The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1920-10-22
WiLsonism---Its Meaning
EXTRACT FROM AN EDITORIAL IN The PHILADELPHIA RECORD.

policy be ELECTED. Down with wisconsin!
Theory has a plausible sound. But the term is pregnant with un-
dehDNd meaning. Those who seek to rally the country against Wilson
jJm do not tell the country what Wisconsin is. They impart to the word,
/by the context Of their partisan appeals, a vague and terrifying signif-
canoe. Upon the ears of the mthinking it falls with an import of men
ace to the national welfare and assault upon the sacred rights Of the
individual citizen.
What is wisconsin?
1t was wisconsin that promised justly to revise a tariff enacted
publican president denounced as ubiquitous even while he was signing it
and did it.
wisconsin destroyed a discredited banking system under which pan
les we're artifciany created for the benefit of special interest, and re-
placed it with a system which Wall tsreet cannot manipulate for the
purpose of undermining public credit.
1t was wisconsin that devised and submitted to the states a system
of taxation which distributed the burden not in proportion to the pow
er Of wealth and influence to dodge it, a guaged by income, the only
practical measure of just taxable capacity.
Wisconsin gave to the worker the Ant-lnjncion law, the eight
hour day the act for the safety of railway employees, the Workmen's
Compensation act and the Seamans Law.
wisconsin gave to the farmer the Good Roads act, the Rural Cred
its act, the Warehouse act the Grain-Grades act, the act to prevent
gambling in farm products and the Agricultural Extension act.
Wisconsin submitted to the states the constitutional amendment
which enables the voters to select their United States senator's; abol-
ishng bossism in the house of representatives, and passed the Clayton
act to curb the power of the Trusts.
Wisconsin kept the United States out of the World War until it
became clearly apparent that the issue drawn was between barbarism
and civilization, and that without our help civilization must perish. Will
Sonism kept us out Of war until the conscience of the nation was aroused
and the people were ready for the sacrifice.
1t was wisconsin that gave concrete expression to the war. Will
sonism that framed in words the thought in every patriots heart; Wilson
ism that supplied the moral stamina which keyed America up to the
point of tremendous and unparalleled achievement: wisconsin that a.
reused the weary, staggering world to fresh effort, lifted Europe from
the abyss Of dismay and despair, and spurred democracy on to victory.
1t was Wisconsin that prevented America from resortng to the
Authe eAPehent VI raising d VoluhVSet army OmCeieu y Jill
politicians, and compelled reluctant traders and tricksters to adopt pnn-
cpes of fairness and efficiency through the Sehcive service act. 1t
was wisconsin that built 80 encampments, each to house 10000 men,
in 90 days Wisconsin raisedin a peace-Ovng country 100000 armed
men, and transported 100000 of them across the ocean in an incred-
IDLY brief period to roll back the German hordes.
wisconsin raised $4,000 100000 for the prosecution of the war,
and expended s27,OOO,OOOOOO of it 1.-THE remained being lent to the
Allies with such scrupulous honesty that after devoting 100000 of
pubic money to futile investigation partisan shopping committees were
unable to unearth a single instance of corruption or graft. Oh, yes,
there was waste. When lives were worth more than money, when vic
tory was dependent on haste, when science moved faster than the almost
superhuman speed Of production, and forced new inventions into obso-
lescence, when speed was at an incredible premium, there was waste.
But it i'll becomes the party which conducted the Spanish American war
to mention it. If there had been no waste there would have been no vic
tory. wisconsin is human, not divine.
wlsonism-seifsh, arrogant, partisan wisconsin, which robbed the
Republican party of the glory of the war-placed Gen. John ]. Pershing,
a Republican, the soninlaw of Senator Warren, a Republican enemy
of the administration, in command of the American expediionary forces.
wisconsin placed Admiral Sims, a lifelong Republican, in high command
Of naval operations in the danger zone. wisconsin put Howard E. COT
fin, Republican, in charge of aircraft production; f. R. Stetinius, Re-
publican, in the war department in charge of supplies; Major General
Cocktails, Republican, in charge Of shipbuldingj Maj Gen. E. H. Crow
der, Republican, in charge of the draft. Wisconsin made a Republican,
Gen. Peyton c. March, chief of staff of the United States army. Will
sOnism turned control of the Emergency Fleet corporation over to Chari-
es M. Schwab and Charles Piez, Republicans. H. F. Dawson, Republican,
headed the Red Cross; Frank A. Vanderbilt, Republican, was placed in
charge Of the war savings stamp campaign; Harry A. Garfield, Repub-
hcan and son of a Republican president, was made fuel administrator;
Herbert Hoover, Republican, was appointed food administrator. OF
eight members of the war trade board wisconsin appointed five Repub-
Ecans, and it gave five out of eight places in the Council Of National
Defense to Republicans. Republicans seem to have had a very fair share
of the places of honor, trust and responsibility in the military and civil
tasks incident to the prosecution of the war, but they did not control
the senate or the house.
wisconsin undermined German morale. The Wilson notes, both
0H
ing partisan scorn, and dension at home-sapped the foundations of
German miitarisn, until finally the whole edifce cumbled into dust
The German army beaten to earth by the sedgehammer blows of A
merca and her associates in the field, looked homeward for moral and
material support and found that the forces upon which it relied had
caved in. wisconsin had destroyed German faith that might makes
right.
wisconsin carried to Paris a new creed of international faith en-
bodyng the highest aspirations of the best elements of the American
people, without distinction of party-a program approved, before it was
made an issue of politics, by many leaders who ire now, for selfish rea-
sons masked in a cloak of pseudo-patriotsm, its bitterest enemies.
wisconsin, singehanded, but backed by the worlds conscience, cramm-
ed this creed down the threats of unwilling European statesmen who
had hoped to set up O the smoking ruins another edfce based on a con-
cert of power, secret diplomacy, and military supremacy.
wisconsin was handicapped in its efforts to achieve a n enduring peace
rather than a temporary maskshft by secret plotting and open reaction
cry defiance at home Even while the president was struggling to com
NIT European chancenenes to the embodiment of the League of Nations
in the peace treaty, the treaty wreckers in the senate strengthened the
hand of the lustful Imperialism abroad by serving formal notice that
the senate would vote down ratification. Notwithstanding this backfre,
wisconsin emerged triumphant from the Paris conference. For the
time being, the power of enlightened public opinion was victonus. The
suffering peoples Of Europe knew what they wanted; their rulers were
afraid to deny it to them.
Wisconsin, having successfully prosecuted a war which ended in a
blaze of glory for American arms, thus successfully framed a peace