The President on "Our Interests"

1916

The characteristic aberration of Mr. Wilson's mind and his self-complacent disregard of traditional American principles are never more clearly shown than when he discusses American interests and the relationship of them to the interests of the world at large. It is a favorite theme with him, lending itself with facility to that fashion of phrase-making which forms so dominant a part of his public utterances, and in dealing with it he displays not only the self-complacency to which we have already referred, but also a degree of inconsistency which is actually bewildering.

It was only the other day that in a public address at the capital he rang the changes of emphasis upon the proposition that we should never exert the physical force of America for our own interests, but only for the interests of humanity, or for our own only when they were identical with those of humanity at large. He was, of course, entitled to that view of the case as his own. But how presumptuous an error it was to declare that to be the traditional American policy, established by the fathers of the republic, is suggested by simple reference to Washington's Farewell Address, in which Americans are exhorted to adopt and maintain a course of policy under which we may choose peace or war as our interests, guided by justice, shall dictate"!.

Again, speaking of the European War, Mr. Wilson has said that Americans have "no part of interest in the policies which seem to have brought the conflict on." We are not sure that even his epochal "too proud to fight" comment upon the Lusitania massacre was more repugnant to humane feeling. We have, then, no interest in the protection of small nations from oppression and spoliation; no interest in the respecting of neutrality; no interest in the faithful observance of treaty obligations; no interest in the substitution of justice for brute force. Those would be astounding declarations for America to make in the twentieth century! Why, even a pagan comedian twenty centuries ago declared that because he was a man he was interested in everything that concerned humanity. Have we fallen below Terence's code of ethics? We should like to bracket by the side of Mr. Wilson's inhuman disclaimer of interest the studied statement of England's poet-statesman, Wordsworth, that "every independent nation is interested in the maintenance of the national independence of every other country." By the side of such a proposition how sordid appears Mr. Wilson's plea of "no interest"! — The Boston Transcript.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 8.

Brass Tacks At Washington

1916

Judge Hughes and the Republican Party are challenged in the new Democratic National Textbook to speak out for or against the record of achievement made by President Wilson and the Democrats.

The challenge is issued in twenty-one brief, direct and pointed questions addressed to Judge Hughes and the Republicans by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Committee. All the large issues, domestic and international, are treated. The questions carry the caption "Appeal for Light for Sixteen Million Voters: Let Mr. Hughes and the Republican Party Answer."

These questions are:

1. Do you favor repeal of the Federal Reserve Act passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, under which the danger of financial panics is forever banished from the United States?

2. Would you have protested against the violation of Belgian neutrality and have backed the protest by plunging America into the European carnival of slaughter?

3. Do you favor repeal of the Rural Credits Act, passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, which gives long-term credit at interest rates that promise an annual saving of $150,000,000 to the farmers?

4. Would you have recognized Victoriano Huerta as President of Mexico?

5. Do. you favor repeal of the Clayton Anti-trust Act, passed by a Democratic Congress and approved by President Wilson, which overthrew the principle that the labor of a human being is a mere commodity of commerce?

6. Will you, Mr. Hughes, recommend, and will the Republican Party in Congress support a law establishing universal compulsory military service in the United States?

7. Do you advocate repeal of the Federal Trade Commission Act, passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, which has given so much assistance to legitimate business enterprises and under which adequate protection against unfair competion is provided?

8. Mr. Hughes, would you have tried the policy of diplomatic negotiation as a means of summoning the moral force of law and neutral opinion to stop Germany's illegal use of submarines?

9. Do you favor repeal of the "porkless" Good Roads Act, passed by a Democratic Congress and approved by President Wilson, for the development of rural highways?

10. Would you, Mr. Hughes, have broken relations with Germany and sent our young men by the hundreds of thousands to nameless graves at the bottom of the Atlantic or in Flanders before the policy of diplomatic negotiation had had thorough trial?

11. Will you undertake to repeal the income tax, passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, which places a just share of the burden of taxation upon those best able to bear it?

12. Do you favor violating neutrality and risking the future safety of your country by placing an embargo on munitions of war?

13. Do you favor repeal of the Agricultural Extension Act, passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, which for the first time provides facilities for carrying direct to the farmer practical scientific knowledge of how to increase the profits of his farm?

