Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-06

!
cratic Leader Wilson pleaded in weak
moment. But neither has there been any
| Republican landslide to rcpudate Presi-
| t-of-all-thc- people Wilson. The only
! thing that has happened was the normal
| and proper expression Of public opinion,
in the regular way, rcbuking those ten
/ denotes toward megalomania which have
| cropped out dangerously in Washington
recently: chastising those overreaching
! ofIicehoders who have been perverting
places of trust TO construct a political
machine fondly imagined to be unbeat-
able; restoring the constitutional checks
and balances Of the Federal organization
and proclaiming anew with salutary
effectiveness the principle that this is a
government of the people, by the people
and for the people. The people rule, and
not mere individuals, singly or in groups.
Long may they continue
In this bright. clear light of the day
after, what utter bosh appears to be
those solemn and ominous phrases Of Mr..
Wilson's about the effect Republican
victory in Congress would have abroad.
Can any sane man believe that the re-
suits will affect in the slightest degree
those international questions relating to
the ending of the war which the Presi-
dent has been conducting with such con-
summate skill? Does it look now any
more hopeful to Germany's lost cause
than it did last Monday? Is there any
statesman or politician in England,
France or Italy such fool as to feel
that the American people have repudi-
ated in any minutest degree the stand
which they have been presenting unitedly
behind, not Woodrow Wilson, chief Demo-
cratic oficehoder, but Woodrow Wilson,
spokesman, by virtue of his exalted office,
for the nation as an indivisible whole?
The questions seem almost silly now, do
they not?
The people of Europe understand the
significance of yesterdays results quite
as well as the people Of the United
States. They know that if there is inter-
national significance at all it is only to
strengthen the hands of the President
in the conduct of the war to an indu-
bitable victory over the enemies of peace.
They will know, despite Mr.. Wilson's
own foolish prophecies of gloom and
faintheartcdness in his monumentally
cumbersome recourse to partisanshlp,
that the American public has undergone
not the slightest change of mind or heart
concerning the relations of the United
States to our enemies or our allies,
except, possibly, the change which might
be involved in an unmistakable indication
that we are more determined than ever
to see our part in the struggle through
TO a lust conclusion. That is all
So we repeat that the President has no
reason for REFINING, save for the lapse
into factionalism that he allowed to poi
son his Judgment. If he will disabuse
his mind of the petty partisan spirit OBJ
viously instilled at closet counsels with
certain evil geniuses who are the bane
of his craftsmanship, he will be enabled
to reform his mental attitude toward
Congress. He will realize that the time
! has not yet come when the American
people are ready to tear up the Consti-
| tuition, force Congress to abdicate its CO.
! ordinate powers and hand over the sole
dictation of their affairs, internal as well
! as external, to him or any other citizen.
He will recognize that the faith in the
republic still endures and he will summon
up that scholarly philosophy born of
/ ,A,,N,n
vealed in his textbooks to aid him in Sc
curing those measures of legislation and
those Endorsements of policy which he,
as the chosen executive, believes best
suited to the needs of the country.
That is the victory which Mr.. Wilson
must win, victory over himself, if he
wishes to maintain without reputation
or discredit the high record already won
for his administration.
There is also lesson which ought not
to be lost to the Republicans. In the
first flush of a well-won success, let theiy
leaders not think that they have received
a commission to bedevil or obstruct the
President through congressional control
That would be an error of woeful con-
sequence, not only to their continued
party success, hut in its direful results tc
the country.
The people have shown that they wisl
Congress to be more than a rubber-stamp
They want intelligent action on ever
measure. Even though they have clearl
indicated that they are "pro-war," it doe
not follow that they are "anti-Adminis
tration" in the omnibus sense. The
want Congress to fulfill the functio
marked out for it in the laws, but n
more. They do not want Congress I
run the presidency any more than the,
have just shown that they want the presi
dency to run Congress. It is well I,