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Show HOW PRESIDENT WILSON ! HAS KEPT US OUT OF WAR' By Hon. Frank L,. Greene of Vermont "Thank God for Wilson 1 Ho lias kept us out of war!" Unless the signs of tlio times are utterly misleading, that is about the only political asset with which tne Democratic party today expects to go before the people of tho United States In the campaign soon to open and appeal for a vote of, confidence In the administration and Itself. Indeed, In-deed, practically tho wholo fabric of Its propaganda for continuance In power In tlmo of peace rests upon th Ingenious hypothesis that wo might nil this tlmo havo been experiencing war Instead of peaco, and that Presi dent Wilson has provented such a en lamlty. Cover For General Democratic Fizzle This kind of sophistry makes It easy to nvod nny serious reference to tho miserable flzzlo of the Democratic Democrat-ic economic policy with Its hopeless Underwood tariff that, designedly not for protection, Is manifestly no), oven for rovenuo only. 11 rendcrH It unncceusary to re for above a whisper to n ho called Income tax law that compels n limited sec-tlon sec-tlon of this country to pay Into tho National Treasury riot only n disproportionate dispro-portionate assessment upon Its own Industry and thrift but also tho sharo that other sections of tho land do not imy. And yet those soctlons milch 3 "ly "tll or noln,nK uni,r t'10 lcomo 1 tax law, most of them, arc tho very ones that refused the benefits of u protective tariff to tlut, section that docs not pay, simply becuunu they did not want a protection tariff themselves, them-selves, albeit Republican protection would have mado it unnecessary for anybody to pay any Income tax at ull. Moreover, the prosperity fostered under un-der such protection in former years well nigh nlnnc makes it possible, for tho section that does pay to havo any 'money saved to pny tho tax with now. This Democratic campaign cry also conveniently aldo trncks tho question why tho United States is obliged to sweat under u war tax when It is only first class nation on earth that Is at peaco. And, skipping ninny other pleasant llttlo opportunities It affords for graceful grace-ful sidestepping of annoying queries, It blandly overlooks any necessity whatever for explaining why n treasury treas-ury that had $"l 05,000,000 surplus In l when turned over by the outgoing Republican administration March 4, 1913, has slnco been ablo to 1'eep practically nothing except Its books, and even they so cloverly balanced that tho ablest financiers nnd oxpert accountants In tho land nro In dispute as to whether tho inonoy they show In actually In tho Mnults as n natlrnal asset or should bo charged off ns a national liability, agreeing, however, on the one nil important proposition (hat, whatever tho figures say, the fact Is that the government Is broko In flno, by throwing Into tho air the slogan, Thank God for Wilson! Ho has ltept us out of war! Tlio Democratic Demo-cratic party hopos to escape responsibility respon-sibility for tho dreaded question that comes to tho lips of every thoughtful Amorlcan, If President Wilson haB kept us out of war In which wo hod no part, whot In tho unnio of common senso hns been his philosophy In also keeping us nut of n prosperity that wo actually had when ho took his office? Perhaps ho has ovcrdono this keeping out business; has kept us out not wisely but too well President Wilson Is a student of psychology. He has declared certain distressful conditions experienced by his countrymen under his roglmo to be merely psychological. True to tho book, ho and his supporters now Invoke In-voke psychology to substitute for a real condition of misfortune the hypnotic hyp-notic and compelling suggestion cf a beatific national blessing that never was and no man ever saw. The Phantom War Suggestion Hut this phantom war suggestion is a rlever device of our Demecntlc friends In more ways than one. In the language of the sports, It permits of plnylng both ends against the middle. Not only has President WlUon, na thoy say, kept us nut of war which might have been, nnd so we should bo gtnteful to him, but if wnr should happen to come, It would be manifestly mani-festly unwise to "swap horses while crossing n stream." So President Wilson should bo reelected, also, on the hypothesis that we may havo war some day and, If we do while he is In office, we shall bo glad we did not turn him out before It came. This proposition might fit the campaign cam-paign for reelection of any mnn thnt ever lived In tho White House nt any tlmo. It is based upon that supremo and sublime argumentative premise "If," and is, therefqre, wholly unanswerable. unan-swerable. As our old friend Touchstone Touch-stone says, "Much virtue In lf" 'Just whero the logic of this "swapping horses crossing a stream" proposition lies I leavo to tho celebrated Jury In 'Alice In Wonderland" to decide. This Jury, we recall, were endowed with the remnrkable ability of hearing the evidence in the case, writing It down I on their Blates, and reducing It to poundB, shillings qnd pence. As this Is tho way all Democratic financing Is done, and In Just such a dream, too, 08 came to Alice, our friends can not consistently plead to tho charac-' ler