Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-11-04
WHY N0T OR ALLIES?

WHY NOT OUR ALLIES?
Col. Geo. Harvey: We should like
to crafty our allies, as they would be
gratified by popular endorsement of
| Unconditional Surrender and the Wa
party, the dependable party of Roose-
welt and Root and Lodge and Brande-
gee and PoindeNter. We should like
them to feel that they are our Allies
in the great cause and not u casual
.'associatcs,'' to be held at arms length
and weighed and measured from u
cloistered aloofness as we weigh and
measure the Huns.
When we think what they have done
for us, England with her million.
France with her two millions and lit
tie Belgium with her hundreds OF
thousands killed, how pitifully small
seems our less than twenty Thousand
and how wofully lacking justification
of our presuming, as We have been pre-
Stunning of late without even consulta-
| ton, to shape the terms OF peace for
| dIl, W S1y "Hul my S""t
or shall not have, what shall be done
with the colonies captured before we
entered the war, what with Bulgaria
and even Turkey. with whom we are
still at peace! Is it to be wondered at
that at last, after having eschewed
criticism Of the President in any of his
papers for the past four years, even
Northcliffe's patience finally gave way
and he permitted the London Times to
say, as it did say ON October IS, even
though the fact escaped the attention
of our own newspapers:
I'VE all have the greatest confidence
in President Wilson, but we think it
would have been better If instead OF
attempting any negotiations he had
stated straight out that any peace offer
from the Central Powers must be pre-
scented to the Allies as Il whole
Or that the leading newspaper of
Amsterdam should have remarked with
quiet cynicism upon this supreme
hour for the President. the man who
sits in the White House and decides
what he considers just and right with
out much caring what the Allies think
about it,
True, Mr.. Hearst confirms the
fright of President. Wilson to dictate.
the terms. since the United States has
won the war in an incredibly quick
time" but all of us are not Mr.. Hearsts
and some of us, recalling those mil
lions of dead as c%ontrasted with
few thousands, the devastated third Of
France, and all of Belgium, the ravish-
ed women and girls and nuns, the
crucified old -men, priests and boys,
and not forgetting either the gracious
kindness manifested on all sides to our
own brave lads,-sOme of us, we say,
have difficulty in %rcconciling ourselves
without cringing to Il presumption
such as surely never before, shamed Il
sclf-rcspecting people. We repeat that.
in all humility, we would take these,
our associates of France and Bel
gium and England to our hearts, as
Roosevelt would or Taft Oh God
knows who would not, in pride and
~sratcfulness that they should deem us
worthy to be called their Ally and
their friend.
We had hoped, in common with
many, that the war might be conducted
as the war of a united people, as it has
been in England. France and Italy.
through coalition cabinets, and as the
Civil War was waged by Lincoln. with
Stanton as his chief aid. 1t is the peo-
pies war really. They are making the
sa criiices abroad and bearing the bur-
heralding this fact in his speeches, Mr..
Wilson has not only steadfastly ignor-
ed ii in practice, but has acquiesced
without protest in the deliberate pur-
pose of the Southern Democrats i'm con-
gress to make the east and west foot
the bills.
To the great body of Republicans
who constitute fully one-half of the
population he has accorded no recogni-
tion whatever except In a few instanc-
les when the breakdown of his fav-
%orites, notably the Pacifst Secretary
Of War, was SO notorious that the sub
stitution OF brains and experience be-
came n positive necessity. Roosevelt.
the most forceful and popular figure
in American life, has been denied all
participation. except through the e
listment of his gallant sons, which
could not be prevented; Wood, our
most famous soldier. was wickedly
shelvcd because he had been right on
preparedness Root was dispatched
upon ii hopeless mission, only to be
thrown into the discard upon his re-
turn; men OF, the highest standing