Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-01-09
Wilson or Bryan-Which viii Prevail?


| of the league OF nations; that is the clear and
| single way" to determine their will-ths is the
| unaterablc decision voiced by President Viii
son i'll his address read before the gathering
of the Democratic clans at the Jackson Day
banquet.
The treaty and the covenant Of the league
of nations. preferably as written, but if that
is impossible, and it is impossible, then a
yielding to the inevitable and a compromise
agreement with a hostile Republican Senate
which will bring peace and restore the coun-
try TO normal basis; it cannot afford to
wait fourteen more months for arbitramcnt
at the polls; the Republicans have the ma
1orlty in the Senate and the right to dictate
i'll what form the treaty is to be adopted-
that is the view and the advice OF William j.
Bryan
Therein would seem to lie the public part
ing OF the ways between the President and
the Commoner. Their programs for Demo
cratic procedure are Numerically opposed.
There can be no reconcilemcnt. The Prcsi-
dent is as obdurate as determined to force
the Senate to ratify the treaty as it was
written, with only interpretations as on the
day when he returned from Paris, or, failing
in that, TO throw the whole issue into the
campaign and ask the people TO judge. The
Commoner, while not assuming leadership is
equally convinced that the time has come to
end the disgraCcful and senselcss wrangle
which has lowered the country's prestige.
robbed it of its legitimate fruits of war and
now threatens the world with further chaos
and to turn the public mind back to the set
6
tude may be termed one OF surrender to the
inevitable, but there is sound logic in his
views perhaps as sound as in those OF the
great man with whom he differs The issue is
clear cut between absolute unyieldng prin-
ciple. an ideal not to he surrendered to ey-
pedlcncy, and one Of national and party pol
icy That issue may have to be decided one
way or the other in the naming OF the party's
candidate for the presidency. 1t will not
await the polls. 1t can be DELAYED no longer
than convention day.
In straightforward fashion Tho pros;dcn,
satisfied one phase OF the public's legitimate
curiosity-that of his attitude toward tho
treaty and the Senate On the other pbasc
'h'' OIL a third term and his possible can
aiaacS, he left them still in the dark Nv
no word did he intimate what is in his mind
on that subject lie leaves himself abso
lntcly free for tho developments of The cam
paign which may be regarded as formally
inaugurated The decision if his own mind
"a'ers as to the course which duty dictates.
may TURN on the manner on which the re-
spectivc views OF himself and the man who
must now be considered his avowcd onno
nent are received by the people.
As TO Bryan-hc may not he cven . ma
'chtial candidate for the presidential nomino
ZION, but there is ring TO his address. kov.
note quality hint of platform making that
VIII 'ead 10 conviction that he still aspires
II not 10 White House occupancy at least
TO resumption of party leadership; and with
public sentiment SO nicely balanced between !.
desire to support the President in his struggle
Tor ii national and international ideal and !,
WISH Tor Immediate peace, who at this early
day can forctclI the result?
hut in neither the address Of Wilson nor
that Of Bryan, nor in any of the other bri,-
liant flights Of oratoIy incident 10 tho Inn
quot did the Republicans receive foods for
solace or hope The differences of opnion IN
the part Of the Democrats are honest differ
S'NS" 'h"l VIII NC composed In due time. and
the party will present il solid front at tho
polls There the Republicans, who last niebt
heard themselves denounced as IA party OF
"esa'ioh' ana were held up to scorn and pub-
nc wrath for the role they have played in
seeking TO Tear the administration to pieces
through sheer personal and political hatred
10 the nations enlargement, will lind that
me voters have rightly placed the responsi
piity Tor the unioward events OF tho mast
seven months and for the present unhannv
and dangerous situation
The jackson Day dinner made history !,
thcse TWO things, if in nothing clse-it cleared
'hc political atmosphere and marked ont tho
one great difference in the Democratic marty
!! difference that will be healed long boforo
november and it leaves two figures botb
S'aiwart and powerful, rising above an other.
| on ne immediate political horizou-ono
man III from ovcrwork for the nation WIN
already has served TWO terms in tho White
House; the other three times candidate for