Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1922-09-17
REPUBLICAN PAPER SAYS
NO LEADER IN WHITE HOUSE

NJ LEADER IN W Ill L Il hOUoE
The Boston Transcript, republican
to the core, bitterly complains that
there is no leadership in the white
house. No, and furthermore, that is
what the people voted for in 1920,
and emphatically it is exactly what
they got. One of the serious COM
plants against Woodrow Wilson was
that he was too much of leader; the
criticism even went so far as to de-
nounce him as tyrant, who had
usurped the functions of congress,
which was, of course, untrue. The
fact is that the constitution has in it
something of the spirit of the Roman
law which in time of great national
crisis provided for the choosing of a
dictator; it places in the presidents
hands powers more absolute than
those given to any monarch in the
world, powers so great that they have
never been defined. nj the world war
both parties united in giving him spe-
cial powers such as they deemed wise
or eXpedient, which President Wilson
used with courage, force and quick
decision. Like Aulus of the Seventy
Fields, he was made a dictator for
great emergency. But the people
viewed this great power with doubt
and apprehension, and the partisan
republicans who had joined in voting
it into his hands went out into the
country and cried eve are losing
our liberties Wilson is a earl" The
people did not stop to ask if the new
powers were necessary to save the
nation, engaged in great war, or il
the president was using these powers
wisely, but, jealous of our freedom,
they listened to tn epartisans, who,
for party advantage, declared him
to be an autocrat. But when he came
before the republican congress elect
ed in 1918 and asked legislative re-
GOHSLtuCGlOll- lCluI lllilS W plC-Wdl
powers-that congress refused to
comply, followed Penrose's advice to
"let the people sweat" and thus eye
ate still greater dissatisfaction. They
are still sweating.
o Sarding was selected because he
was "a good scout" The absence of
a backbone and an undershot jaw
were unimportant, for under the new
scheme of the republicans the white
house was to be governed and con-
trolled by sort of group of elder
statesmen, including such as Lodge,
to furnish the dignity, the Morgan
group to dig up the dough, and
George Sutherland to write the pres
ident's speeches, And, by the way,
Sutherland did this so we'll that on
one occasion when he was away and
Harding had to write his own address
to deliver before congress (and
which fell very flat Bob La Toilette
remarked that at sounds like he
might have written it himself"
And thus it now stands-the peo-
Pile are getting what they voted for
a syndicated president. Tom Reed
was offered the job in 1896, but his
answer was that if they elected him,
Tom Reed would be president, so they
chose Mckinley instead. "They" al
Iudes to the sam epower that chose
Harding, the power of high finance,
the power which groups itself about
the houe of Morgan & Co. They Sc
lected Charles E. Hughes to serve as
master mind" in their political San
hedrin, or governing body for the
white house, but the judge fell into
the Newberry bramble bush, and,
like the chap in the nursery rhyme,
he scratched out both his eyes" Few
will ever again look upon that gen
tleman as fitted for the role; his ca
pacity to blunder has been demon
strated too often. But the syndicate
still rules. such as it is.