The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-08
HOMER S. CUMMINGS TAKES RAP AT
 COP. LEADERS WHO OPPOSE WILSON

can organization of this city last week, many interesting and signlh- cant things were said. It is not my purpose to make any extended com ment upon what took place upon that occasion I advert to 1t merely 10 suggest that it was characteristic or the method of attack which is pelhs employed by Republican leaders everywhere. That method conslstS chiefly in an attempt to mobilize the forces of discontent and to eXaggef- ate beyond all reason, what the enc mics of the President are pleased Io describe as ''the mistakes of the ao- 1ninistration.' This method of cam paigning brings a speedy response from the thoughtless and the parll- san but it's weakness consists In It's essential unfairness and In the ex- cesses of denunciation which 1t makes necessary. Those who use this sys- tenn become it's first victims. They lose their sense of perspective and in duIge in unwise, unjustifable and un- patriotic attacks upon those, who, Tn a. very difficult period, are managing the affairs of our country. The ora tory of last week was as amazing 10 the listener as 1t was discreditaoIe to those who made use of It.
 "As I read the reports of the speeches, wondered what phrases or abuse. what language of vituperation' what invective, what recital of blund- CTS and mistakes would have been re- served for the President of the United States If he had led the country to l disastrous conclusion of an unsuc- | cessfuI war Every epithet of re- proach has already been exhausted in 1 an attempt to discredit the leadership 1 of America's President at time when America's prestige was never 1 greater, Americas power never so 1 vast and Americas success never so 1 transcendent. The campaign of slan- 1 der, which is the very spume of poll | tics, has been reserved for America s | greatest leader in the hour ot 1 Americas greatest triumph. To listen l to the spokesman of the Republican 1 organization is to gather the impres- | sion that America lost the war, and | has been forced into a discreditabie | peace, humiliating to all lovers of i constitutional government and free | dom, I do not know how others may 1 feel about it, but as for myself, am i proud to be an American citizen. ] am proud of the army. I am proud | of our great navy. am proud of the heroism of American men and
 women. I am proud of the role thai
 America has played in the affairs ot | the world. I am proud of the work | which America is doing for the world | am proud of the power of my coun- i try and of the manner in which that | power is used and I am proud of the leadership of President Wilson.
 "Only a year ago, General Haig
 with the bluntness of a. soldier, said
 that the British army was hghtina
 with its back against the wall" Les
 than year ago, Lloyd Geoge said
 that it was a race between WilsoI
 and Hindenburg" and at that yer!
 moment, France was cltnging like
 drowning man to the rock of Verdun
 and turning agonfzing eyes toward
 America. And America arrived
 The war was won and I challeng
 the critics of the administration t
 suggest how, within the bounds o
 human possibility, it would have beel 1 possible to have won the war nor
 promptly or with less loss of Ameri
 can life than characterized the pres
 ent war The Republican party 1
 rendering small service to Americ
 when it converts the machinery of if , organization into an instrument o
 attack upon American leadership ant
 American honor
 If Senator Lodge were Presiden
 of the United States and MT. Wilson
 Senator from Massachusetts, and
 MT. Lodge, while representing hi
 countr abroad, had taken a positio, adverse to some of the claims of on
 of our Allies, and in that event MI
 Wilson had immediately caused
 A and cabled abroad showing his oppo
 sition to the President of his ow I country abroad, had taken a positio
 the people of another country, an , calculated to inffame the popuIace c , that country against the Presider and against America, a cry of horro s and protest would have gone up fror . every Republican in America, and tn s air would have been filled with erie r of treason.
 2 "A great deal is being said in par . tisan quarters to the effect that tn 3 Administration is responsible fo ! Americas so-called unpreparednes 8 for war. Measured by the standard . of military nations. America was nc T adequately prepared for war. I s sense, a peace-loving democracy r never prepared for war. A peace
 
 r of friendliness with other nation e and moved by aspirations higher tha > those of conquest, is not likely to tur 5 it's attention to the creation of gre5 0 military establishments. Americ = was prepared for peace and for a the processes of peace, and th y thoughts of America were turne y away from the thoughts of war an = exploitation. But let it not be fol gotten, that moderen war is nc
 fought by armaments alone. It is V measuring of the strength of peC } pies. The front line of trenches ; no stronger than the support whic l. lies behind those trenches. The enel Il gies which any great nation mu! 1' turn into the channels of war in th e event of a great national conflict cor e lcern not merely the creation of arm lt ies but the mobilization of the enti1 Il resources of the country. The struE y gle is economic and touches every a: a naught by the ninions of a preds e tory, favor-seeking cast who woul e prostitute to purposes of private priv Il ilege the sublime instrumentalities
 5o1