Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-09-05
Assuming tho Leadership

president, WILSON'S decision to take
his case to the country and to mako a
direct personal appeal to the American people
not only for support Of his foreign policies,
but for support OF his program for dealing
with the grave domestic issues, emphasizes
the fact that 1t is his leadership that the ma :
ton must rely upon, and that 1t is his brains
and his courage which must meet the CRISIS
in the nations life.
For weeks he waited, and the country
waited, for the new Congress to develop a
degree Of leadership in handling the vas.
problems OF readjustms and rehabilitation.
The last election resulted in a new congress
sional order. The Democratic maiorities in
both branches Of Congress we're overturned
Republicans were given undisputed control OF
the legislative machinery OF the government
and the people who voted to this end have
had every right to expect that the Repu bican
leaders would assume the responsibility thus
imposed upon them. But President Wilson
and the American people have waited in vain
Not single constructive idea has issued from
the majority leadership in Congress. No plan
OF action has come forth. No program for
the future has been evolved by it. Congress
seemed to stand at attention during all the
months since the last election waiting for
President Wilson to tell it what to do and
how to do it.
A grave cost-of-living problem was faced
by the nation. Labor unrest prevailed every
where. Strikes and threatened strikes men
aced the whole industrial structure. The
railroads had to be turned back to their own
ers. Some disposition had to be made of the
merchant fleet. Other domestic matters in
vited the study and the concern of Congress.
But that body did nothing in those dircc-
tions.
Instead, it has engag ed in destructive prac-
tees from the very start. 1t has sought to
tear down rather than build up. 1t has been
possessed of mania for investigation. II
has tried to dynamite the administration. 1t
has proceeded upon the proposition that It
would blight what it could not blast. 1t has
faced none of the more vital issues and has
offered remedies for none Of the acute ills
which confront the nation.
This Congress has not even held out the
promise Of an early peace. 1t has tried the
chop the treaty of peace into mincemeat."
as the venerable Republican Senator Nelson,
OF Minnesota, has declared. 1t has hagged
over it and hacked at it necessarily, and now
the Senate opposition is proposing wholesale
amendments to that historic document.
In such situation there WAS nothing left
for the President to do but to act And he
has acted. He has acted decisively. He has
demanded that peace come to the American
people through the unconditional ratification
OF his treaty. He has declared that no will
turn the railroads back to their owners by
the end OF the year. He has proposed that
the merchant marine be placed under private
ownership. He has laid down a cost.of-liv-
ing program. He has told labor that truce
must be declared until conditions settle upon
permanent basis. And now he is going to
the people with an appeal tor co-operation
for sympathy and for support in order that
he may lead the nation into state OF Sc
curity, peace and promise.