Republican farmer., 1920-07-02

cause of the calculated criticism and the prem editated calumniess of the opposition, we are entitled to call at tention to the fact that all of these things were accomplished under the leadership of a great Democrat and a great Democratic Administration. We have no apologes to make - not one. We are proud of our great Navy; we are proud of our splendid Army; we are proud of the power of our country and the manner in which that power has been used; we are proud of the work that America has done in the world; we are proud of the heroisn of American men and women; and we are proud of the in- spired and inconaparable leadership of Woodrow Wilson.
 Has not the time come when all Americans, irrespective of party, should begin to praise the achieve ments of our country rather than to criticise them? Surely a just and righteous sense of national pride should protect us from the insensa te assa ults of mere partisans. We fought great war, for a great cause, and we had a leadership that carried America to greater heights of honor and power and glory that she has ever known before in her entire his
 
 lowered it will be hauled down in a Republican Convention and not in Democratic Convention.
 Partisan Investigations
 It is this shining record of tremen- dous achievement that Republican managers and the Chicago Platform seek to shame and besmirch. Vari- ous Congressional committees, which for want of a more appropriate term are called smelling committees were appointed for the purpose of as certaining whether or not there was any graft in the conduct of the Great War. Over eighty investiga- tions have been made, over two mil lion dollars have been wasted, and the one result has been to prove that it was the cIeanest war ever tough. in the history of civilization.
 Through the hands of a Demo- cratic Administration, there have been passed more than forty billions Of dollars, and the finger of scorn does not point to one single Demo- cratic official in all America. It is a record never before made by any political party in any country that ever conducted a war.
 If Republican leaders are not able to rejoice with us in this American triumph, they should have the grace to remain silent, for it does not lie in the mouths of those who conducted q the Spanish American War to in dulge in the luxury of criticism What was there in this war to com pare with the typhoid infested camps and the paper soled shoe controversy of 1898? What was there in this war to compare to the embalmed beef scandal of the Spanish-American War? Despite all their investigations, not one single Democratic official has either been indicted or accused or even suspected; and the only dignitary in America, of any outstanding poli- tical significance who is moving in the direction of the penitentiary, is Truman Newberry, of Michigan The very power of the Republican Party to conduct a partisan investi- gation of the war, to criticise the l President, to control the organization | of the Senate and to wreck the pros pect of world peace, rests upon 9 1 bare majority of one, secured through 1 the tainted senatorial vote from l Michigan.
 The Republican Party became SC fixed in it's incorrisible habit of con- ducting investigations that it finally turned to the fruitful task of investi gating itself. For the first time since they entered upon this program, they l discovered fraud and graft and gross l and inexcusable expenditures. Int l revelations disclose the fact, long un l derstood by the initiated, that the meeting at Chicago was not a con vention but an auction. The highes 1 bidder. however, did not get the prize The publicity which overlook the pro. l ceedings frustrated the initial pur pose. In more senses than one, ths | recent Chicago Convention has lief | the Democratic Party as the sole GUS 1 todian of the honor. of the country The Cost of the War.
 | There are men so small in spirit, st pitifully cramped in soul, that the, suggest that the war cost too much The Republican platform echoes thi complaint. It was indeed, an expen
 sive war. War is the most wastefu
 thing in the world. But is money t be measured against the blood o American soldiers? Would it not b. better to spend a billion dollars fo shells that were never exploded, tha1
 to have one American boy on tn firing line minus an essential car
 rridge? Was it not better to prepar
 for a long war and make it short
 than to prepare for a short war ant
 make it long? When criticism i
 made of the expense of war, let u
 not forget that we bought with it tn freedom and the safety of the civf
 lization of the world.
 Preparedness.
 Again, they say that we were nc prepared for war. In a strict mill tary sense, a democracy is never pre-
 pared for war; but America mad , ready in a way that was far more e1
 fective than by maintaining, at enor , 1 nous cost great arrnaments, whic |, neither party ever advocated an which our people would never ap
 prove.
 Wars are not fought by arrnie
 alone. They are fought by nation: , It is 6 mea assuring of the >economi strength of nations. The front lin btrench is no stronger than the force . which lie behind the trench. The lin of communication reaches back
 every village, farm, counting hous factory and home America prepare by making the economic life of tE country sound.
 What would have been our Situs