14. Do you favor intervention in Mexico?

15. Do you advocate repeal of the Grain Standards and Warehouse Acts, passed by a Democratic Congress, recommended and approved by President Wilson, which aid commerce in the great staple cereals and enable owners of stored agricultural products to secure loans on warehouse receipts on better terms?

16. What is your attitude towards the disloyalists of your party who have attempted to prevent the enforcement by President Wilson, both on the part of the American government and by all American citizens, of an honest neutrality towards all the warring nations of Europe?

17 Inasmuch as the largest amount collected in any one year under the highest tariff ever enacted (Payne-Aldrich Act) was $333,000,000, what form of taxation would you substitute to pay a "Preparedness" cost of $630,000,000?

18. Do you favor the reactionary Republican plan of granting huge subsidies to favored corporations, money collected from the people by taxation, as the best way of encouraging the development of an American merchant marine?

19. Do you favor repeal of the Child Labor Law, the Anti-Injunction Law, the Seaman's Act and related social justice measures of high importance, passed by a Democratic Congress and recommended and approved by President Wilson?

20. Do you favor re-enactment of the Payne-Aldrich Act which betrayed your party's campaign pledge of 1908 and which has been repudiated by many Republican and all Progressive leaders?

21. Do you stand with those Progressives and progressive Republicans in Congress who voted for practically all the progressive measures mentioned above, or do you stand with the reactionary Republicans who voted against them?

In conclusion, the two Democratic Committees say,

"President Wilson and the Democratic Party submit their case to the American people on the record they have made. Broadly speaking that is the issue of the campaign. Upon the public survey and estimate of that record depends the outcome of the election.

"If, as charged by you, Mr. Hughes, and your supporters, that record is bad and does not justify the continued confidence of the country it will become your duty, if elected, to do all in your power to change that record. We submit that in all fairness the American people, for whose verdict you are contesting, are entitled to know how much of this record you and your party will attempt to destroy if placed in power."

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 8.

Recent Events

1916

According to Seattle Times, a $22,000,000 fleet is to be built in Pacific coast ports for A. U. Anderson & Co. of Copenhagen, Denmark, which will be placed under American flag. 14 vessels already have been contracted for.

Citizen soldiers who attended earlier camps at Plattsburg, N. Y., as well as those now in training there, will receive from government their traveling and subsistence expenses under army appropriation bill passed by Congress.

Mexican de facto government has promulgated decree requiring companies engaged in production of crude oil in Mexico to register in the tax bureau of ministry of finance before Sept. 15.

Department of commerce reports that 221 firms are holding nearly 5,000,000 cases of eggs — about 143,000,000 dozen — in cold storage, or 10 per cent less than a month ago.

Herald New York despatch says railroads may delay attack on eight-hour law. Prominent officials believe President Wilson's statement to Congress Friday was a pledge of remedial legislation and are inclined to await outcome of election.

State department has received information of an agreement between Great Britain and Norway whereby latter will place an export embargo on raw copper and will receive without interruption imports of copper from this country.

Copper is now chief article of export from Alaska. Export value for year to June 30 was $26,488,000, compared with $5,182,000 in 1915. Receipts of copper from Alaska aggregated 117,000,000 pounds.

A new labor union, composed of government employees, has decided to ask President Wilson to make Saturday a half-holiday for all government workers throughout the year.

Arrangements are being made for formation of a $50,000,000 automobile company in France to manufacture cheap cars after war capable of competing with Ford.

New revenue bill makes income tax returns public records, with proviso requiring an order by the President before such records can be seen.

London Times says that Swedish harvest will be finest on record, crop yield being from 50 per cent to 200 per cent above average.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 7.

Wilson's Legislative Program

1916

Washington, Sept. 10 — Whether President Wilson is re-elected or not, he has definitely outlined and will endeavor to put through the following program at December session of Congress:

First, a law patterned after Canadian industrial dispute act, providing that strikes shall be made illegal on semi-public utilities until there has been full investigation and report by an arbitration board to be established. It is his proposition that present meditation and conciliation board shall be strengthened and extended to take over functions of arbitration.

