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Show THE CITIZEN can lick all the rest of, the navy with his left hand tied behind him. We can tell better when tile fight is ended, the beefsteak applied to the injured optics and the adhesive plasters stretched across gaping abysses of carnage on noble brows and scarce less noble jowls. The admiral may know what he is doing and if he does we may look for the blowing up of many a man-o-win the navy department. On the other hand the admiral himself might be hoist by his own petard and explode with a large noise. The admiral certainly makes a picturesque charge when he says that he received specific instructions from the navy department, as he was about to depart for England, that he should not let the British pull the wool over his eyes, the specific instructors adding We would just as soon fight the British as the Germans. That was quite in line with the Presidents statement that we were going into the war, not because we had anything against the German people, but because we wanted to make the world safe for certain things. How true that was ! Most of us had not learned to hate the Germans. We fought them not because they were Germans but because they were wrong. But, in the interest of the larger justice, it should be stated that the average American boy, yearned to fight the British not because they were wrong but because they were British. We fought the British twice because, they were wrong and our boys God bless em got into the habit of thinking that we would much rather fight the British than anybody else. And some of our boys grew old in that belief and entered the American navy. Admiral Sims was not one of these. He was born in Canada of perfectly British parents and acquired a British cast of soul. Years ago he went to London and, at a banquet, made a speech in which he remarked on the thickness of blood as compared with water and added that in case of war between Great Britain and Germany the Americans would eagerly fight to the last drop of their blood for their kinsmen across the sea. He forgot to note that he was classing the entire Caucasian race and also some millions of as kinsmen of the British. There was quite a suspicion, at the outbreak of the war, that and would a little rather many of our naval officers were have fought the British than the Germans. They admired the superior efficiency of the Germans on sea and land and had convinced them-- , selves that the allies could not but be defeated. They made a mistake, however, when they imparted their confidence to Admiral Sims. They might have known that he would tell on them some day. And now some of them are telling on the admiral. In a real spiteful fashion they are saying that he wanted to join the British admiralty, just as Waldorf Astor, for example, wanted to join the British aristocracy. There is an implication that the admiral did not think the American admiralty quite good enough for him. There is a hint, too, that Admiral Sims did not obey orders. We find it in his own letter. He declares that the navy department gave orders which .could not be carried out, orders, he insists, which were based on lack of information as a result of remoteness from the zones of naval warfare. k Evidently this is to be a highly diverting championship contest We Americans ought to enand between ar Afro-America- ns pro-Germ- pro-Briti- sh pro-Germa- an ns. joy it. HOOVER AND HIS BOOM of Herbert Hoover are urging him to bring immediate political parties starving for candidates. It is suggested that the worlds first and only food dictator can save some party from defeat by adopting it. Our own illustrious governor, feeling the electric thrill of Potomac politics, went so far as to say that whichsoever yarty nominated Hoover would have just that much advantage over BACKERS S President and yet no one seems to be quite certain whether he is a Republican, a Democrat or a Wilsonian. Some people seem to think that it will be perfectly all right if Mr. Hoover, at the last advantage- ous moment, picks his party and says, Nominate me. Modest and retiring Democrats who have hesitated to declare their candidacy lest they offend the occupant of the White House are jealous of the advertising which has brought Mr. Hoover to the front. He is the man in all this world, except, perhaps, President Wilson, Lloyd-GeorgWilliam Hohenzollern and Lenine. went into the movies to get a reputation, but is still several typewriters and a couple of newspapers behind Mary Pickford. William Jennings Bryan took the center of the stage and had the spotlight turned on himself at its. fullest intensity, but suddenly he was eclipsed by Herbert Hoover. Everybody knows who Herbert Hoover is, but in political campaigns it is necessary to proclaim the whatness of the candidate. In spite of notions it is still fashionable for voters to inquire whether an aspirant is a Republican or a Democrat. Someone ventured to whisper that Mr. Hoover was a Progressive Republican, which may mean that he is neither a Progressive nor a Republican. And there is no such thing as a Progressive Democrat ; so the mystery is deeper than before. It must be admitted that Mr. Hoover is acting with reserve and restraint. In fact, any Wilsonian must act that way if he desires, when he calls at the White House, not to be told to go round to the back door and leave his calling card on the ice cream freezer. Necessarily Mr. Hoover must be counted a Wilsonian. At the time he invaded Belgium on the trail of the Hun he was a private personage, but later President Wilson adopted him as member of his political family. To be a member of the Wilsonian political family is to be in a painful position if one has political aspirations. Each member of the family knows that he must not announce himself for the presidential nomination until the President himself has refused it. And the President just keeps silent and allows the candidate to pale into insignificance. William J. Bryan was in the happy position of being able to wish himself out of the Presidents family of political sphynxes. He declared himself an insurgent and took to the warpath and is enjoying a most exhilerating time while the would-b- e candidates hide in the shadows of the White House and gaze at him enviously. Mr. Hoover appears to be fettered by his relations to the administration. Although there is good reason for believing that he is a Republican he has committed himself to the Presidents uncompromising policy anent the league and the treaty and last year wrote a letter supporting the Presidents plea for a partisan Congress and, therefore, is unable to seek a nomination at the hands of the Republicans. And if he should declare himself a Democrat and seek the Democratic nomination he would immediately be turned out into the street by the Presidents political family and told never to darken their doors again. Consequently Mr. Hoover maintains a silence which does not even permit him to wink at the party President-maker- s. It is a hard life. Providing food and raiment for hungry and ragged Europeans was a joyous occupation compared with this task of sitting still in the pantry while ardent advocates parade in front of the house, calling for speech, speech. General Pershing is much more pleasantly situated. He is enabled to tour the country, kissing the babies, attending Legion smokers and making speeches without ever being compelled to announce his politics or declare whether or not he is a candidate or something. All he has to do is to pick up and stack his votes and wait for the lightning to strike where it may. And then perhaps he will try to beat the lightning to the spot where it is going to strike. best-advertis- ed e, new-fangl- ed Mc-Ad- oo . the other party. These Archaeologists have found Chinese signs on ancient Aztec ruins and think the Mexicans are descended from the Chinese. Is there no one to defend the Chinese? parties. Here we have quite a boisterous boom for Herbert Hoover for In her prohibition hymn Mrs. Bryan mentions the watery wilderness. Evidently the United States. times are queer. Who among us would have dreamed, say five years agonc, that the day would come when parties would no longer pick personages but personages would pick after-the-w- ar |
