Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-09-16

VIZ ASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 4o.-There has
wv Just landed on our shores man named
PerShing, sometimes styled "Black Jack
PerShng, more formally known as General
mander in chief of the American petition
airy Force in France That man brought back
to America all wrapped up in his system the
elements that to be the markings OF a
political prairie fire, or of the greatest pollt-
cal flivver in history.
Just now the men who guide the deStinieS
of the political parties of the nation, who sit
in the inner councils where possible candj-
dates are weighed, who influence that chooS-
ing which may mean four years on the com
Portable inside looking out, or four years OF
slim picking are sleeping fitfully at night, and
now and again starting into wakefulnesS, at the
vision of PerShing as Moses, and again OF
PerShing as lure to destruction
There are those who maintain that Per
Shing is preSidentially inevitable. The chief
basis for this contention rests in history. The
mi;tar; figure in every war that the United
States has ever fought has thereafter become
president. There was the beginning with Wash
ington who might have held the position in
definitely had he chosen. The War of 1912
bequeathed to the political situation Andy
Jackson, who fought at New Orleans after
the peace was signed because he had not heard
the news. The first Harrison licked Tecumse
the greatest of Indian leaders, at Tippecanoe
and an adoring public elevated him to the first
umn of fighting men romantically to Mexico
city, and returned to be proffered the preSi-
dental nomination by both parties. General
Grant emerged from the Civil War as po-
litical figure. The Spansh-American war gave
birth to the Roosevelt boom.
There is the record. The man on horse
back has never failed to be the political idol
He has never failed of the highest gift. Will
history repeat itself? Will Pershing follow
in the wake of the others?
There are many who scott the idea They
say that there is something in the public
consciousness that has not heretofore existed
that the military man is no longer the idol
that the very fact of his being a military man
spells his doom. The world, they say, has made
up its mind to have no more of armies and ir
that determination America leads. The public
would not vote for Pershing because it is
just now intent on wiping out the military
idea. His nomination would be disaster
These people argue that military man has
not the qualifications for political leadership
They say that his training has been narrow
scott the idea of his having the necessary grasp
of such problems as the tariff, finance, labor
His life has been spent entirely removed from
such things. They tell you that the military
presidents of the past, in most cases, have been
failures. They say that the experience of his
tory should be warning against such choice
And the opposition steps up and says: The
presidency is an administrative job of consid-
cradle magnitude He handled the job of di-
recting two million fighting men overseas, OF
supplying them of keeping the infinite ma
chinery going that supplied their infinite needs
He made stupendouS success of the job
He called forth the admiration of all our as
sociates in the war. He was so successful that
hardly carpng voice has been raised in criti-
ciSm Has he not demonstrated his capacity as
an administrative! Did he not take hold OF
strange and unknown task and successfully
accomplish it2 Has he not proven that he
has capacities of the first quality?
Then there steps forth some man who has
served in Pershing'S army overseas and this
man says: at might be all right to run Per
shing for president but you must admit that
he would start with handicap of two mil
lion votes against him. No man in the over
seas army would vote for him. He is arbi-
trary, cold, Unconditional. He rubbed this dem
ocratic army the wrong way" t
And the next overseas man you meet makes
exactly the opposite statement He says that