A bill to extend membership of Commerce Commission to nine members, to establish a zone system, and to generally revise powers of the commission so that wages may be taken into consideration is estimating what freight rates are reasonable.

Enactment of the Webb law, permitting co-operation among American manufacturers for export trade.

Additional legislation to be worked out by new tariff commission and to be submitted to Congress with a view to meeting trade conditions after the war.

No formal announcement will be made of this program before election, but the President has informally announced to members of his Cabinet that he intends to make a strong fight for constructive legislation at the December session, regardless of manner in which the election turns out. The President has expressed desire to devote himself in the next four years to more constructive legislation, taking the view that the way has been cleared by the past four years. If he finds he is not to have four years more, he will seek to complete his program at the December session, despite the fact that it is always difficult to get through any bill at the short session.

Incidentally, the President has expressed opinion that he hopes Mr. Hughes will continue to dwell upon the eight hour law, insisting that he will welcome this as an issue. Nevertheless, many advisers of the President are worried about this particular phase of the campaign.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

President Wilson's Sister Ill

Sept. 1916

President Wilson received word late Sunday night that the condition of his sister, Mrs. Anne Howe, who is critically ill at New London, Conn., has taken a turn for the worse. The President immediately cancelled all engagements for Monday and announced he would start for New London early in the morning.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

President Begins Speeches

1916

Long Branch, N. J., Sept. 23. — President Wilson today actively opened his campaign for reelection with a speech replying to Republican criticism of his settlement of the recently threatened railroad strike.

With emphatic gestures, before a large crowd gathered at Shadow Lawn, he defended the eight-hour day and declared also that the nation must be freed front the possibility of interference with its transportation.

"The chief cloud that is upon the domestic horizon is the unsatisfactory relations of capital and labor," the President said, adding that "so long as labor and capital stand antagonistic the interests of both are injured and the prosperity of America is held back from the triumphs which are legitimately its own.

"Human relationships, my fellow citizens, are governed by the heart, and if the heart is not in it, nothing is in it.

"I have recently been through an experience which distressed me. I tried to accommodate a difference between some of the employes of the American railways and the executives of the American railways, and the distressing thing I discovered was that on the one hand there was unlimited suspicion and distrust of the other, and that that suspicion and distrust was returned by the other side in full measure.

"The executives did not believe in the sincerity of the men, and the men did not believe in the sincerity and fairness of the executives.

"When I carried it to Congress, some very interesting things happened. In the House of Representatives the plan was passed, was sanctioned by a vote which included, I am told, about 70 Republicans as against 54 Republicans; and in the Senate, I am informed, that the Republican members of the Senate had a conference, in which they determined to put no obstacle in the way of the passage of the bill. Now this was because the proposal was reasonable and was based upon right.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, that is not the end of the story. This thing ought to have been done, and it had to be done at the time that it was done, so as to bring about a reasonable trial of the eight-hour day and a careful examination of the results of the eight-hour day.

"But that does not finish the matter. Let me call your attention to what I believe we ought all to be thinking about so as to set the stage for this and all similar cases.

"There are some things in which society is so profoundly interested that its interests take precedence of the interests of any group of men whatever. One of these things is the supply of the absolute necessaries of life. It would be intolerable if at any time any group of men by any process should be suffered to cut society off from the necessary supplies which sustain life.

"These men were dealing with one another as if the only thing to settle was between themselves, whereas the real thing to settle was what rights had the 100,000,000 people of the United States?

"The business of government is to see that no other organization is as strong as itself, to see that no body or group of men, no matter what their private interest is, may come into competition with the authority of society, and the problem which Congress, because of the lateness of the session, has for a few months postponed, is this problem."

Wilson Independent League

1916

Boston, Sept. 19. — With the announced purpose of furthering the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson for a second term as President, the Woodrow Wilson Independent League was formed yesterday by several prominent business men chosen from all parties. The headquarters of the new league will be at 338 Washington street. An appeal to the independent voters was set out by the league last night and it credits Mr. Wilson with the "achievement of practically all the beneficial legislation of the last Congress." In regard to his foreign policy, the appeal declares that President Wilson has "asserted and maintained without resentment, with almost infinite patience, and yet with firmness and success, the rights of both this country and all neutrals."

