The Washington herald., 1918-09-21

Another problem is 10 pc put UP 10
the President.
It will have his solution in good
time and then Congress will do as
he suggests in the matter Of settle
ment of 1t.
This is frequently the case-often
the case we might suggest-and 1t Is
but natural. where the Presidents
power Is so undisputed as 1t Is in
Congress, that he and he alone should
dictate the trend of legislation.
The new problem has to do with
the census. A bill introduced in the
House provides for the selection of
census enumerators and directors
under the political plum" system.
! The Civil Service Reform League and
| other related bodies are making an
insistent battle for placing this un-
der the civil service plan.
| II the President indicates a desire
to have the civil service plan prevail
some of the members will be opposed
to IL under the surface but they will
| 80 ahead and vote for II Just tho
same. Others will consider it a tri-
umph for the civil service principles
which the party's leaders have in
| dorsed from time to time.
| Thus far it is said nothing has been
done from the White House to settle
! this matter. There are so many inn
portant matters demanding the time
and attention of the President that
he can hardly be expected to take
such matter as this out of the pile
of work and speak on II once and
for all. But it will be reached when
the time is ripe to settle 1t and that.
after all. is all that is required
| There is no doubt where most OF
the party politicians stand on the
question. They want the political
features left in for they want to help
distribute the patronage and gain
what rewards may come to them in
political way from so doing.
Inc reformers of the party are
strons against the plan. They want
to take the same forward step which
they insist was taken when the post
oftce spoils system was put out of
business by Mr.. Burleson. They think
everything should be placed under the
clVll service system, even some OF
| the offices which now find their way
I
The Civil Service Commission
which has been working hard to con-
duct its affairs as they should be
conducted. has found many instances
OF desecration OF the plan, Con-
! gressional members have found nu-
merous examples of desecration Of
the plan, too, and they insist that
no hard and fast civf service plan
can be adopted. They think il is i'm
practicable besides being undesirable
Ihe arguments against it are suffi.
! clent to outweigh the arguments in
its favor. they insist.
The New York Times editorial on
dorsinG the movement for peace. has
lts origin in London newspapers,
mere is no doubt as to this and
| there is no doubt, therefore, as to
the inspiration for this surprise edi-
| torial. which startled the people of
the East on Monday morning
without insisting that there is ma
terial connection between the forces
on each side of the water. however.
one can easily see that IT Is prompted
| by desire to lead the way, rather
than to voice the sentiment OF any
| considerable force of Americans. The
! Times editor believes that an oppor-
tunity is here to bring serious con-
sideration of the peace matter. He
| thought, when the Austrian note came
over, that the time was ripe to give
out his ideas and he did so without
! hguring perhaps what the effect would
/ be.
| He knew that II storm OF protest
| greeted his effort, Americas heart
| he eli dnF ~, l.. q,
| contest that nothing less than dictated
! peace would probably satisfy their
! claim upon Germany. He knew IL
| some heed was given his suggestion
! a negotiated peace might reasonably
/ be expected to satisfy the American
| people. In this respect the editorial
was a 'feeler," although it could well
! be this without necessarily losing any
| of its protest against the continuance
/ OF the war without giving some imme-
diate heed to the peace discussion.
War WEAKNESS, we think the publ
cation of this editorial has demon
| strated. has not struck our country
| seriously. There has been a natural
| adherence of war all along, OF course
| but this seems to have detracted not
| at all from our desire to prosecute
| the conflict to the bitter end This
war WEAKNESS has not been as pro-
| nounced in this country as I'm other
countries because our resources and
our supply OF men have not been as
| thoroughly drained as the resources
and the man-power of other nations.
| The WEAKNESS may strike US at some
! time in the future, but certenly 1t
has not done so up to this time.
There are fights being made
against the Non-Partisan League
which should be stopped. There are
members of the league-the greater
! share of them-who are loyal to the
core. There are others who are in
discreet and who probably might
very easily be classed with the
| Bryan pacifists.
As Mr.. Creel said in his letter of
May 13. 1918: ''It is not true that
| the Federal government Is pressing
the Non-Partisan League in any
manner of that the Federal govern
ment considers it an act of disloy-
atty to belong to this league"
We have seen the Liberty Bond
contributions of some of the mem
bers of this league. We have also
seen the blood contributions OF some
of the members-sons and brothers.
and even some members of the
league. No one can charge them
with being disloyal. II they are.
we confess we do not know where
to look for loyalists.
In fact, the more we think of the
developments of the postwar period
in this nation, the more we insist
lasting wrong has been done to the
nation by men who Pharisaically
announced themselves to the world
as the only 100 per cent Americans
and straightway denounced every
i kndy WIN did not hs=Ii.a L.