Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-09-27
WHAT BEAT COX

DOST mortems after an election
! are generally without much
value and that is particularly true o.
the last presidential election. Just
what influences the mass Of the
voters to vote one way or another
il is hard to tell. Yet we have not
rauch doubt that the unpopularity
of Woodrow Wilson was consid
cradle element in his defeat. Mr.
Cox fully Endorsed the policies Of
Woodrow Wilson, including the
League of Nations policy. While
both Democrats and Republicans
especially the former, sought to
make the League Of Nations and
the foreign policies of Woodrow
Wilson the paramount issue in the
campaign yet we strongly suspect
they were not the chief cause OF
the great Republican victory. There
was the great reaction that follow
ed sacrifice for an ideal. 1t was
felt in nearly every country that
was engaged in war, and war heroes
everywhere were thrown out OF Of
flee by that reaction. It was true
in France and Italy and Great Bri-
tain. There was crushing taxation
as a result of war and those that
paid resented it. There was also
resentment against the radical ten
denotes of President Wilson. No
nresident who ever sat in the White
House had more sympathy with the
under dog or did more in behalf
of organized labor than did Wood
row Wilson, and, as usual, organ
lied labor and the radical cast their
votes pretty solidly against him.
Then there was the grievances OF
the draft-all laid to his door. In
deed recently well known poll
teal writer has printed an article
in the New York World in which
he maintains that it was resent
ment over the compulsory draft
that elected Mr.. Harding. Com
mentine on that claim the Charles
ton News and Courier says:
"'Savoyard,' a journalist whose
pen name is familiar to thousands
of newspaper readers. has written
2 letter to the New York World IN
praise of former President Wilson,
in which he makes an interesting
statement. It is contained in the
following: ...... ....... ..5
The thing that contributed
most to swell the vote OF HARD
ing in 1920 was the draft. That
was not mistake OF Wilson's;
it was his misfortune. The draft
made it possible to land 2,ooo,-
600 American soldiers in France
by midsummer in 1918. Had
the country depended on volun-
teers we should not have had
over half a million there by
that time, and that would have
been a force utterly insufficient
to bring the war to a conclu-
sion that autumn. The draft,
above all other things Wilson
forced congress to enact,
brought the president most
condemnation. It should have
rewarded him with most ap-
plause.'
zone hesitates to question the
deliberate conclusion of so well
known and so experienced a stu
dent Of American policies and
affairs as the writer Of
the letter in which occurs the par
agraph quoted above. Neverthe-
less, it becomes necessary to do so
in this instance. Most Americans,
we think, will hear with great sur
prise that the draft, above all other
things Wilson forced congress to
enact, brought the president most
condemnation
"The United States is very
large country. What is true OF
one portion Of it is often not true
of another portion. It is as GER
tain as anything can be, however,
that what 'Savoyard' says about
Mr.. Wilson and the draft was not,
and is not, true Of the south. The
fact that he advocated the draft
and forced It through congress did
not bring widespread condemna-
ton upon the president in the south.
On the contrary, it brought him
hearty applause. The south per-
ceived that adoption Of the draft
was the way to win the war and it
supported the draft heartily and
loyalty and thought all the more
highly of Mr.. Wilson because he
put it through. It is possible that
other parts Of the United States
we're unlike the south in this de-