Charles H. Jones of the Commonwealth Shoe and Leather Company is president of the league, John F. Moors is treasurer, and Ellery Sedgwick, editor of the Atlantic Monthly is secretary. The executive committee of the league consists of Charles H. Jones, chairman; Edmund J. Burke, Francis J. Goodale, John F. Moors and Ellery Sedgwick. The vice presidents are: Charles W. Eliot, Harry A. Garfield, F. W. Taussig, Bliss Perry, Henry B. Cabot, F. Lowell Kennedy, Lewis J. Johnson, Ray Stannard Baker, Charles P. Hall, Meyer Bloomfield, Frederick N. Wier, Arthur M. Huddell, Roger W. Babson, E. N. Vallandigham, J. Porter Russell, Hector N. Holmes, Dr. George W. Kaan, Rev A. W. Vernon, R. M. Hull, Jacob DeHaas, E. T. Hartman, E. H. DeLany, John S. Codman, Henry D. Nunn, Joseph B. Eastman, Robert H. Schacht, Dr. Fred L. Abbott and C. Crawford Hollidge.

The Mystery of Woodrow Wilson

1916

Oswald Garrison Villard writes in part in the North American Review: There are many mysteries connected with Woodrow Wilson. But the greatest is the transformation the day he became President and was no longer governor. He left Woodrow Wilson, the accessible tribune of the people, and became Woodrow Wilson the least accessible and most secluded of all our Presidents. It was not merely that he was oppressed by magnitude of his new task; not that the office of President has grown enormously in routine duties since the days of the last democratic President; not that a private bereavement soon bore him down; not that a physical strength none too great must be husbanded, nor even that problems of state almost unparalleled in gravity and import took their toll of hours for waking and for sleeping. These all had their influence, but at bottom it was the policy that was changed.

He no longer worked in any degree in the open; he sought council of fewer and fewer; his door no longer stood ajar; even his cabinet knew him not for days and weeks, becoming often a mere chorus of ratification. Visitor and volunteer advisers were no longer welcome — more than that, they were under suspicion of some ulterior motive. The burden of proof that they were not secretly in pay of the magnates of Wall street rested upon them. Notably has this been the case with those having knowledge of Mexico. To have capital invested in that country is as effective a disbarment from the Presidential ear as to be doing business in Wall street itself. Our leading financiers have been denied a hearing — to their complete puzzlement. He will not stoop to smuggle captains of industry into the White House by the back door. They are beyond the pale and must be kept there. The President in a recent speech has made it clear that success in business puts one without the Presidential ken. He stated that he did not care to hear from men who had done well under present conditions; when he wished a real insight into conditions he wanted to hear from the little fellows who were bucking the tide and the currents that make against success.

But there are still other tests employed to keep men and women out of the White House. Can they interest the Presidential mind? Have they anything to give to one who communes so freely with himself and works out such vital problems of state on his little typewriter? If not, they may cool their heels in Mr. Tumulty's outer office as long as they please. It availeth them not. Some of the strongest and most loyal supporters of Mr. Wilson have been denied a word, and the sole explanation is the Presidential theory that they had nothing to give him. Here we have considerable light on much that is puzzling. The President seems never to ask what he can do for others, particularly those who have worked for him with complete and devoted enthusiasm. Their homage is accepted; but it never occurs to Mr. Wilson there might be a reciprocal obligation. He has been a stranger even to his own lieutenants.

In May, 1915, I met an official of high position in one of the departments, in whose hands were matters of the utmost moment. His confidential reports would profoundly have affected the whole country had they seen the light of the day. They were constantly placed upon the President's desk. Yet I found this official had never seen the President except to shake hands with him in the lineup at an official reception. Dozens of similar cases could be cited. Even diplomatic officers returning from positions on some of our international "fronts" with first-hand information have been thunderstruck to find their opinions were neither sought nor desired.

Take the case of the federal reserve board. A year after its appointment its members had never met the President save at an official reception to which they were not even invited until attention of some White House functionary was called. Toward members of Congress his attitude is similar, save that these are sent for when the President wants them to do something for him.