and capacity of such n Jury. So, after all Is said about It, the fact Is that this "Wilson has kept us out of war" appeal rests wholly upon tho Incontrovertible argument which Is eternally presented by "might have been" on the one hand, and "may be" 'on tho other. Could anj thing be more practical or convincing? Has Wilson Kept Us Out of War Now let us seo whether or not President Wilson has "kept us out of war." And nt the outset let us enden vor to bo fair and glvo him full ered. It where we may for the performance of his strict and unequivocal dty under un-der the Constitution nnd his oath of office, remembering, at the same time, that it Is tho obligation of overy President Pres-ident to keep us out of war when it enn be done honorably nnd that tho most of them did It. Indeed, tho only Instanco In our history wlioio n President foiled to keep us out of wnr and the honor nnd Justice of that wnr aro still reasonably disputed, Is nlforded by the administration of Pres-Ident Pres-Ident Polk, a Democrat of Democrats. Oddly enough Polk, llko Wilson was nominated by a Democratic notlonnl convention In pursuance of a plan to prevent tho nomination of a popu'nr candidate that had already on sover-ill sover-ill ballots polled a majority of tho del-orates del-orates and would have been tho winner win-ner but for the absurd "two thirds rulo." In so far ns President Wilson has manfully met the many unusual and perplexing diplomatic crises that hove arisen In his tlmo us results of the great war now raging In Europe, nnd has so nbly presented nnd tlrmly In-listed In-listed upon tho rlghlR of this country as a neutral under International law that those rights havo been formally crknowlodged nnd respected he Is entitled en-titled to credit. His burden of re-pnnslbility re-pnnslbility certainly has been great. Hut lot us osk ourselves in all fi'lr iiiss right here; Just what pnrtlcu'ar nnd essential rights of this character that wo assert as against the world iinvo thus far been formally recognised recognis-ed bv nny of the belligerents on cither cith-er sldo of tho BtntRglo ns tho result of bis protests and representations? And Just whnt onoi ef those rlghtR, have not only been acknowledged but respected so thnt tho wrong that was 1 done to us Is not only apologized for ' i"it has been compensated for ngree-'nbly ngree-'nbly to tho practice of nations nnd Mio violation wo complained of has "lopped? Nothing As Yet Settled Is It not truo that, saving horo nnd th"ro nn Incidental concession to our demands In somo degrco or detail, tho stubborn fact remains that at this writing tho crux of ovon the LusI tnnlii caso, for Instnnce romulnR unsettled? un-settled? Is It not true, that whatever yielding nny of tho belligerents havo mndo form of doing so fnr iih our do-nmnds do-nmnds nro concerned, has been apparently appar-ently prompted by the policy of temporizing tem-porizing with uh ns n powerful neutral neu-tral simply becnuso of tho nil absorbing absorb-ing prcssuro of more powerful foes at homo, nnd that tho underlying principles princi-ples wo havo contended for nro still unacknowledged, unobserved? President Wilson has written many notes to the belligerents In Europe JIo has nrgucd learnedly and oven threatened much. What has come of It all save unsatisfactory, Incomplete responses and mere temporizing? is the issue nt rest, has our position been conceded as pound nnd Just nnd based upon universally accepted ideas of International law? Or, on the otb'r hand, hau we ourselves made rood our throats because these concession!! hao not been made? Thnt thus far wo havo not been brought to actual war In our distunes l true, but there is not an American j will, n slnglo curpusclo of good red i blcod done lnK n his veins hut t'int j knows Hint under any other clr-urn stancer than thoso of the past elgh teen nionlhr. we would havo boon hit I mlllotcd bmond nieasuro by the fruit ' less policy of protest upon protest , Hint President Wilson has pursued I and would feel that wo had lost our, caste among tho civilized peoples of tho earth because of it. Hut Ir tli" fact that we havo meanwhile mean-while kept out of the wnr due to President Pres-ident Wilson's pollcv or has ll been j In splto of It" President Wilson may have given tlio Idea that the Ani"rl-can Ani"rl-can people ore "too proud to light," but peace upon such terms to the world Is merely a meek concession ot shameless defeat without a strugcV. Is It not the fact, rather, that we havo been kept out of the European war not because of what President Wilson hns done to keep us out but because none of the European powers wanted us to come In? Every pertinent lesson of history tells us that If the European nations to whom President Wilson has dispatched dis-patched notes of protest over violation!, viola-tion!, of our rights had not been too busy with iroro pressing affairs at homo they would have given fnr more serious attention to his repeated defiances. defi-ances. Even as It Is, they do not acknowledge ac-knowledge or concede the Justice or his protests, generally speaking, but simply decline to accept his Implied daro to light, because they hae fighting fight-ing enough on baud nlrendy. This Is not being kept out of war by President Presi-dent Wilson; It Is being