The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-10-26

disorganized, our debt enormous, our
foreign commerce devoted largely to sup
plying the necessaries of war.
Instead of setting itself to remedyinG
these conditions, the administration has
devoted itself from the day of the arms
tice to promoting a project of world re-
organization in which America should
bear the largest responsibilities of guar
ante@ing a new scheme OF things. In
stead of making legal peace as soon as
actual peace had been won, the Amerl
can people, alone of all the warning ma
tions. were denied by their government
the privilege Of return to the legal sta
tus of peace and to the enjoyment OF
those rights which they had temporarily
surrendered under the circumstances OF
war.
80 long as war was on, Republicans
upheld the hands of the administration
forgetting party considerations, and gave
their vote in support of war measures
far more generously than did their pOht'
zeal opponents Yet an autocratic ad
ministration repaid this loyalty with the
demand, in the campaign of 1918, that Re
publicans be removed from every position
of influence and power. That demand the
country rejected. 1t was the first time
in the history of this nation that an ad
ministration had been defeated in the
midst of a foreign war. That defeat would
have been ample admonition to any ad
HlIHlSCIdllOu IOI 6uluCly dDSOIBGu III lie
own peculiar policies and purposes. But
it apparently was unheeded by the pow
ers at Washington. Neglecting the acute
domestic situation, the administration
suddenly conceived an interest in foreign
affairs that COntrasted lmpressIvely with
its lack of concern for them in the period
before we were drawn into the war.
$50, while immediate and practical con-
Germs were being neglected, while recon
structiOn and reorganization o. our own
country were forgotten, the administra-
ton was devOting itself to the chlmera
of a world reorganization. The Repubh-
can congress, that had been elected IN
the autumn of 1918, attempted to, and
did initiate measures to set us on the
right track once more. 1t devised a bud
get system in the hope of putting an end
to the treasury deficit and bringing econ
omy and system into our national finan-
ces. But the President vetoed that meas
ure. The administration went right on
spending vast sums in excess OF our reve-
nues, offering no constructive inspiration
or leadership, apparently forgetting our
domestic difficulties in its engrossment
with the chimera of world reconstruction.
During the campaign now about end
ing, the Republican party has proposed
in its platform and developed IN the ut
terances Of its leaders, a program which
contemplates equal opportunity for all:
1t recognizes the vices OF exploitation and
profteering. 1t has declared for wise
and practical measures looking to coop
Grafton in production and in marketing.
1t realizes that in all measures to pre-
serve equality of opportunity, there must
be a recognition of the fact that greed
and cunning must be held in check If we
are to insure that true character and
worth shall he given every opportunity
to share in the advantages that the com
munity can extend to its members