Being completely self-sufficient, it never occurs to Mr. Wilson that a word of instruction or inspiration or praise or just a bit of human interest would mean much.

It must be said in Mr. Wilson's favor that he plays no favorites beyond one or two intimates. Men who expended large sums for him in 1912, who nearly worked their heads off for him in New Jersey, have all experienced equality of treatment.

Sometimes, however, the President's refusal of himself to others has more important results. Thus there was a governor once, who, being in Washington, had to go his way without a glimpse of the head of the nation. I have always wondered whether the governor did not remember this when, a few weeks later, the President was asking him to spare the life of a convict of international interest, only to have his request refused.

The Cabinet does not come in for many special privileges. Some of his ablest ministers have known him only in so far as routine demanded his attention. One of the strongest assured me he had never been asked an opinion in three years save at Cabinet meetings — not even during the Lusitania crisis.

In the Lusitania crisis we can see clearly the theory of office of President maintained by the author of congressional government and constitutional government in the United States. The writer believes Mr. Wilson laid the country under lasting obligation by his successful handling of that situation, and that history will accord a high place to the extraordinary series of Lusitania notes. But even an admirer of this fine statesmanship may look with uneasiness upon a policy by which in so great a crisis the way out is found in almost solitary[*] communion. Mr. Wilson held no Cabinet meetings at that grave time save to lay before his constitutional advisers the fruits of his meditation. Mr. Wilson, in the midst of the crisis, went to Cornish and secluded himself absolutely for 25 days.

Wilson government is one-man government. It is not party leadership, but party dictatorship.

The democratic party has been committed by Mr. Wilson personally to various new policies. Until he swung the party to advocacy of a large army and navy, to government by protectorate of Haiti and San Domingo, to purchase the Danish West Indies, the party had always been the anti-imperialistic party. When Mr. Wilson decided the time had come to reverse his position on "preparedness," he neither took a vote of his Cabinet nor of the party leaders. He refused to receive a group of citizens, chiefly of his supporters, who wished to urge him not to change his position. This kind of leadership is not responsible party leadership. His changes of base on the trade commission, woman suffrage, a child-labor law, and the tariff itself — to mention only a few complete reversals — were made without party consultation. The President's policy appears to be purely opportunist as well as purely individual. Members of Congress have been afraid to utter the usual campaign speeches lest the President in his bed chamber change the party policy overnight.

The mystery of the change in Mr. Wilson is intensified by his treatment of Washington newspaper men. The first day upon which he greeted them they were to be his bosom friends. Unfortunately they had a habit of asking searching questions. Soon there were subjects about which correspondents were forbidden to ask — for state reasons. Next, the conference became irregular, and ceased in July, 1915.

It is now reported that in deference to political exigencies and urging of Vance McCormick these conferences are to be resumed. Nothing can make them a success, for mutual trust and cordial friendship are lacking.

What is true of these relationships is true of Mr. Wilson's life in the White House. It is reserved and retired, notably so in contrast to the Roosevelt regime. Mr. Wilson entertains but little. What his warmest admirers have kept on hoping for is that others besides themselves might have access to that bonhomie they enjoy, and thus be disabused of any idea that the President is a mere thinking-machine without any heart and interested in people only so far as they have something to give.

If Mr. Wilson's failure in these relationships merely affected himself, they could be dismissed as individual idiosyncrasies. But these Wilson traits have a distant bearing on the future of the democracy. They must be taken into account by any voter who would forecast the kind of President Mr. Wilson would be in a second term, when temptation will be behind him to lower the public service by bestowing offices for political reasons, by surrendering to organized labor, by frequently reversing his positions. They throw important light upon Mr. Wilson's attitude toward his office.

They explain why whereas there were once notable bodies of young Cleveland men, there has been no similar raising up of young Wilson men to carry on the standard in years to come. There was a beginning in early efforts to oppose Tammany Hall, but with surrender to Murphy, as illustrated by the Johnson case, no more is heard of a reform democracy in New York.

As for the leader in the White House, no fair man doubts his extraordinary ability, his frequent lofty statesmanship, his rare wit, his unbounded power to charm when he will but unbend. He can rise to great heights both in words and deeds. Despite many base anonymous rumors, his private life is all that it should be.

