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Show B DEMOCRATIC BUNCOMBE B AND REAL FACT8 BB Tho Democratic management says BB that tho Republicans cannot And an BB Issue. Tho fact Is the Democrats BB havo mado tho lssuo against them- BB selves. It Is not necessary to hunt BB for ono. Tho Democrats offer It BB Present governmental virtues are BB tho virtues of n child heforo Christ- BB mas. If the nation wants Its nflalrs BB conducted upon that utllttnrlan prln- Bfl. clplo, it can havo Its wish by tilling BAt tho Democratic stocking and watch Bf ing the lapse to normal conduct ntt- BB crwards, BB You say this Is unjust, partisan BBti criticism. Tako an Instance. A H Democratic argument Is that the pre- BH sent congress, influenced by u si-usu BB of national need, hag passed the BH greator'naval appropriation bill ever E adopted by an American congress. It Hi is true. If you go no further than BBj the superficial fact, you are couvlnc- i ed that no congress ever mi so BB1 provident and thoughtful in the mat- Bfl tor of national defense. The Demo- m cratlc party returns the navy to the m safety of secoml place, a powerful so- H cond, fully capable of meeting nn BB emergency. B Thus convinced you lose tho fact K that tho actual consequence of Dim- S ocrntlo control was tho loss of second pluce, tho dropping to fourth place, BBJ consequent exposure to dangurs that H weakness breeds, and a continuation H of exposure until ship building can BB remedy tho present defects. BB Tho nation now has a fourth rank M navy and Tin appropriation bill. The H fourth rank navy Is the work of tho Bfl i present administration. It found the BB ) navy In second place. It has It in j fourth. An appropriation bill has no record for marksmanship. It ran SB not tiro salvos. vB "Thoro's your navy," soys Democ- H racy, and points, not to warships on B tho seas, but to an appropriation Mil. SI The huge bill was needed to make up vB tho deficiencies of throe years ot BBj government determination not to jB build ships. If tho administration M had been honest with the navy and jB wiso in its administration of public SB trust, some ot tho Bhtps, now repre- VB sentcd merely by appropriations, SB I i would bo in or Hearing commission. H , Now, what will tho cltUcu look at H threo years of sinning or three SS i months of repentance? Wo Insist that H it is tho issue uguiust the present ad- H ministration. You say: "Wo do not VB blamo a person for being mistaken SB if he sees his orror and changes his M mind." Blamo him or not as you see B fit. uut wll' conl,lulu t0 employ a BSJ ' person who Is threo years in error SB und threo months right? SB ' If tho Democratic administration Is H right now, when it is scurrying to BBi ' nmko un in threo months the nccutn- m ulatcd mistakes of three years, It B cortalnly must havo been wrong dur- BH j ing tho three years when It was mak- m ing tho mistakes now being rcctitled H in tho panic ot preelection ruspomtl- B Tlmuks for anything that can scale B) an administration Into rectifying Us B mistakes, hut why reemploy the man B who thus confesses that nlue-teuths B f i,ie timu li was wrong? B That Is tho lssuo against tho Wll- B eon administration Is busy confess- B ing error In ovory day of congress. B Wo lmvo used tho navy bill us nn' II- B lustintlon becauso It Is so cousplcu B ou nlul outstanding. An admluUtra- B tlou which during two years of tlio B greatest war of tho world, persisted B ln cutting tho ordained uaal build- B lnK program in two and then, a H bhort while before an election, has to B roverso Its policy and make a huge H appropriation, is condemned b) its BBk own BF Worfro grateful 'for the now build- BSBBBBBBv BBB jM BBBBJBBUBii' 7" rih--ffr- rSMi i-"" ing program but remain critical, What sort of Intelligence was It that nllowed us to got into this 11x7 We are concerned becauso an administration administra-tion which did this desires four more years of handling now problems and meeting new emergencies. Will they, all be met in this fashion, with error nine-tenths of the time and confession confes-sion of error nnd n scramble to get right tho other tenth? That hardly seems Hko a good service ser-vice to reengage. It seems rather to bo a service to avoid as If It were tho plague. The navy bill Is only one Instance. This has been tho rule of the Wilson administration. It was shown In tho army bill. It will be shown in his tariff Ideas as soon as war lets competition looso upon the United States. Chicago Tribune. |
