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Show if t i i i i r if. LOST A GOVERNMENT ! Can any one tell us what has become y ; of our government? It seems to have J suffered shipwreck in the fog of post-war . ' befuddlemeht. Or, perhaps, it has beeii s "sunk without trace" by some malign and fcv un-American agency working in the dark p "Whatever the explanation there can be I' ho doubt as to the facts- Our nation is ' drifting rapidly towards serious disaster '- arid so far as the executive branch of the if t government' is concerned, we are without ; leadership or official control. J s When the armistice was signed the Un- ; ited States was the moral, economic and I political leader of the world. We occupied ' " ' a position among the nations without par- j al!el in the past. The war weary peoples It looked to us as the one great, constructive I power still left in the world which should do for them, in some measure at least. t. what we had done for Cuba. 'i This magnificent position of leadership has, been lost. With blundering, careless .j hands we have, thrown atyay the trust and ) affection df mankind! No darker tragedy l- 'has ever shadowed the pages of history. gw . Jtye. canie out of the war vjrith a truly Y wfpP splendid' record of industrial, cooperation '"' $V and economic" achievement. Our people q were united in feeling and purpose. La,rge ' . and, liberal ideas had found a place for h' themselves in the relations .of labor and r- capital. Every one expected that, with I is ' peace, we should enter upon a great new p; era of internal growth and prosperity. ", These hopes, too, have been shattered. ,i The economic genius exhibited by our lead IM ers in handling the vast and complicated " . problems of the war has gone into eclipse- f.i , In the i)lace of strong and statesmanlike i ' ! . r leadership we now have a confused babel - '. p . of bewildering echoes. The general idea JfflB'' seems to be. that since we were exceeding-ilffik' exceeding-ilffik' jy virtuous and unselfish during the war ISEki it is in order now for each one to "get his IJHRp; while the getting is good." fpBp' Our industrial situation is growing ' m worse every hour- Strike succeeds strike, rf' cacn one more unreasonable, disastrous. - JifP andcynically brutal than the last- Or-:"ih Or-:"ih ajj' ganized abor keeps breaking away from - if?- its own leadership, and .the "outlaw - strike" is the latest thing. A vast and -, ! ominous restlessness disturbs the ignor- ' I W ant' e anen ant tne naturally rebellious jfll'', among our mixed population. Ambitious pmmi demagogues, seeking private gain by pub- Wjp; ' lie ownership, influence these elements 1? witn tym promises.. Pussyfooting dema- "'mfi: gogues in places of political power use fi their position to endanger the nation. Ev- .-Jp, crywhere we meet the demand for more ; ; . pay, shorter hours and less work. It takes '''ft?''"' vo mn now wna one 'use do. p and they do it half as well for twice the L ; pity. Thousands of farms are. going but 4"t' of business because there is no one to "' . work them. The wildest kind of extra- jj ; !.. . vagance has succeeded the patriotic thrift Mi W f the Liberty Loan days. $ I- Recently every great railroad was prac w i" . tically paralyzed by an unauthorized out ; law strikes among the less skilled but very a essential, railroad workers. Hundreds of m 'i thousands of people who earn their living Mi ' in various cities could not get to or from H W their homes. Freight was piled up with W no way of moving it. The mails were de- E. layed- Trade was restrained. Food was ;' rotting on the i)iers and railroad sidings. 9B9JP Millions of i)ersons were inconvenienced r' - iHeir ))roerty desroyed, their business in- fV jurcd or ruined, and in many cases their ?sJrW; nves endangered. vW 1 . After a delay of forty davs the Presi- p'1 dent appointed the Railroad Labor Board f ! ' The department of iustice made a few be- 1 lacd arrests of strike leaders. But public " opinion, not administration action, made l : the walk-out a failure. ffft 1 To whom shall the suffering people of 4 1 this country look at such times for guid-"' , Mmance'nuottion for the enforcement of law and the main- tenance of order. Is it the attorney general? The secretary secre-tary df labor? The President himself?. If it is the President, why does he not function func-tion as supreme head of the nation? To ask this is to raise a serious issue. We regret that the gigantic burdens and difficulties placed on Mr. Wilson by the war and by the problems of peace have broken his health. We join with the whole nation in the fervent wish and hope that ;he may make a speedy and complete recovery, re-covery, and we are glad to give him and his advisers full credit for. all they have done or have tried to do as servants of the nation, in its hour of trial. But we have come to a time when, as a nation, we must have, leadership. No matter mat-ter what our relations with the rest of the world may develop into we must take care of our own affairs. It is impossible to go on as we have been going for the last year- The nation is at this moment . virtually in a state of civil war. Arid this condition is due mainly to lack of governmental govern-mental control and guidance. During the critical months following the armistice, when great' coiistructive policies for the safe and speedy restoration restora-tion of our social and economic life to a peace if ootoing ought to have been devised by the president, he persisted in absenting absent-ing himself from the country-While country-While he was in France no one could act as president in the direction of our domestic affairs. When he returned the president was plunged into a prolonged and bitter struggle with the Senate over the Peace Treaty and League, and this again made it impossible for hjm to give attention to . the pressing 'needs' of the nation. .Then came his tragic illness, and for over seven months lie did not meet with his Cabinet. True, the Cabinet held a few informal meetings, but when Mr. Wilson found it out, he dismissed the sec- retary of v state ostensibly for calling the Cabinet together in the President's absence. ab-sence. The only conclusion to be.drawn from this painful episode was that, although the President could not attend to the business himself, he was not willing to permit his official advisers to attend to it for him. JV With the Presiden away or ill f cfr more than a year the country has been left to drift like a captainless ship. Congress has enacted important legislation covering the return of the railroads to their owners, own-ers, and other nations connected with the peace. But the nation needs more than this. We have come to a new age and we must have great leadership. The Constitution Consti-tution gives us a President who, in times like these, is. suppsed to stand above party and the whole people Clothed with unique authority he is expected to guide his bewildered and burdened people into teh broad way of united national thinking endeavor and ideal. Without such leadership lead-ership our whole political structure is subjected ito a dangerous strain- If the President is incapacitated for the discharge 'of his great duties the people peo-ple .have a right to Jcnow it The Constitution Consti-tution provides that in case the Chief Magistrate becomes incapacitated, his duties shall be taken up bjy another. Is it the duty of Congress to determine whether the President is in condition to discharge, his sworn oblgations or not? If it is, why does not the Coongress act? If both ithe executive and legilative branches of the government fail to act. while the country drifts into chaos, how can the people help themselves? The time foi polite phrases is past- Either we hf" a government or we have not. If va ave, the fact can onlv be established by a firm enforcement of law.by adequate protection of life and property, and by the putting down of all lawless attempts to enforce the purposes of revolutionists against the rest of the' people.' This is no task for a sick man or a feeble and dis- . organized government. It requires ( strength of body and will and clarity of mind. If Mr. Wilson, through the misfortune of his regrettable illness, isimable to meet the situation, then for the sake of the country, and for his own sake, he must be relieved of the burden and some ope put in his place to meet the crisis. Otherwise Other-wise we shall come soon to a dav when the people will have to find a wav of cho'osirijf between a "goverrimenfthat can" frfuHSHdMi 'oV a riatioriih chabsLe'slie'st Weekly; , I 4 I |