The tragedy of it is that there are those who ought to know who believe the President desires nothing so much as to be loved, not for what he has achieved, nor for his intellectual powers, but for himself alone.

Note: [*] The article used the word 'coliary,' which isn't a word so far as I can determine, and 'solitary' fits the context a lot better.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 26, 1916, p. 8.

An Authorized Statement of President Wilson's Plans

1916

L.' Ames Brown in Collier's.

No sane man doubts that the coming of peace in Europe will modify profoundly the present conditions of business enterprise in the United States.

Among economists, as well as publicists, opinions differ as to the extent to which the industries of the nations now at war will be re-energized when peace makes them again our competitors in business. Some of our prophets have broadcasted the prediction that European manufacture may then be so speeded up that the resulting flood of products will swamp our industries unless they are protected by a solid tariff bulwark. Others, including President Wilson, hold that America, having husbanded and conserved her great resources while other nations were passing through the travail of a great war, is better able than ever before to meet the pace of her international competitors.

President Wilson believes that the American position is sound, not only because our resources have not been impaired, as have those of the European belligerents, but because our manufacturers have been stimulated and trained by new demands the war has made upon them. They have learned to meet, not only the war needs of Europe, but also those wants at home which heretofore foreign industry satisfied for us. Finally, the President attaches great importance to the fact that the United States has become, by reason of the Federal Reserve Act, the great financial power of the world.

Keen-minded men of every viewpoint are agreed, however, as to the imminence of severe new tests for American industry and as to the necessity of preparation to meet these tests. A period of intense competition looms up ahead of the nation — a competition of peace times which probably will not be comparable to any international industrial competition the world has ever known.

President Wilson believes that preparation for national defense is the first and most essential requirement the Government is called upon to meet. This he regards as a sort of insurance against an irremediable conflagration. But once our house has been put in order, it becomes the paramount duty of the Government to see to it that the most efficient preparation possible is made for the peace which will liberate the energies of the European power for industrial activity. Mr. Wilson already has looked ahead to the manner in which this primary duty of the American Government is to be performed, and he has evolved a comprehensive plan of preparation. It is the privilege of the writer of this article to present from intimate knowledge the views President Wilson has formulated with the object of giving a new and fuller meaning to American efficiency.

As soon as industrial preparedness is mentioned the mind of the American business man turns to the tariff. The tariff is the first line of trenches of American industry, our business men believe, and the first duty of the Government officers at work upon an adequate preparedness policy is to consider the question of tariff revision. Neither the President nor the well-informed business man has ignored the lesson contained in the announcement that Japan already has revised her tariff to meet new conditions; that England is preparing to enact prohibitive duties upon the products of her enemies and moderate duties upon the products of neutral nations at the close of the war; that Germany will revise all of her commercial treaties in 1917; and that a strong sentiment exists in England, France, Russia, and Italy for the negotiation of a commercial alliance.

The Tariff Must Be Revised.

President Wilson considers himself bound by no commitments save to a competitive tariff policy. The Underwood-Simmons Tariff Law embodied his ideas of the competitive needs of our industries at the time its schedules were framed — when pre-bellum industrial conditions obtained. His mind is entirely open as to the extent to which competitive conditions may have been modified by the European War. He does not need to be convinced that these conditions may be altered. He is prepared to act upon the facts as they may be gathered and their value impartially assessed through the instrumentality of a nonpartisan tariff commission. He considers that an earnest of his open-mindedness on tariff revision has been given in his support of the measure adopted at the present session of Congress to levy higher duties on dyestuffs as a means of securing necessary industries in the United States. The President considers his position, as here outlined, to be in the strictest accord with the avowed principles of his party.

The Tariff Commission is the instrumentality through which the President expects the Government to gather the facts needed for guidance in adjusting the tariff schedule. That would be perhaps the chief purpose of the Tariff Commission's suggested journey to Europe, though that would be only one phase of its inquiries. President Wilson is now as thoroughly convinced as anyone that America is not at the period of her destiny when free-trade ideas can be applied in our tariff making consistently with the necessities of revenue. It is an obvious fact, to which a section of the Democratic leaders, not including the President, persistently has closed its eyes, that all tariff duties in some degree protect the industries concerned. Tariffs protect, whether drawn with an eye to protection or to revenue, and the wisely drawn tariff law — the competitive tariff law — is that which balances revenue features with the nicest sensing of the needs of developing commerce and industry. It can be said that the President will study the report of the Tariff Commission with the view of formulating an adjustment of necessary tariff levies which will effect the fullest measure of development.

