Omaha daily bee., 1918-11-12
A President Rebuked
St. Louis Globe Democrat (Rep)

phasized two things-frst, that the republican
party is still the dominant force in the nation,
and second, that anger is the most active OF
emotions. The one is fact of politics, the
other we may associate with philosophy, and it
is strange that President Wilson, who is both
politician and philosopher, should have failed to
recognize the potency of either. His partisan
appeal for democratic congress most unJustly
impunged the honor and the patriotism OF the
republican party, and it incensed every repub-
lican in the country who had drop of red
blood in his veins The result is republican
congress, elected to vindicate the loyalty and
the devotion OF the majority of the American
people, and to put into effect the principles of
that majority in the great problems of recon-
struction and renewal that are to come before it.
We are profoundly satisfied with this result,
we believe it to be right, because we believe it
to be wholly and necessarily justified by the Cir
cumstances, and because we believe that the re-
publican party should share in the vast work
that lies before us; share not as an unrecog-
nized and discredited minority, but as all &C
knowledged and respected power in the shaping
of legislation for the country's welfare. But we
cannot forget that Woodrow Wilson is presi-
dent of the United States the chosen leader of
the American nation, and that he has brought
upon himself this rebuke by the American peo-
pie at the time when he is the most conspicuous
figure in the affairs of the world, and when he
is just concluding one of the most remarkable
and most important achievements in history.
We find no JOY in this, for we had rather, much
rather, have seen him leading us, and leading
civilization with the unbroken ranks of Amer
lea behind him. We would put the honor and
the glory of our country far before all else, and
we can imagine nothing finer than an American
leadership that would draw to itself and possess
the confidence of the whole people; that would
unite us together in an equality of service and
of respect for the working out of the great prob
lens of this momentous hour. Mr.. Wilson has
had the opportunity for such leadership as no
man in our history has had. The country has
been with him in solidarity of purpose never
known before. If he had stepped outside of his
party, if in this purely national emergency he
had recognized the right of the republicans to
share in the great work share in its honors
as well as in its sacrifices; if he, had, in short,
smashed the partisan wall and called upon US as
Americans all, he would have been given place
in the hearts of the people more surely and
more securely than either Washington or Lin
coin ever attained.
But Mr.. Wilson declined to consider coali-
ton in any form. He has called no republican
into his inner circles; he has given no recogni-
ton and no credit to the loyalty and devotion
OF the republicans in congress- he has made the
government party government in the strctest
sense, and while he has accepted the self-sacri-
fcng service of republicans whose abilities he
found necessary to the public welfare, he has
carefully restricted them to the temporary en-
ployment of war work; he has turned deaf ear
to the frequent suggestions that the republicans
be admitted, as republicans, to share in the
administration of government in this extraordi-
nary emergency. seeming to take the position
that this was war by the democratic party, for
the democratic party. This attitude has been a
continuous source of resentment by republicans
throughout the country, for in view of the heroic
devotion OF the members of the party, in office
and out, it was unwise unfair and unj just. New
ertheless they have given Mr.. Wilson their un-
taltering support; they have refused to consider
themselves prescribed by their party affiliation
and have entered with patriotic zeal into all the
activities for the national welfare, recognizing
among themselves no party distinctions in the
great duties and responsibilities of American
citizenship in this time of stress. No man can
truthfully say that the republicans or the re-
publican party as an organization, have been
un-American in any sense No man can truth
fully say that, individually or collectively, they
have failed in the performance of their full duty
The voices of few exaggerated partisans have
made no impression on their ear they have
recognized Mr.. Wilson as the president of the
United States and they have stood by him, with
out complaint and virtually without criticism.
In return for this wholly unprecedented and
altogether admirable unanimity of support the
president turned upon them the cold stare of
disapproval and issued partisan call for par
tsan congress, congress in which the voice of
a republican would be wholly ineffective. The
unfairness of this call, the ingratitude of it,
,,,.tt ,,J; o.J A.
swer is republican congress, which will not be
controlled by Mr.. Wilson, 1t will not be con-
trolled by him. neither will it control him, so
long as he confines himself to the constitutional
prerogatives of his office. 1t will, we are sure
give him hearty and earnest support in every
proper movement for the NATIONS welfare, and
for the advancement of international relations.
The people have not condemned his leader
ship, nor have they repudated the policies which
have made him the outstanding figure in the
great crisis of the moment In incompatible
words he has voiced the principles and the pur-
poses of the American people, as truly the prin-
ciples and purposes of the republicans as of the
democrats They, at least, are not partisan, and
if President Wilson had consistently applied
them to the operation of his administration he
would not today be Inundated by this great re-
buke from the nation. The republican congress
will be an American congress; it will represent
the majority of the American people and it will
deal with the problems that confront it with
patriotic zeal, submitting to no dictation but
refusing no wise council. Its election in no way
imperils our interests: On the contrary, it re-
stores the balance of government endangered
by too great concentration, while at the same
time it announces to the world that the self
determination of peoples is, in the United States,
principle Of practice and not mere theory.