denied a chance to get In. Hut admitting that In such a world crisis as now confronts us dlplomotjc negotiations of this character are es-sentally es-sentally delicate and national nerves nro sensitive and that there has lu'en all tho time tho possibility of our m-Ibrollment m-Ibrollment In the struggle what, then, can bo claimed for President Wilson I as tlio preserver of the peace save that b-noNdellberately waging va1" or putting us by positive notion Into unnvoldnblo share in it he has simply sim-ply followed n plain sense of duty, tho senso any plain man might have had under' tho same circumstances? Not a rational adult cjtlzen In all the United States has wnntcu una country needlessly to become engaged In the war. What credit can be given giv-en President Wilson for keeping his country out ot fa mess that his country men would not willingly havo gone Into If they could? Conditions That Mlcht Have Been Champions of President Wilson on this "war" slogan want the pcoplo to ovrlook tho fact that beforo ho could have made effective war against any country ho would have been obliged to ask tho Congress for Its consent and for tlio money ond for troops. And while such a project was pending the olco of a mighty nation against needless war would have made such an uproar nround the White House as had never been heard by any President Presi-dent beforo, nnd would havo sadly dlstm bed the blissful Nirvana of 'watchful waiting." if President Wilson hni been fctrug. gllng ngnlnst adverse public sentl- . ment hero nt home, If tho American pcoplo or a Inrgo and Intluentlol part j of them lmd been day and night tenR-lug tenR-lug hint into the strife. If pressure had been put upon him to get In. some way, by hook or crook If all this were truo, and ho hod bravely resisted resist-ed and fought out his duty fight with tho solemn responsibility of his high office and his sacred duty to the Am rrican pcoplo and to civilly "-on bur denlng his very soul-lf he Had Rtrug-gled Rtrug-gled with this problem well nigh, nlio and with no help, but ratlin- opposition opposi-tion from his people here at home-that home-that would havo been different. If his had been tho ono great exalted supprlllumlned mind that snw duty whero tho multitude was blind and hod calmly, patiently, heroically kept to that duty with a tremciaous pros-suro pros-suro of public opinion ngalnst him, then President Wilson might- havo proved tho savior of hla country In an awful crisis, perhaps. Hut ho simply did nothing of the kind. And wo all know it, and bo docs ho. Has Wilton Not Made War? Hut escape from the Europcon hor-ror hor-ror is not tho only test of this Democratic Demo-cratic slogan, "WiUon has kpt us cut of war." How about tho capture of Vera Cruz nnd tho slaughter of American marines mar-ines on Mexican soil whither they had gone by order of tho President as Invaders of a country with which wo were at peaco? Was that an act of war? Who was" responsible for It? What act of Congress authorized It before it had been begun? Who would have been responsible if an nctunl war with Mexico hnd ie-suited ie-suited from It, ns well It might? Did not n former Democratic President, Pres-ident, who hnd been nominated in n national concutlon over the popular majority candidal-) by tho two thirds rule, once upon n time invade Mexico too, and thus bring on n win? If Mexico had been a more poweiful and more highly developed nntl'i she would have fought us to the llnlsh Tor that net of President Wilson, as e-erybody e-erybody knows, and the insult to her sovereignty ho perpetrated would havo been avenged In long nnd blood;, strife. Hut Mexico was well nlgh In cnpable of effecthe resistance nnd must tnmcly submit for the time be- 'JjEUl lug, albeit kIio might mid will luirwr JraE the odious memory of the deed for ' mm fenerations to come. t"M i:en "wntdiful waiting" lost ltn 'il temper onco and actually mndo war j g?JB In Mexico. For the remainder of tho 5$1 time it hni stood by supinely und per- mm milled Mexicans to mnko worse than I ffil war upon thousands of helpless Am- ' ill crlcan men, women nnd children with- ' In the cry hlght of their country's j kI flag nnd appealing dally In vain ft j its protection '111 Ilully helpless Mexico? Yes. Acta- ft! I (nlly Intervene in Mexico with force; jl nnd nrms nnd keep out ot wnr. !f I t Threaten mighty Europe, too busy 'ra .with other wnrs to ncccpt our datj Bill and keep out of wnr. Wm "God bless Wilson! He has kept us . wl out of wnr!" ' KB Out of Pocket, Too ! Ifl Ho' has kept us out of pocket, too-, II nnd all the frantic appeals of pint- , Ml form mechanics and Inspired spell- I I binders to distract the attention oC fit the Anieilcnn people to the overflow- . ! Ing bnttlu fields of Kuropo will not i I tempt them to forgst the empty pock- j ct bookn at homo or the empty states- ( I manship of 'ho administration at t I Washington. I And such a Ftatcimanshlp! A states- I manship that, with all the posslblli- i I ties of being linolvcd In tho greatest , I war of history no wraglng about ub, I has left us practically without an I nvallablo dollar In tho Treasury with j I j which to put sufllclcnt Army Into tho- ) field or oven supply It guns nnd am- j I munition with which to protect Itself j I and us! i .1 |