Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-22

do we care? Would you want to
a voice in the debate? Why, my
| fellow citizens, it is a proposition
which has never been stated be
| cause to state it, answers it,
! Council Acts; Assembly Debates.
/ The president declared that the
/ assembly was really poWerless so
| far as action was concerned, that
! it was a debating forum, and that
the council was the executive body
and on that unanimous agreement
was always necessary and that
since America and the British en-
pire each had one vote, no nation
could compel the United States TO
take any action against her will.
Mr.. Wilson has hitherto ignored
Senator Johnson's argument that
America as the only solvent ma
ton, was about to go in partners
with the bankrupt nations OF Eu-
rope But at Los Angeles, he struck
away with unwonted bitterness at
that suggestion.
We are told" he said, I'VE are
strong and they are weak; that
we still have economic or financial
independence and they have not
Why, my fellow citizens, what does
that mean? That means they went
into the redemption of the freedom
of the world sooner than we did
and gave everything that they had
10 redeem it And now we, be-
cause we did not go in so soon or
lose so much, want to make profit
of the redeemers. The thing is hid
eous. 1t is unworthy of every ira
dition of America. / speak of it
not because 1 think that sort Of
thing takes the least hold upon the
consciousness or the purpose of
America, but because it is a pleas
ure to condemn SO ugly a thing"
Apologies for 1918 Appeal
But if Mr.. Wilson's explanation
on Shantung and the respective
powers of the assembly and coun-
Gil, or the question Of deserving
decrepit Europe were not sufficient
to make his Los Angeles speech
notable, his conclusion alone
would have. been enough. In
few sentences he practically apol-
OgiZed for his Inflated appeal of
last October for a Democratic con-
gress, a petition which was resent
ed far and wide by the rank and
file of the Republican party as
reflection on their Americanism.
Mr.. Wilson was urging his hearers
TO make their impulses felt at
Washington.
Americanism Above Partisanship.
L do not mean" he said, by
any threat of political disaster
Why, my fellow citizens, may l in
dulge in a confidence? I have had
men politically disposed say to me
as Democrats: This is all to the
good. These leaders of the Repub-
lican party in Washington are go
ing to ruin the party They seem
to think that l will be pleased.
do not want to see the great Re
publican party misrepresented and
misled. I do not want to see any
advantage reaped by the party T
am a member Of because another
great party has been misrepresent-
ed. because I believe in the loyalty
and Americanism and high ideals
of my fellow citizens who are Re
publicans just as much as | be-
lieve in these things in Democrats
1t seems almost absurd to say that
Of course l do. when we get to
the borders of the United States,
we are neither Republicans nor
Democrats. 1t is our privilege to
scrap inside the family just as
much as we please, but it is our
duty as a nation in those great |
matters of international concern
which distinguish us to subordi- |
nate all such differences and be a
united family and all speak with !
one voice what we all know to be
the high conceptions of American |
manhood and womanhood" ,
California for League.
The president was cheered for !
several minutes as he made that !
But his speech was |
frequently interrupted by demon |
STATIONS. Mr.. Wilson had come |
into what may have been regarded |
as hostile territory because Sena- /
tor Johnson represented it in the |
United States senate, but Califor-