The Washington herald., 1920-07-07

The situation at the National
Capital. where matters finally focus
and reeults accrue upon which pub
lie Judgment is passed, has been
twelve months in the making. 1t
may be well to recount the out
standing circumstances of that
process
I'VE recall the political contest of
1918 With It's e. very rhase. The DEM
Iocrats voiced the pride that de-
served place in every American heart
on the part the country had played
IN war. accepting responsibility and
offering TO apology for the polly
upon which >the great achievement
was based.
"On the other-hand, Republican
leaders gave seemingly sympathetic
ear and word, as a shield Tor pois-
onous partisanship, to every mo-
mentary complaint born of. the
stirred emotions of the time. The
wounds of a bleeding nation were
seized upon with almost ghoulish
enthusiasm, and an attempt made to
turn heartaches and anxicties into
bitterness against governmental au-
thority. 1t was for these misguided
zealots in an ignoble cause, how
ever. to discover that the conscious
sense OF service and sacrifice was
but a ,reassuring compensation for
all that had beer given and lost.
But this was not the worst fea-
ture OF that campaign. The Repub-
Iican leaders coht.bitcd noto-i-
ousiy with every disloyal group.
The result in 1918 was not a Demo-
cratic defeat. No political patty
which denies intercourse With trea-
son suffers a reverse in so doing.
The Democracy fought that bat
tie with it's ranks as free from
traitors as did the gallant American
legions overseas, and ii came out of
it triumphant in it's self-respect,
face forward to the present and the
future.
"Undaunted. IL has continued It's
support not only OF our soldiers in
Europe. but of their comma nder i'm
chief in America. From that day
until this. IL has recognized the
pressing task of the hour to be the
formal ending Of the war-the COM
pletion OF the vast job which the
mandate OF the human conscience
and of God himself had committed
to America.
And what of the opposition?
I'm dealing with 1t. l speak of the
Republican leaders only, because In
the great rank and file of both par
ties, patriotism abides. One must
ask himself. however. why il is that
the Republican leaders move with
such defiance to both public interest
and public opinion as to confound
human understanding.
America Obstruets World Peace.
When soldiers were finally re-
turning to their homes, when king
doms builded in policy and domain
out of the ruins of blasted hopes and
broken hearts, had fallen to pieces
from the wrath OF time, and millions
iof people needed the balance and
strength of just authority: when
lnations-large and small prayed for
the sealed compact of justice into
which the happiness of generations
to come was to be written and
pledged: when the whole world,
worn and enfeebled by the disasters
of war, reached. forth its hand for
Ithe peaceful fruits of victory.
America was made to appear as
standing in the way of this holy
Iconsummation.
BY the arbitrary exercise of au-
thority, conspiring band of men
seated in the Senate of the United
States stood out as the 'self-ap-
pointed/spokesmen of their country
men. The very action which they
prevented held the affairs of nations
everywhere ,disjointed and impotent.
I'm short. the civilization of the
world stood bound and gagged in
their control. while their insensate
thirst for partisan advantage struck