The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-14

Iney returned Republican majority
in the House. They upset the Demo-
cratic majority In the Senate. They
repudlated the policies and purposes
for which he demanded support in
the name Of patriotic duty. Presi-
dent WILSON got the decision which
he demanded, but 1t was not the sort
Of decision lie wanted.
Strangely enough, the next appeal
Of the President, following these two
rebuffs from his own Government and
people when he asked for a certifica-
ton Of his assumed right to speak to
Europe in their name, was addressed
to the Italian nation in the name of
America. The incident is too recent
to require the prompting Of memory
concerning 1t. Speaking directly to
the italian people, he asked them, SUBJ
stantlally, to repudiate the policies
and the purposes of their own chosen
representatives In the matter of the
settlement Of Adriatic boundaries.
He got his answer, too, from the Ital-
ian people in shape which would
inspire in more sensitive statesman
ship than his own a lasting reluctance
to repeat such experiments. He solidi-
fed Italy in support of her Govern
ment where he had hoped and ex-
pected to break down that support for
the benefit Of his own personally con-
trived measures.
Now, we are told, he Is coming
home with his treaty and his cove
nant-to- endeavor to force them
through the Senate by means of
personally conducted campaign that
shall go behind the constitutional
treaty making power and appeal d.
rectly to the people 10 whose name
he has been for months and months
assuming to speak to the foreign Pow
ers. If he had spoken to Paris, to
London, to Rome with the represen-
tative authority he has been pretend
ing to possess, If his request through
Senator LEWIS for advance approval
from the Senate had been granted in
stead of being almost derisively ig-
nored. If the vote of the country at
The Congress elections last November
had registered support and not re-
pudiation. President WILSON would
have now no occasion to make the
personal campaign he Is said to have
in view. The very fact that he finds
such a campaign necessary in the
United States contains the confession
that he has been figuring in Europe,
throughout all the negotiations. as
the possessor of mandate from home
which in fact he did not possess.
But so be 1t, If President WILSON
covets another test of his self-pro-
claimed warrant to speak for Amerl-
can public sentiment. Hc will 90 to
the country to ask 1t to back him in
an adventure of ENHANCEMENT with
foreign affairs such rs no American
Executive has ever dared to propose.
In this enterprise of destruction and
of the American sys-
TEN he will place himself on the
wrong side Of the most tremendous
Issue that has stirred American hearts
since the fathers and founders estab-
iished independence by throwing off
alien control and separating the re-
public from foreign politics.
II THE Sun is not grossly mistaken,
Mr.. WILSON will confront, not only at
the Capitol In Washington, but also
in every part Of the land. a resolute,
red blooded determination Of the sort
so we'll indicated in Senator BRAN
DEGEE's message of encouragement to
this newspaper last Sunday. There
will be in the opposition his revolu-
tlonary plans encounter nothing Of the
pale pink stuff that sluggishly flows
in the veins Of the timid vote hunter.
Nor will he find that pale stuff in the
circulatory apparatus of the American
voter who knows what self-determi-
nation really means and is.
What Is This We Hear From Brazil?