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Show THE CITIZEN 4 In ' our opinion, the issue is broader. It involves the attitude of the' United States toward any League of Nations which may he proposed. It is our duty to inform the world that we will he for no league which limits our sovereignty, which places our military and financial resources at the disposal of a foreign tribunal, or which requires us to give a guarantee to preserve the territories of any nation. Such a declaration would be the enunciation of a general policy, and would not commit the party to the Lodge reservations, which, though perfectly proper and necessary with relation to the present treaty and covenant, do not proclaim the policy of the nation toward the larger issue. The Republican party should put itself on this higher plane. True it can and should condemn the president for abandoning those principles which he announced as truly American when he was about to go abroad to negotiate the treaty and for betraying American interests in the actual negotiations, but it should be careful not t': narrow the issue down to the acceptance or rejection of the present covenant. There are many possible Leagues of Nations, any one of which would be better for the United States and ultimately for the whole world than President Wilsons league, which is rejected by a powerful minority, if not an actual majority, of his own party . THE REDNESS OF MR. DEBS When the members of the nominating committee kissed Convict No. 9653 and notified him that he had been named by the Socialist convention as a presidential candidate, they probably thought that the campaign was to begin in love and harmony, with an ineffable sweetness of brotherly love and sisterly affection that would make the entire canvass for votes one glad song of the unchained soul of humanity. Rut Socialists have their radical differences, more pronounced, indeed, than those which occasionally divide the older parties. Not since Parker repudiated the free silver plank of the St. Louis platform has a presidential candidate so utterly repudiated a platform as has Eugene V. Debs. Not for him the mild expedients of disguise adopted by Morris Hillquit and his supporters as a sop to conservative America. The convention was compelled by its timidities to recognize that Americans of the present are hopelessly bourgeois. They have an habit of loyalty to God and country and the moral law. It is excessively painful for socialists to find Americans so backward, so archaic that they cannot see how beautiful it would be were they to adopt the chaos of Russia. Somehow, the Americans lean to .the childish optimism of their fathers and cannot be persuaded that everything their fathers builded should be thrown into the dust heap or garbage can. They are still a religious, ethical people and refuse to be led astray and afar by the atheisms, the free loves, the nihilism, the class hatreds, the blood and filth of Russian communism. No such scruples assail the conscience of Convict No. 9653. He rejects practically every important reservation timorously adopted by the majority and casts his lot with Louis Engdahl and the radical minority. lie throws reservation to the wind and declares that he thoroughly approves of the Russian revolution, the soviet government, the Third Internationale and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In a word, lie is for revolution and for the overthrow of the American government by violence. That is the unavoidable inference and if it be not the correct inference it is up to Debs himself to explain wherein he is misinterpreted. Some will suspect that Eugene Victor Debs has a poisoned soul, that it is saturated with the venom of unfortunate years, that all lie does is dictated and darkened by his experiences as a- rebel. Rut even granting the view of him taken by his worshippers, granting that he is overflowing with the honey dews of kindness, that his heart throbs tenderly for all who labor and are oppressed, the public must not forget that the tenderest social revolutionaries become the most dangerous fanatics and that they are ready to kill presidents and nations out of loyalty to a mere theory. No doubt there will be agitation for the release of Debs from old-fashion- ed new-fangl- ed God-fearin- g, - prison and it will present itself in a number of complicated phases. The demand, or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the sentiment, for his pardon is apt. to come chiefly from those who are not Socialists. A sort of sentimental, forgiving, liberal Americanism will incline to the notion that he should be set free. On the otlicfV hand his followers, many of them, at any rate would be pleased to see him remain in prison as the man enchained, suffering for his ideals and for oppressed humanity. Political considerations also are likely to enter into the question. It would be quite in accord with President Wilsons interference in the Hillstrom and Mooney cases were he to seek increased popularity for himself and his party among the radicals by freeing Debs with a grand flourish of phraseology. THE WILES OF MR. McADOO r the strenuous struggle tion and the somewhat neglected competition for the Democratic honor, it is rather odd that, on the eve of the conventions, the result at San Francisco seems more certain than the result at Chicago. It is commonly predicted that the leading candidates for the Chicago nomination will batter one anothers forces to pieces and that a dark, horse will be selected. On the other hand the authentic signs point to the nomination of William G. McAdoo, of the movies, at San Francisco. In the voting contest of the Literary Digest he easily leads, with President Wilson second. The state of Mr. Wilsons health is of itself sufficient to rule him out of consideration when the convention meets. In view of for the Republican nomiha- - This will leave as rivals of McAdoo only" Governor Edwards, of New Jersey, William Jennings Bryan, Governor James M. Cox, of Ohio, and A. Mitchell Palmer. Not one of these gentlemen evince:; sufficient strength to threaten the supremacy of McAdoo, the crown ' prince. Rv what magic Mr. McAdoo has been maneuvered, or has maneuvered himself, into this position is something of a mystery. From what sources does he derive his strength? What are the reasons for his popularity among Democrats? What has he done to win the devotion that is denied to men who have figured saliently in Democratic national politics for many years? On what meat hath this our Caesar fed that he is grown so great? One is led to suspect that William G. McAdoo, one of the least colorful of our present-da- y political characters, is a master of politics. 'By refusing to remain in the spotlight he has gained a prominence .that is nothing short of amazing. For several years he has apparently dodged the nomination with a persistency that has seemed almost a mania. And every time he dodged an increasing number of admirers insisted that the spotlight be centered on him again. Ilis last proclaimed utterance was, I am not a candidate. While other statesmen have sought picturesque publicity lie has sought only to have it announced, at psychological moments, that he was not a candidate. Whenever a rival seemed to be forging to the front William G. of the movies would flash upon the screen with the words, I am not a candidate, heavily typed and then would fade into the canvas. Rut the apparation was sufficient to withdraw attention from an obstreperous rival and center it on himself. Other candidates may engage in sensational duels, as did Bryan and Hitchcock in Nebraska, but William G. has onlv0 to reiterate I am not a candidate to have the snug satisfaction of seeing, the crowd desert the fighters and rush to his side show. Others may give out imposing interviews and make portentious speeches. William G. refuses to commit himself on a single issue because, as he modestly explains, I am not a candidate. Here, then, is one of the secrets unravelled. All the other candidates have killed themselves off in a year of party disruption and dissension by attaching themselves to factions. Each one of them has taken a position which luis alienated the affections of factions which, combined, form a majority of the party. ' Rut William G. has alienated nobody. Whenever someone has had the cour- - v |