Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-24
Woodrow Wilson
" AS | KNOW HIM
BY JOSEPH P. TUMULTY.

With the president and, Watchln
The agitation for preparedness frol
the sidelines, had stated my view
IN letters reading in part as follow
In my opinion, there is left
to the Republican party but two
available issues for the CAM
paign of 1916-the tariff and
the question Of national de-
tense. How we are to meet the
enemy on these qeustions is a
subject which we ought thor
oughly to consider and discuss
in the coming months.
AS, to national defense: In
this matter we must have
sane, reasonable and workable
program. That program must
have in it the ingredients that
will call forth the hearty sup
port of, first, the whole cabinet
land particularly the secretary
of war;; second; the leaders of
the party in the senate and
house; third, the rank and file
of Democrats in both houses;
fourth. the army and navy; and
last but not least, the great
body of the American people.
Successfully to carry through
this program will tax our lead
ership in the party to the last
degree. On the eve of the cam
paign of 1916, your attitude and
accomplishment in this matter
will be accepted by the country
as the final test of your leader
ship and will be of incalcuable
psychological Importance to the
party: and, therefore, in the car
rying out of this program we
cannot afford to hesitate or to
blunder, because as election day
approaches, trivial mistakes will
be magnified and exaggerated
by the opposition to the hurt
and injury of our party and
your prestige as leader. It
will be a real test Of our party's
power to govern the nation.
With affectionate regards,
TUMULTY.
Tumulty's Letter
cannot impress upon you too
forcibly the Importance of an
appeal to the country at this
time on the question of pre-
paredness. No matter what the
character of the information is
s. that you are receiving, / have it
from all sources that there is no
enthusiasm on the "hill" for
preparedness. and that the coun-
try itself is indifferent because
of its apparent inability to grasp
the Importance and full signif-
canoe of this question. This in
difference arises out of two
things: first, the attitude of the
pacifists, whose feelings have
been nurtured by the preachings
OF Mr.. Bryan; second, the att.
tude of those in the country who
believe in preparedness and who
are frightened because of the big
talk of Roosevelt and others on
their plan for military conscrip-
There is no doubt how the
body of the American people feel
on this question of preparedness.
You can, therefore, with much
greater reason, address them on
this question and with greater
force and earnestness. I am
afraid if you delay in this mat
ter. it will be too late to act, be-
cause our enemies are already
busy and active,
If some unfortunate thing
should arise in international af-
fairs or in Mexico within the
next few weeks and announce
rnent came then that you were to
make an appeal to the country,
1t would appear as an anti-cli-
max and an attempt upon your
part to retrieve yourself. Now is
the psychological moment to
make your plea for national de-
Tense and incidentally to discuss
Mexico and our foreign relations.
= In other words. you must ask
the country to accept your lead
ership or the leadership of 9TH
ers who can't lead. Your voice is
the only responsible voice in
America that can speak with GER
tainty, authority and caImness
as to the need for preparedness.
There is no doubt of the will of q
large majority of our people, but
1t lacks articulate expression.
am sure they will not fail to re-
spond. TUMULTY.
(To BE Continued.)