The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1920-11-19

gave II out that IL was a referendum
on his peace plans and that he would
accept the verdict as such. But when
the people spoke and elected a Repub-
lican congress in place of the Demo-
cratic one, he ignored this mandate
and said, defiantly, that he would still
tell Europe that our people were
backing him'up in all his demands
A round-robin list of senators, suf-
ficient to prevent the ratification of
his peace treaty gave warning to the
world that Wilson did not represent
the majority will of the. nation and
that the contract he was making
would never be o. K.-ed. But still
he refused to be guided.
Secretary of State Lansing was in
Paris with him and counseled him
that the league plan would not be
when they found what it let them
in for" But the president lived in
a world of ecstatic visions" and he
spurned all advice and warnings. FL
nally he unceremoniously kicked Lam
sing out of his cabinet, because he
wanted around him only men whose
mind would go along with his, as
he himself said. He got his facts"
all from partisan sources and he was
often misled into false assertions. He
would never listen to anything from
the "other side;" he contended that
there could be but one side to any
question, and that was his side
President Wilson was determined
| to extend the blessings of self-govern-
ment etc to all the remote peoples
and groups of the globe-but his wi
sion" failed to take in the people
right at home. He made the error
of laying down the doctrine that the
J prohibition question and the woman
suffrage question were local issues
for each state to decide for itself.
This was a reactionary bourbon idea,
tainted with the old state rights"
doctrine, and though later he tried
to hedge, the people didn't forget
Cox, when nominated, was the
strongest candidate the Democrats
could have chosen, as the Pathfinder
said. But, right on the start he made
the fatal mistake of taking on his
shoulders the colossal burden of Will
sonism. He made a pilgrimage to
the White House and received his
"lesson" from the "schoolmaster;" he
came out of the classroom vowing
that he and Wilson were "at one"
on everything and that he would, if
elected, carry out the promises that
Wilson had made, whatever they !
were.
This was too much, and it doomed !
Cox to defeat. The Pathfinder then
declared that nothing but miracle"
could save him-and the miracle"
failed to occur. Providence was not |
on the Democratic side this time.
Cox made game" fight, but tho
fact is that the more he told the peo-
pie about his policies, the more they
revolted against them. They were
merely the old Wilson policies, and
the people wanted no more OF
Lifelong Democrats in every state
deserted the Democratic standard and
enlisted for this election at least, I'M
der the Republican banner They
declared that Wilson had led the
Democracy astray and betrayed it,
and that he had substituted interna-
tionalism for the sturdy Americanism
that Jefferson, Monroe and other
founders of the party had fought for.
Bryan, the Peerless Leader three
times the Democratic nominee for
president, had denounced Cox as rep
"the most vicious elements
In the country" and had declared that
no decent citizen could vote for him.
The Democratic papers and leaders
said that "of course" Bryan would
turn in and help elect Cox. But this
wass not true; he didn't say a word
Tor him, and this silence was golden
Tor Harding, since Bryan Yields We q
~ large influence.
Bryan had pointed out that a big !,
of the senate, including 23
Democrats, had voted against the
president on the league, and that it /,
vas an outrage on the principles of {.
democracy to ignore that fact He
warned the party leaders that they
you'd meet their Waterloo in No
'ember if they persisted in their
course Walsh of Mass, Gore, Reed.
Myers, Thomas, Shields and many
'ther Democratic senators gave the
anne warning But the circle of men .
Who were in control Of the Democrat
c machinery perVersely held tn the