The Washington herald., 1918-07-11

T. R. the spirit which he exhibits
is worthy that Of an American and
we commend It to the country gen.
orally.
The Colonel's latest activity in ask
ing that Congress give permission for
contribution Of the Nobel prize to
lines where the money can be used
in the great work we are now en-
gagged in. is bound to endear him to
the people of the nation.
The Colonel Is not now. nor was
he ever a politician-or If he aspired
to be one. he was an almighty poor
| one. He acts according as the spirit
| moves him-and since the war be-
came the leading theme of the world
he has been moved by a broad, splen-
did spirit of Americanism which we
can not help admiring. The Colonel
is too frank and Outspoken to be a
politician. but never too frank or out
spoken to be a good patriot
Mr.. Thompson, the former mayor
of the Windy City. Mr.. Edmunds
and Mr.. Mccormick, present Con-
gressman-at-large from Illinois, are
the three gentlemen running for the
Republican nomination for United
States Senator. The battle is on be-
tween them, and while there is a
distinct difference of opinion among
strong friends of each as to which is
favored at this time, the disinterested
and really unprejudiced members of
the party insist that Mccormick has
the best of the tilt
This man Mccormick Is expected by
some of the national leaders of his
party from other States-by some of
the men who hope to be identified
with national history in increasingly
important roles as time goes onto
be a conner" in every sense of the
| word. The time is not far distant.
they think, il the Republicans gain
control of our national affairs, for
Mr.. Mccormick to show up as a
star of the first magnitude. and one
upon whose shoulders will be thrown
a considerable portion of the load
of party management.
Mr. Mccormick has n multitude of
things in his favor. This year will
the place the leaders expect him to.
or whether he is to be forced into
semi-oblivion by a disappointed and
contentious constituency. 1t is an
important year for Mr.. Mccormick
| just as it is for a multitude of other
people. We will be better prepared
to tell how he Jared, after the
"faring" is over than we will by en-
deavoring to glance into the future
and predict it.
Wire control vested in Mr.. Burleson
would give the sly old politician men,
ber of the Presidents family a chance
to do many things he can not con-
sistently do at present. The chances.
| if we take a pencil and paper and
| try to note them. are so plentiful that
| we soon run out of paper and sorely
tax the graphite to keep track of
| them.
Members of Congress are thinking
about this. Whether they do any,
thing or not, however. We cannot
| tell. There are some Of them who
| want, but who pretend to see the
| futility of it at once. There are others
who fear their intentions would be
| questioned IL they attempted 1t. Be-
tween the two fires, of radicals who
would condemn them for being too
conservative, and the "plupatriots'
who would condemn them for not be-
| ing loyal and letting the legislation
| go through without a hitch, there is
| little likelihood that any tangible re-
suits will be achieved. 1t is too bad.
We hope the wise old P. M. G. will
not get too much with so little effort.
II would not hurt, in the case of
Costa Rico, if a little more light
were thrown on the screen for the
benefit of Americans who want to
know about our relations with that
| country. There are rumors galore
about the Gonzales administration and
there are stories, too. about the weak
nesses of the Tinoco regime, which
has not been recognized by the United
States Department of State. Some
Of the stories should be set at rest
by a straightforward statement from
our State Department. Nothing else
will suffice.
Why, there are Indications that
Congress itself has not been enlight-
ened to any great length-at least,
not as much as is its due-on the
| internal affairs of the Latin Amer
lean country. Would 1t be asking too
much to have the State Department
take Congress into its confidence in
this affair? Let us hope that Il Is
done and soon. too.