The President's words will be searched in vain for a hint of partisanship or of party coercion. He spoke not to the Democratic majority in Congress but to all the members of Congress of all parties. It was not the address of the leader of the Democratic party but of the Presi'dent of the United States, appealing to a Congress from which he asks no political favors or personal exaltation, but only honest, single-minded co-operation in the public welfare.

A YEAR OF WILSON

[March 1, 1914]

WEDNESDAY, March 4th, Woodrow Wilson will have been President of the United States one year.

It has been a year of achievement for which there are few, if any, parallels in American history. To former President Taft, writing in the Saturday Evening Post, "it is a real satisfaction to one who knows the atmosphere of Washington to note the success of a strong character in dealing with the situation and improving the opportunity it offers." And Mr. Taft, with a generosity which a defeated President has rarely exhibited toward his successor, adds this further tribute of praise:

I rejoice in the existence of a situation in which the party in power is fulfilling its promises made in the platform, and is doing so by following the guidance of the head of the party, who is charged by the people with the party's responsibility.

There will be 'differences of opinion as to the greatest achievement thus far of the Wilson Administration. Some will find it in the downward revision of the tariff to meet the pledges of the Democratic party and in the

destruction of the lobby that for a generation dictated the essential schedules in every tariff act. Some will find it in the income tax, which is the first successful attempt since the Civil War to shift part of the burden of government from poverty to wealth. Some will find it in the banking and currency law, which is the most important financial measure enacted since the original national banking act was passed as a war measure. Some will find it in the final submission of Big Business to public opinion as represented by the Administration, and some will find it in the separation of the National Government from Wall Street, which is the most conspicuous result thus far of the President's policies.

These achievements are all of the highest importance; but they are all subordinate parts of a still greater accomplishment—the restoration of responsible, representative government. This is the supreme thing that has taken place under Mr. Wilson's leadership. Everything else is an effect following from this cause.

Without responsible, representative party government republican institutions cannot long endure, and the decline of such government was the greatest menace that had threatened the country since Secession. The policies and pledges of a party may be wise or unwise. They may be sound or weak; but unless that party when it is intrusted with the power and responsibility of government is prepared to redeem those promises in good faith and carry out its professed principles only political anarchy can follow. We do not mean that a political platform is sacred in all its planks, or that it is to be followed to the letter regardless of common sense, or common honesty, or the common welfare. But we do mean that when a party in power pledges itself to a general line of policy it must adhere to that general line of policy, or representative government becomes a fraud and a lie. There can be no "government of the people, by the people, for

the people" on any other terms. And when the people have finally lost all confidence in the integrity of representative government we have reached the beginning of the end.

It has been the high privilege of Mr. Wilson to reestablish responsible, representative government on the fundamental principles of the party. That is the great fruit of his leadership. He has done it not by the bribery of patronage; not by denunciation and intrigue and chicanery; not by selling out one promise in order to buy the fulfillment of another promise, but by sheer intellectual and moral domination, the only kind of leadership that does not lead to disaster. The influence that he exercises over Congress and his party is not the influence of a Chief Executive clothed with far-reaching legal powers, but it is the influence of a trained and disciplined mind backed by sincerity and honesty of purpose. That is the noblest form of leadership that a democracy can produce.

In his inaugural address Mr. Wilson said: "This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication." Even the strongest opponent of his policies cannot impeach that pledge. The President has kept the faith. Under his leadership his party has kept the faith. That is the supreme vindication of American institutions. Everything else depends upon the fitness of the people themselves for self-government and for the responsibilities of self-gov

ernment.

WILSON AND ROOSEVELT

[April 2, 1916]

EITHER Republicans are crooked in their opposition to President Wilson's foreign policies, or they are crooked in their opposition to the nomination of Col. Roosevelt.

If they oppose Wilson on principle, there can be no principle back of their opposition to Roosevelt. If they oppose Roosevelt on principle, there is no principle back of their opposition to Wilson. The more they profess to be for Hughes the more glaring is their insincerity in assailing Wilson.

Justice Hughes is essentially the Wilson type. His outlook on public life is essentially the Wilson outlook. His theory of public duty is essentially the Wilson theory. So far as we know there is no important difference between these two men on any important issue confronting the country. There is probably no vital question about which they are not in substantial agreement. Justice Hughes is more Republican than President Wilson: Presi'dent Wilson is more Democratic than Justice Hughes. The Judge is a little more conservative than the Presi'dent. The President is a little more tactful and conciliatory than the Judge in dealing with those who are not in accord with him.

What, then, is the purpose of nominating Justice Hughes? To continue the Wilson Administration under Republican auspices? To replace a Democratic Wilson with a Republican Wilson?

Now with Roosevelt there is an issue. No two men could be more unlike than Wilson and Roosevelt, except Hughes and Roosevelt.

Roosevelt is a born 'demagogue, however much contempt he may have for rival demagogues like Bryan and Hearst. Wilson despises all the arts of demagogy, but demagogy is vital to the kind of a campaign the Republicans are trying to wage against Wilson. Roosevelt has a gift for intrigue which has not been equalled in American politics since Aaron Burr. Wilson is incapable of intrigue. Roosevelt is a jingo and imperialist, a militarist with the ambition of a dictator. Wilson is against jingoism, against imperialism, against militarism, and an un

swerving champion of democracy. Roosevelt is for war for war's sake. He believes in it as one of the virile virtues as earnestly as Bernhardi or Tirpitz believes in it. Wilson is for peace as long as peace can be maintained with honor. War to him is the last of all last resorts.

Roosevelt's attitude toward government is consistently Prussian. The man whom he most closely resembles is the Kaiser. Wilson's attitude toward government is incorrigibly American. His spirit is the spirit of Franklin, Jefferson and Lincoln.

So far as Roosevelt is capable of sincerity, he is sincere in his hatred of Wilson and in his vehement antagonism to everything that Wilson represents in public life. Roosevelt would hate anybody who was President, but in some circumstances that would be merely the hatred of envy. In Wilson's case his hatred is elemental.

The two men embody to an astounding extent the two conflicting ideals of civilization that are engaged in a 'death grapple on the battle-fields of Europe. Roosevelt is the American equivalent of Germany. His political philosophy is all German. His highest conception of government is one in which the state is supreme and in which the individual exists for the state, to be remolded and reshaped from the image of God into whatever image an all-wise and all-powerful state decrees best. state is the ultimate good, the summum bonum. Its advancement is the imperative obligation. Whatever stands in the way is evil. The first duty of man is to be a sol'dier. The first duty of woman is to breed children for the service of the state.

The

In peace Roosevelt would meddle with the daily life of the citizen as Germany meddles with it. would carry on as Germany carries on war.

War he

There is

nothing that the German Government has done which he would be incapable of ordering in similar circumstances.