The sun., 1919-09-03

evasive OF practical import as most Of
his preachments on the covenant ant
the League. ..t
The third supposition as to his
actual motive for this Journey IL
widely entertained, If yet improved
1t regards Mr.. WILSON as already 0
conscious and self-determined candi
date for a third nomination and q
third election. 1t regards the swing
around the great circle as the initial
enterprise of systematic campaign
for third term--a campaign ir
which what seems to him the most
promising issue will have the first
place, whether that issue Is foreign
or domestic, international or national
II takes also into account that per.
sonal Joy In oratory, that immense
pleasure In the applause of multitudes
in the cheers and keen interest with
which a friendly populace is ever
ready to greet the appearance Of an
eminent parsonage, for which Mr..
WILSON has manifested so unmistak-
able an appetite in his previous stump.
ing campaigns both at home and
abroad. This attraction, personal to
himself and depending on purely per-
sonal traits of character, is not to be
overlooked In any consideration Of the
Presidents present movements, al
though THE SUN prefers not to dis
cuss 1t at this time.
What may be done, perhaps with
advantage to the general understands
ing Of the political aspects of the sit
uatlon, is to point out, in the most
respectful way, the underlying mis-
conception of his relation to the con-
stitutional system of the United
States, which has colored and con-
trolled and in a measure perverted all
Of Mr.. WILSON'S public activities
since he emerged from the groves of
Academic to take a leading part in the
nations affairs. His idea of a Presi-
dents relation to the Federal Govern
ment has been as steadily entertained
and as consistently manifested as 1t
has been varlously and often distress
ingly inconsistent in its special appli-
cations.
Reduced to the simplest terms, his
doctrine is the doctrine of Individual
ism, of Executive supremacy over the
coordinate parts of the governmental
machinery, Of individually determined
policies to be forced upon the Legis-
lative department, if may be, by direct
personal appeal to the same people
who have already chosen In the con-
stitutional way their representatives
In the business of law making. A
hundred times, In lectures, in writ
ings on our form of government, in
speeches on all sorts of occasions, in
personal acts undertaken when he
was in a position to give practical
effect to his theory of American gov
eminent, this statesman and philoso-
pher has expressed his belief In a
leadership which Is substantially ex-
ecutive autocracy, sustained adroitly
by successful appeal to the popular
inclinations of the moment. His doc
trine was perhaps never more directly
avowed than in a speech which he
made in Detroit in July Of 1915. Mr..
WILSON then said:
II am one of those-I have some-
times suspected that there were not
many Of them--who believe abso-
lutely in the Virginia Bill of Rights,
which says that a people has the
right to do anything they please with
their own country and their own
Government"
The particular passage in the Vir-
glnla Bill of Rights. declared by a
convention Of forty-hve burgesses at
Williamsburgh on May 6, 1776. which
Mr.. WILSON had in mind when he
made this sweeping statement re-
garding his own philosophy of gov
eminent, is contained In the third
section, as follows:
when any government shall be
found inadequate or contrary TO these
purposes lsecurity and protection
against maladmihistrationI q ma
jority Of the community hath an in
dubitable, inalienable and indefeasi-
BILE right to reform. alter or abolish
II, In such manner as shall be judged
most conducive TO the public veal"
That Is a declaration Of the ulti-
mate right of revolutlon--in this case,
as the date shows, of revolution
against maladministration by a for
eign government. 1t was exercised
by the people of Virginia and the peo-
pie of the twelve other States, under
the leadership of the Virglnian GEORGE
WASHINGTON, in the overthrow of
English domination by their success
full war for independence. That war
resulted In the establishment of new
nationality, with an organized gov
eminent Of balanced powers. again
subject TO change and reform, In case
Of need, by the regular method Of
amendment prescribed by the adopted
Constitution.
The fundamental error in President