The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-11-15

without caVll, were the words O
President Wilson when he appealed t
the country to return Democrat
Congress. They were uttered wit
the consciousness that the countr,
might not agree with him.
Defeat is a bitter pill in politics
but it has it's compensations, fore
most among which is that the Demo
cratic party has been taught lesson
The Democrats were swept from
power because they did not abolish
the odious system of seniority in the
Senate and House where length OF
service and not ability determines the
craftsmanship of committees that
frame legislation. President Wilson
asked the country to support the
Democratic party when the chairmen
of some of it's most important COM
mittees had not followed him. He at
tempted to translate his strength to
the membership Of his party without
regard to the many cases of individual
weakness in its membership.
The Republican party has some
weak leaders-weak in the sense that
public confidence in some of them is
no better than it was when the Re-
publican party was swept out of con-
troll of the house in 1910 and of both
branches of Congress in 1912. One
of these repudiated leaders would by
the rule of seniority occupy impor-
tant chairmanships Of committees. If
the Republicans are faithful to the
rule of seniority, these men will come
back IL matters not that men of
progressive tendencies have been
elected by the Republican voters. 1t
matters not that the leaders are all
from a few Eastern States while the
West has little voice in the leadership.
Just as the South dominated most of
the committee chairmanships under
Democratic rule, so did Republicans
from the State of Maine, for instance,
control at one time the speakership of
the House, and the Craftsmanship of
many important committees in the
Senate.
Republican Chance in 1920
The Republicans have been out of
power six years and now have the
chance to capture the presidency in
1920 if they play their cards well and
analyze the reasons why the Demo-
cratic party failed. For whatever
may be said about the foreign ques-
tons, which seemed to Wilson para
mount in his appeal for support, it is
the consensus of opinion in Demo-
cratic quarters that domestic and not
foreign issues decided the election.
Personal and local questions defeated
many Democratic Congressman.
Republicans are of course saying
the Presidents partisan appeal lost
votes for the Democrats. The fact is
that even before the President made
his statement, it was contidentially
whispered by those in touch with the
outlook that the Democrats had no
chance to hold Congress. These men
confidently believe that the Presi-
dents appeal saved the situation from
being landslide.
Resentment against Representative
man of the Way and Means Com
mittee, was strong in Northern States.
Kitchin himself disagreed often from
the President. Yet Kitchin's leader
ship swung many Democratic votes in
the House and the country judged the !
individual Congressman not by what |
they might do in the future but by
what they had done in the past Will
sons name was not on the ballot. The
names of the individual Senators and
Representatives known intimately to
each community were before the vot
ers.
Wilson's Plea Not Understood.
They were unable to recognize Will
sons appeal for an indirect vote of
confidence. Nothing like it had ever
been presented. European democra-
cies with the executive power respon-
sible to the people through the ma
jority parties of the parliaments or
legislatures often ask vote of con-
fidence. French and British states
men frequently point to the infexibil-
ity of American institutions because
the President and his cabinet are not
associated directly with the vote for a
majority party in the national legis-
lature. The Senators and Representa-
tives for example, who were elected
on Tuesday will not take Office until
December, 1919, unless there is an
extra session next spring. Meantime
the delicate matters of peace negotia-
IlOHS Which, w udu "hSh
he asked united support of the domi-
nant party will have passed off the
stage. IL
As the newspapers brought word
of the collapse of Bulgaria, Turkey
and Austria and the conditions in
Germany, people felt the war would
soon be over and by the time the new
Congress came into power there
could be no objection to division on
strictly party lines.
The Presidents Party Plea
If the President, indeed, was think
ing of progressive measures of re-
and believed his own par
ty better fitted to carry them out than
the Republicans, he failed to develop
that theme or make plain such issues !
to the voters. In fact, Mr. Wilson
with his supreme confidence in the
ability of the electorate to fathom his
purposes without explanation from Z;
MIN did not make it sufficiently clear .:a
lust why the Democratic party was !
better instrument than the Republican
party for the things he had in mind.