, deliv-
cred in skillful conjunction with the giant blows
of Foch are succeeding too well to please his en-
vious detractors. Hence the jeremlads from Re
publican strategists. Hence the teeth-gnashing at
oyster Bay sad and silly day ii is for the hun
CRY saints of the G. o. p