The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-06-28


 the premeditated calumnies of the opposition, we are entitled to call at tention to the fact that all of these things were accomplished under the leadership of a great Democrat and a great Democratic Administration. We have no apologes to make - not one. We are proud of our great Navy; we are proud of our splendid Army; we are proud of the power of our country and the manner in which that power has been used; we are proud of the work that America has done in the world; we are proud of the heroism of American men and women; and we are proud of the in spired and incomparable leadership of Woodrow Wilson.
 Has not the time come when all Americans, irrespective of party, should begin to praise the achieve ments of our country rather than to criticise them? Surely a just and righteous sense of national pride should protect us from the insensate assa ults of mere partisans. We fought-a great war, for a great cause, and we had a leadership that carried America to greater heights of honor and power and glory that she has ever known before in her entire his tory. If the American flag must be lowered it will be hauled down in a Republican Convention and not in a Democratic Convention.
 Partisan Investigations
 It is this shining record of tremen- dous achievement that Republican , managers and the Chicago Platform seek to shame and besmirch. Vari- ous Congressional committees, which for want of a more appropriate term, are called smelling committees were appointed for the purpose of as- certaining whether or not there was any graft in the conduct of the Great War. Over eighty investiga- tions have been made, over two mil lion dollars have been wasted, and the one result has been to prove that it was the cleanest war ever fought in the history of civilization.
 Through the hands of a Demo- cratic Administration, there have been passed more than forty billions of dollars, and the finger of scorn does not point to one single Demo- cratic official in all America. It is a record never before made by any political party in any country that ! ever conducted a war.
 If Republican leaders are not able to rejoice with us in this American n triumph, they should have the grace | to remain silent, for it does not lie | in the mouths of those who conducted the Spanish-American War to in dulge in the luxury of criticism. What was there in this war to com pare with the typhoid infested camps and the paper soled shoe controversy | of 1898? What was there in this war to compare to the embaImed beef scandal of the Spanish War? Despite all their investigat ons, not one single Democratic official has either been indicted or accused or even suspected; and the only dignitary 1 in America, off any outstanding poIi- | tical significance who is moving in the direction of the penitentiary, is Truman Newberry, of Michigan. The very power of the Republican Party to conduct a partisan investi- l gation of the war, to criticise the | President, to control the organization | of the Senate and to wreck the pros pect of world peace, rests upon a bare majority of one, secured through the tainted senatorial vote from 1 Michigan.
 | The Republican Party became SC i fixed in its incorrigible habit of con- 1 ducting Investigations that it finally turned to the fruitful task of investi
 gating itself For the first time since | 1 discovered fraud and graft and gross | and inexcusab1e expenditures The
 revelations disclose the fact, long un- l derstood by the initiated, that the | meeting at Chicago was not a con- vention but an auction. The highest l bidder, however, did not get the prize
 The publicity which overlook the pro- 1 ceedings frustrated the initial pur-
 pose. In more senses than one, the 1 1 the Democratic Party as the sole GUS | todian of the honor of the country. The Cost of the War.
 l There are men so small in spirit, SC pidfu1ly cramped in soul, that they 1 suggest that the war cost too much i The Republican platform echoes this
 complaint It was indeed, an expen-
 sive war. War is the most wastefu | thing in the world. But is money te be measured against the blood o1 American soldiers? Would it not be 1 better to spend a billion dollars fol shells that were never exploded, thar
 to have one American boy on the firing line minus an essential car fridge? Was it not better to prepare for long war and make it short than to prepare for a short war ant
 make it long? When criticism i.
 made of the expense of war, let u: not forget that we bought with it the freedom and the safety of the civ1 1ization of the world.
 Preparedness.
 Again, they say that we were no prepared for war. In a strict mili tary sense, a democracy is never pre- pared for war; but America mad,
 ready in a way that was far more eff fective than by maintaining, at enor nous cost, great armaments, whicl neither party ever advocated ant
 which our people would never ap-
 prove.
 Wars are not fought by armie alone. They are fought by nations It is a measuring of the economi
 strength of nations. The front lin,
 trench is no stronger than the force
 which lie behind the trench. The lin, of communication reaches back t.
 every village, farm, counting house factory and home. America prepared by making the economic life of thu country sound.
 1 What would have been our situa ton if, prior to the outbreak of thu war, we had not prepared so that our farmers were able to feed the armie