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Show Woman Suffrage l and the President (Continued from page six) following declaration: Wo favor the exemption from toll of American ships engaged In coast wise trado passing through the canal. can-al. Upon that platrorm Mr. Wilson stood and was elected. He received most of tho votes from those sections of the country vitally Interested In tho tolls question. Tho wisdom of such a policy was nover questioned during tho campaign. The Democratic Democrat-ic dlouso of Representatives and a largo majority of tho Democrats in tho Senate voted In harmony with the, declarations of the platform. Yet In the faco of this party declaration and tho statement of Mr. Wilson to tho ladles as to Its binding effect upon him, in a communication addressed by tho president to Mr. Marbury, of Baltimore, dated February 5, 1914, wo find tho following. I havo your letter of January !j0. With regard to the question of cnnnl tolls my opinion is very clear. The exemption constitutes a very mistaken mistak-en policy from every point of view. It Is economically unJUBt; as a matter of-fact, it benefits for' the present, nt any rate, only a monopoly; and it seems to mo in clear violation of the terms of tho Hay Pauncefoto treaty. There is, of course, much honest difference of opinion as to tho laBt point as there Is, no doubt, as to tho others; but it Is at least debatable, de-batable, and If thopromlses wo make in such matters are debatable I for onn do not caro to debate them. I think tho country would prefer to let no question arlso as to its whole hearted purpose to redeem Its promises promis-es in the light of any reasonable construction con-struction of them rather than debate a point of honor. So It appears in matters in which tho Canadian and American trans-continental trans-continental railroads and tho English government are concerned that the binding effect of tho Democratic national na-tional platform Is not so potent with Mr. Wilson as It was when the good women of tho country woro appealing I to him jn behalf of right and Justice for their sex. When they asked to j bo given a chance to protect their ( homes from vice and to be accorded i a wider opportunity for usefulness in serving their country nnd promoting the welfare of its people, ho could , express no opinion as to the desirability desira-bility of such legislation. To use his language, I concelvo that to be part of 'the wholo process of government, that I shhll lie spokesman for somebody", some-body", not myself, and that I havo to confine myself to those things which havo been embodied as promUes to the people at an election. That Is the strict rule I Bet for myBelf. This was his answer to the ladles. Hut when the powerful railroad Influenc es, behind the mask of English Interests, In-terests, got Into action this strict rule, which ho set for himself, disappeared, disap-peared, and ho declared that tho exemption ex-emption constitutes a very mistaken policy from ecry point of view. 1 When tho women asked a word from him In behalf of suffrago ho said that he had to confine himself to thoso things which havo been embodied as promises to tho people at an election. When tho English Interests appealed to him, he forgot the promises made to tho people nt an election nnd was very willing to speak for somebody besides himself. It is true that wo have expended about four hundred ' millions of our own money In con-' con-' structlng this canal on our own tcr I rltory nnd that tho Democratic House i of Representatives, a Itepubllcan Senate by an overwhelming mnjorlty, Mr. Taft, then president of thG United Uni-ted States, and the Democratic national na-tional convention all thougnt we had a perfect right to permit our own ships engaged In- our domestic com merce to go through freo of tolls, If we saw fit to do so. But England claims that this must not bo done without her consent, though her ships can not engage in our domestic commerce, com-merce, and sho has not directly or Indirectly invested a dollar in the construction of tho canal. The greed of tho railroads and the audacious claims of Great llrltaln seem far more potent with our president than tho appeal of tho womanhood of tho nation. na-tion. ,. So, I say, tho consideration, of this , amendment has been educational In more ways than one. It has given us I n line upon somo of tho peculiar and Interesting characteristics of our chief executlvo that may bo exceed-I exceed-I lngly useful to tho country In the future. For instance, the Democratic platform plat-form contains this declaration. Wo favor a single presidential term and wo pledge the candldato of this convention to thlB principle. At the proper time wll tho president presi-dent Interpret this plank in harmony with his position as to suffrage or as to canal tolls? I believe it was the peerless Democratic Demo-cratic leader, the Hon. William Jennings Jen-nings Bryan, who recently declared that A man who violates a party plat-' form Is a criminal worse than the man who embezzles money. , In the meantime we shall with Interest In-terest watch tho conflict that now appears to bo going on between party promises and ov&sive political strategy. strat-egy. - |