The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-06-17
BITTER ATTACK
MADE BY LODGE
Senator Arraigns Wilson In Key
note Speech Before Repub-
Iican Convention.
DEMOCRATS ASSAILED
Declares Primary Effort Of Repub-
licans Must Be To Remove "Wil-
son and His Dynasty" From
Control of Government.

Coliseum, Chicago-Redemption and
reconstruction of the United States are
the twin tasks to which the republican
party must pledge itself, declared Sen.
ator III. c.. Lodge of Massachusetts,
temporary chairman of the republican
national convention in his keynote
speech opening the convention.
Among other things he said:
We are met here TO take the first,
the most decisive step in the political
campaign which Is to determine the
party control of this great government
for the mex four years. Ii is a solemn
moment, fraught with vast possibilities
Of either good OF evil.
In order to render to our country
the service which we desire to render
and which we can accomplish in large
measure, at least, if we undertake it
with all our ability and in a disinter-
ested public spirit, we must nave the
opportunity for service. That oppor-
tunity can only come through our be-
ing entrusted by the people with both
the legislative and the executive au-
thority.
To this end Mr.. Wilson and his
dynasty, his heirs and assigns, or my
body this is his, anybody who with
bent knee has served his purposes,
must be driven from all control, from
all influence upon the government of
the United States. They must be
driven from office and power not be-
cause they are democrats, but because
Mr.. Wilson stands for a theory of adj
ministration and government which is
not American. His methods, his con-
slant If indirect assaults upon the con-
stitution and upon all the traditions of
free government, strike at the very
life of the American principles upon
which our government has always
| rested.
The return of the democrats to
power with Mr.. Wilson or one of his
disciples still the leader and master of
a great party, which before his advent
possessed both traditions and prin-
ciples would be a long step in the di-
rection of the autocracy for which MIR.
Wilson yearns. and a heavy blow to
the continuance OF free representative
government as we have always con-
ceived and venerated ii.
The peril inseparabIe from Mr.. Will
son and his system goes far beyond
all party divisions, for it involves the
fundamental question of whether the
government of the United States shall
be a government of laws and not of
men, whether ii shall be a free repre-
ganfQftVa Onunrn mt ~ that - N l{o
tatorship resting on a plebiscite car
ried by repellent methods. Mr.. Will
son and the autocracy he represents,
and all which those who believe in his
doctrines and share his spirit repre-
sent. must be put aside and conclusive
ly excluded from any future control.
Bear this well In mind throughout
the campaign, for it is the first condi-
ton OF u ability to enter upon the
path which will carry us forward to
true progress and to wiser laws. 1t
is the path of Washington, of Lincoln
and of Roosevelt from which Mr.. Will
son has sought to drag us. We can
only regain 1t by once and for all con
demning the man and his associates
who have thus ~endeavored to turn us
from the right road into the lark and
devious ways which with all nations
lead to destruction. We therefore
make our appeal for support to all who
love America, to all. whatever party
name they happen to bear, who are
true TO the faith of the fathers, to Join
with us in this great work of redemp-
ton. The defeat of the present ad-
ministration and all 1t means trans
cends in Importance every ether M
tian and all immediate and dominant
issues are bound up with il.
Defending the Senate's opposition to
the Treaty Of Peace as a high and pa
triotic duty, the senator flung down
this gauntlet: I'VE make the issue;
we ask appreciation for what we have
done. The people will now tell us
what they think OF Mr.. Wilson's
league
While emphasizing the point that
around the league must be waged the
1920 presidential campaign, and devot-
ing much of his speech to arraignment
OF the Wilson administration, tie SEN
ator found time to lay before the dele
gates the stand of the Republican
party on other salient problems facing
the nation.