The Washington herald., 1918-07-31

no matter whom the Republicans
name II would be useless for them
to even attempt a campaign against
war President. II Wilson does
not run. he says, 1t will be possible
for Roosevelt to have the nomina-
tion and to make good use Of It. The
third-term bugaboo, he insists. will
not stand in the way. With the
war over and the country entering
the period of reconstruction, the
world will be interested in knowing
what attitude the United States will
take and this. he AYERS, must bring
Roosevelt to he front as a warning
to the balance OF the globe that
hereafter We are going to be ready
for war. and will not have to wait
to blunder through an initial stage
to pay a great price for getting ready
to fight.
So far as the higher diplomatic
matters are concerned this man ad-
mits no better statement Of aims
could be made than by the man the
Democrats elevated to the Presi-
dency-but. he says. the program of
unselfish and broadened Democracy
can as well be enforced and adhered
to by Roosevelt as any one else, pos
sibly little more religiously than the
President himself would adhere to It.
So far as they know here the Colonel
abs never repudiated any Of Americas
aims in the present contest. He has
stood for them with unusual yigor.
And really the only complaint made
by some of the Colonels enemies is
that he would impress these aims
upon the world with far moro force
than does Wilson-thougH hardly
with any more earnestness or good
intention.
Be that as II may they are ready
here to acknowledge that T. r.
would call to his side the best men
Of the nation. men who would Civ.
to the administra ton the appearaa nee
of solidarity and Of exceeding
| strength. They think. in other words,
that what Roosevelt himself lacked
in poise and experience and careful
foresight-be that little or great
would be made W. in ample measure
by the men whom he would call
around him.
When T. r. refused to be con-
sidered for the governorship of New
York he believed that acceptance
would not help his campaign for
! Presidential possibility had any
this here. Those who do not be-
lieve the Colonel is yet convinced
| that he should come out fo- the
high seat in 1920 do not believe the
presidential possibility had my
thing to do with it. They merely
! attribute the refusal to a desire of
for time. They think he wilt only
came out for the Presidency when
he Is drafted for it-and they as
sumo that 1t will be through no ef-
fort Of his that the draft will come.
They feel that he learned his lesson
in 1S12-when he directed the draft
and that IL he again becomes a
candidate of the great party TO
which he has belonged most of the
time, 1t will be because a genuine
demand exists for his leadership.
In the matter of preparedness T.
r. has 1t "on" the President, they
point out here. But they do not
give the President credit for having
to develop the preparedness senti-
! ment rather more slowly than a free
lance could develop it-and that the
President himself had to be made
over from an ardent pacifist to an
efficient warmaker. The change,
they admit, cannot be made in a
night. Perhaps they do, however,
realize that peace had to have an
adherent in the White House be-
cause the people of the nation had
been won to peace. The charge in
the President was the change in
the whole people. Even some of the
| sturdy warlike individuals here ad-
init this-and rather shamefacedly
admit, when they are pressed, that
they, too, had thought the world
was becoming good enough to keep
out OF all war. They realize now
that they didn't know the German
people, and that no other nation
did II 1t thought II was possible to
disband armies and to adhere to
peace treaties and agreements of
an international nature. T. R., ma
turally bellicose, did not Sc through
all OF this, they think. but derived
his correct position from following
his natural inclinations rather than
from his careful study of peoples.
At any rate he would profit from
his position. they think here, IL he
made a nationwide campaign. He
would not only find hundreds of
| thousands and millions Of people in
| total agreement with him but he
would be able to face them with
the valuable political argument 'I-
told-you-so." This is enough to win
him many votes, they think here.
However great T. RS star of
fame may become in the future It
will not be dimmed at ell IL he does
not again come actively before the
people. In other words T. r. will
grow whether he is a president or
mere citizen. He has done good
work and he has the thanks of a
grateful nation. He may not real
ize mis- reward in the form of the
Presidency but he will be retained
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