Republican farmer., 1920-07-02
CUMMINGS CHAMPIONS
 LEAGUE COVENANT
TREATY DEFEAT SENATE BLACK PAGE IN NATIONS HIS TORY-PRAISES WILSON'S LEADERSHIP IN KEYNOTE
 SPEECH-TELLS
 ACHIEVEMENT.

recital of actual performance. It
 constitutes Democracy's response to
 the demands of social Justice. It is
 our answer to the antiquated slander
 that the Democratic Party is unable to understand the great affairs of the country. ey
 The Federal Reserve System. If the Democratic party had ac- complished nothing more than the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, it would be entitled to the enduring gratitude of the nation. This act supplied the country with an elastic currency controlled by the American people. Panics-the recurring phe- nomena of disaster which the Repub-' lican party could neither control nor explain-are now but a memory. Un- der the Republican system there was an average of one bank failure every 21 days for a period of nearly 40 years. After the passage of the Fed eral Reserve System, there were, in 1915, four bank failures; in 1916 and 1917, three bank failures; in 1918, one bank failure; and in 1919, no bank failures at all. The Federal Reserve System, passed over the op- ! position of the leaders of the Repub- lican party, enabled America to with stand the strain of war without shock TT panic; and ultimately made our country the greatest creditor nation
 of the world.
 Achievements In War.
 And then the Great War came on. Ultimately, by the logical steps of necessity, our peace-loving nation was drawn into the conflict. The neces- sary war legislat tion was quickly sup piled.
 7ira inr1 w a created. War Risk Insurance was provided. Shipbuilding laws re-estab- 1ished Americas supremacy upon
 the seas. The office of Alien Property Custodian was created. A War h. dustries Board was established. War Trade Board was created. Food , and Fuel regulations were formulat- ed. Vast loans were successfully Heated. Vocational training was pro-
 vided. National Council of Defense was created. Industry was success fully mobilized.
 Almost over night, the factories of the nation were made a part of the, war machine, and the miraculous re- vival of the shipping industry filled the ocean lanes with our transports. Our fleet laid the North Sea mine barrage. We sent fighting craft tc every sea and brought new courage and inventive genius to the crucial i fight against the U-boat.
 In transporting our troops to France, we never lost a man in 1 ship conveyed by the American Navy. | One of the first decisions was be- l tween the volunteer svstem' and | the se1ective draft Many patriotic 1 citizens strongly deprecated conscrip-
 ton and dreaded it's possibilities. The | adr ipiS Strat tinn n1aca1 its in 1 fuence behind the measure, secured l it's passage, and made possible the | winning of the war.
 It proved a democratic system as-
 surfing equal service, equal danger 1 and equal opportunity At one stroke
 of the pen, bounty jumping, and the l hired substitutes that had disgraced the mana cement of the Civil War | were made impossible The selection | of men to go to the front was pla aced | not merely in the hands of the civil
 authorities, but actually iii the hands of the friends and neighbors of the i men eligible for service No funda- l mental law was ever administered
 with such scrupulous honor. Not one 1 breath of scandal touched this legis- lation; and so cheerfully was it ac- cepted that today, the term draft
 dodger" is ar epithet of reproach in
 any community.
 Partisanship was put aside in the
 selection of General Pershing as
 leader of our forces and no military
 commander in history was ever given
 a freer hand or more unhagging SUD-
 port. The policy of selecting officers
 through training camps avoided the
 use of political favorites and guaran- teed competent leadership for the
 | 1ovo were registered within three months from the declaration of war and 32 camp cities omplete in every munici- 1 pal detail, were built in 90 days. In France we had to construct our own docks, railroad lines, storage de
 pots hospitals and ordnance bases
 We had to cut down the forests for f our barracks. In June, two months , after the declara ton of war. oul fighting men were in France; in Oc- < tober, Americans were on the firing , line; in scarcely more than year
 we had 100000 men in France, had 5 whipped the enemy at Belleau wood $ beaten them back at Chateau Thierry 2 wiped out the St. Mihiel salient ana
 delivered the terrific hammer blow I Sedan that virtually ended the war. Less than two ears ago, Genera g Haig. with the bluntness of a soldier 1 said: "The British Army is fightin: = with its back to the waP': Lloy' - George was crying: Tt is a race be - tween Wilson and Hindenburg," ant e France chung like a drowning mai Q to the Rock of Nerdun, turning agon [ ized eyes toward America. An' = America came We challenge tn S critics of the Administration to poin = out how, within the hints of huma. . possibility, the war could have bee l. won more promptly or with less los S of American life.
 l. It was not by mere chance tha
 1 these things were accomplished. T r readjust the processes of peace so a ?. to serve the activities of war requir t ed leadership of unexampled skill l. Petty criticism of minor defects an n individual. officials may for time at IS tract a superficial attention, but tn n significant things, the great outstand l. ing facts plead eloquently for tn n Democratic cause.