Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-10-28
THE ROLE OF A DICTATOR

slectior Of ! Democratic congress has put an entirely different COM
row. Whereas there was widespread indifference and a general lack
of interest in politics, the President has suddenly vivrhed the wnole
partisan feeling and the country has been aroused as seldom before.
Instead of being a matter of unconcern the election has been forced
into the limeIght so that it ranks in interest with the war itself
And il. is a feeling Of opposition and resentment that has been
stirred up rather than one of endorsement and support that the fres-
ident was looking for.
In a speech before congress a few months ago Inc rres, n NJ u1
cared politics adjourned. 1.-THE election will go to those who think
least of it, n a plain record of duty faithfully and dianterestedly
performed" he said. While the President himself has shown incon-
sistoncy several times in this respect, there has been a tendency on
ident has o many occasions declared his trust in the American peo-
pie. Had he relied in that trust we believe the great majority of PEG,
pie would have given the election to those who think the least o. IL.
But apparently, the President does not really trust the American
people. He evidently was afraid to leave it to them to decide o n "a
plain record of duty faithfully and disinterestedly performed" He
has yielded to his natural impulse to dictate caring tha'' AFTER III
the people would not do as he wanted them to do. -.
But the American people are not accustomed to dictat!on- TINS
is a democracy with a republican form of government when means
that the people rule themselves, but elect representatives, to run the
government. While posing as a great democrat Woodrow Wilson
has some very autocratc tendencies. His career as president of Prin-
ceton University shows that. Tie is a man OF very positive ideas ana
possessing a forceful character, he has been able to carry through
those ideas in spite of the most determined opposition.
As governor of New Jersey he showed this trait and it was dem
onarated still more positively after he reached the White House. The
not be hampered in any way, the American people, through congress,
ben enacted that have given him control over the very lives of the
people. It is admitted that few potentates in history have had more
authority than President Wilson has had since the United States
entered the war 1t was with the greatest display of confidence that
ner. They have submitted to all kinds of rules and regulations;
bowed obediently to the will of the administrators and otherwise
obeyed without question orders that in ordinary times would not have
been tolerated for N instant. The M safeguard has been the cleo
ton The people have felt that it lay within their power at any time
to elect & congress that would repeal the laws that had 20 robbed them
of their liberties; that they could even Dust the President himself at
the expiration of his term, if they did not like his way of admins
tering the limitless authority that has been given him.
Now, with a congressional election at hand, the President with
all his dictatorial powers, seeks to so influence the country that his
power will not be interfered with. The President seems to forget
that Tie IS~afseF all, the servant of the people, although for the time
being he may have authority bestowed upon him that makes him vir-
tualy their master. The mere fact that he has been entrusted with
these enormous powers should be all the more reason why he should
govern his actions accordingly, so that if it was the people will that
he be relieved of such arbitrary powers he would bow to their deei-
sion without question.
Eut the President nae interfered He has attemnted In toll the
people who they shall elect and who they shall not elect to congress
He is attempting to make this a one man government instead of a
government by the people. That there is wide spread indignation is
not surprising. 1t is beginning to dawn upon the people that it is
the perpetuation of these liberties that they have held so dear since
this nation was established.
Hundreds, yes, thousands of voters who had agreed to let poll
ties stand adjourned and give the President a Democratic congress
to see this war through, have suddenly seen a light; they IRE aroused
M VIII vote to put the opposition part in control as a safeguard to
their own rights, if for nothing else. They know full well that the
Republicans in congress have stood more faithfully behind the admin
istration in war legislation than the Democrats, themselves, have
AS far as the conduct of the war is concerned there can be no danger
own admission, have been decidedly prowar from the very begin
ming. As far as civic and internal affairs r concerned, there is a
grave question in many minds whether the Presidents ideas are the
wisest for the conduct of the government.
There have been a great many murmurings about the way the
country was being run even before the United States got into the war
The decentralization of the Post Office Department is only one of a
been most marked. To aid in prosecuting the war the nation has
submitted without outward objection, but it is o evident that many
of those who surround the President ire determined to continue these
soeialstic ideas eve after peace is declared, that when the Presi
dent appeals for a free hand to manage things when peace is restored,
there Is rghtful opposition. With the war still on, however, the
tendency was to keep hands off, trusting to the future to take care of
itself. But with the Presidents open appeal and challenge, throwing
the political issue wide open, the people must accept things "a they
are, being of the Presidents own making, and express their viii in
no mistaken terms.
The President hath decreed that politics shall be rcconvened. So
be It The people will line up as partisans and will vote a their con-
science dictates. They will have in mind the state of the country
when peace is restored, rather than under wartime conditions, for
the war is about over. If it does not end this winter, the early spring
drive will finish it. It'll the period of readjustment after the war that
interests is most now, and when it comes to that the people are not
as unanimous as they are in the successful prosecution of the war.
The President himself has opened wide the gates. He has put
an entirely new meaning into the election. We believe that the
American people will show by their ballots that this is still a free
hhioh hoiulng dea ITS priceless liberties and that 1t Is not going to
accept dlctalon from any man, no matter how exalted his position.