The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1918-12-06

cient public servants, and that the
president should have never permitted
him to resign until after reconstruc-
tion was we'll under way, or at least
Mr.. Wilson had returned from Europe.
Fifth, they consider that southern
domination in congress and elsewhere
will prove fatal to the democratic
party's chances to regain the conf
dence of Western celebrates.
Sixth, they are deeply disappointed
that Mr.. Wilson himself should have
kept himself aloof from men from va
rious states, who have sought to aid
him in the past, and that he should
have depended so much on his own
Judgment or the advice of a small
group of provincially minded advisors.
Seventh, and most important of all
there is deep-rooted feeling that Mr..
Wilson has not taken account of the
resentment of the American people for
his failure to take into his councils
on foreign affairs Republicans as well
as democrats. It is true that there
are some republicans who are not in
sympathy with Mr. Wilson's ideas,
but many republicans would be if
taken into the presidents confidence.
Close friends of the president be-
lieve it is his duty, at least, to call into
conference republicans of all shades of
opinion and lay before them the pro-
gram he intends to pursue at the
peace conference.
The last suggestion probably will
not please the president, but the time
is past when friends of Mr.. Wilson
out of mere respect for his likes and
dislikes, can afford to remain silent
One of the most curious features of
the situation is that some of the men
with whom I have talked do not feel
that they can very well tell Mr.. Wilson
the truth. Some of them would be
willing to tell him the truth about
his loss Of prestige in this country if
he only gave them an au1ience. Others
would just as soon write him their
views, and some have done so. But
the majority of President Wilson's
friends are talking among themselves
Of the necessity of bringing forcibly
to Mr.. Wilson's attention that he is
drifting away from the original pre-
cepts of openness and managing the
government in personal and private
way which does not square with his
professions of democracy.
Perhaps the most severe criticism
heard is of Mr.. Wilson's decision to go
to Europe at this critical time. No
body begrudges the president a great
part in the settlement of the peace
of the world, nor his remarkable influ-
ence in bringing victory to the allies;
but the feeling of the men who are
fond of the president and who have
the courage to tell correspondents
how they feel is that he treated the
American people with Indifference
when he failed in his first announce
ment to tell the exact purpose of his
journey and the provision he planned
to make for the transaction of public
business in his absence.
The revolt inside the democratic
party is not of recent origin. 1t has
been growing for several months, and
may explain the lukewarm activity of
rnanyDemocratic national committee
men in the recent election, many of
whom felt large part of the republi
can criticism of the record of the
democratic congress was absolutely
true, and that it was useless to try to
make the people think otherwise.
Mr.. Wilson is considering the ap-
pointment of peace delegates. Some
of the names mentioned have rankled
in the minds of disinterested friends
who want to see America represented
by broad-minded and able men, in
stead of the same type of provincial
ism which has caused dissatisfaction
throughout the country before. Pres
ident Wilson may not know it, but the
morale of his friends is at a low ebb.
There is no one but himself on whom
responsibility can be placed, and no
one but himself who can restore the
confidence of the people in him at a
time when he must needs tell Euro
pean statesmen, skilled in the bargain
ing methods of the Old World diplo-
mats, that he speaks for a united
America, which doesn't want to see
selfishness supersede a spirit of jus
tice at the peace table, and is particu-
larly anxious that the sacrifices Amer
lea has made shall not have been made
in vain.