"There are many paths which lead up the mountainside, but when we reach the peak the same moon we shall see," says a proverb of Old Japan. How applicable it is to the present tariff discussion! Some one has called President Wilson's attention to the fact that fully 50 per cent of arguments among individuals about the tariff grow out of misunderstanding of isolated facts and not out of differences on fundamental principles. He does believe that a clear presentation of the facts relating to the conditions of competition between the United States and foreign countries will go far toward weeding out differences of opinion attributable to lack of information; so far that it will be possible to formulate a tariff policy for the United States which will command the support of an overwhelming majority of the people of the country regardless of partisan affiliations. The possibility of such an approximate agreement on a subject that hitherto has divided the electorate into two antagonistic sections is attributable in large measure (the President considers) to the development of independent thinking among the voters.

The great body of the people (Mr. Wilson believes) have made up their minds that the industries of the country ought not to be hampered by a too strict adherence to abstract tariff theories, but that the fullest measure of opportunity should be opened to them so long as the conferring of special privileges is avoided. On the other hand (as the President understands the public mind) there is the conviction that our industries ought not to be fattened to the point where apoplexy is threatened; but again, the conviction is just as clear that it would be the height of national folly to lower the entire range of tariff duties to such an extent that, coincidentally, the Government would be deprived of an important part of its accustomed revenue and the industries of all of their accustomed re-enforcement. So much for the President's views on the tariff, which relate solely to the defensive preparation of American business for the tests to come at the end of the war. The President believes that the aggressive and buoyant spirit of American business is such that it will be more concerned with offensive measures, with preparation to wade into the markets of the world, and to establish American supremacy there.

The President's policy includes numerous legislative and executive steps through which this preparation is to be accomplished. Most important of these is his plan to procure definitive authorization for American firms to co-operate for foreign-selling operations without regard to the provisions Of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. The President recognizes that in the past the American Government has been somewhat provincial in its attitude toward this need of our export business. The war and the vigorous investigation by the Federal Trade Commission have orientated the President and the Government, however. Now it is realized that the great competitive strength of Germany and the other industrial nations of Europe in the past has been due in large measure to the freedom with which their industries were permitted to organize for purposes of foreign trade. In Europe individual companies of one nation did not need to meet ruinous competition of other nations. They could present a solid national front. This was accomplished through the organization of syndicates and cartels which have flourished for decades in every great industrial nation except the United States.

Set Business Free.

The President's understanding of prospective post-bellum conditions holds up to his mind the probability that hereafter American industry may have to compete not only with those solid national organizations, but with international organizations. It is because he faces this prospect that the President believes it is high time for the American Government to strike from our industries some of the shackles in which they have labored because the Sherman Law failed to authorize the needed and wholesome processes of co-operative business organization.

President Wilson's attitude toward business organization as a principle for domestic as well as foreign application is different from that which has determined the policy of many Governmental officers in the past. Then the Government was so much concerned with eradicating the flaws in our business structure that it gave no large measure of thought to developing business opportunities. Under the President's inspiration the Trade Commission idea has been evolved, whereby the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice has been prevented from flourishing its sword over the heads of business organizations, merely because of the size of these organizations. Mere bigness is not held to be cause for suspicion by the Trade Commission, which is now the chief instrumentality of enforcing the anti-trust laws.

The Trade Commission has encountered little difficulty in straightening out kinks in commercial organizations which involve violations of law because business men have been made to realize that the main concern of this body has been the promotion of growth and the development of opportunity.

The Tariff Commission will find many ways of being useful to the business world if the plans President Wilson has formed for it are followed. The war has developed new industries in the United States, notably the dyestuff industry. Great benefit can be conferred on industries of this character, the President believes, if the Tariff Commission studies their methods of operation and subsequently the methods of operation and the economies which obtain among the European nations, where these industries have been longest established and are most efficient.

The President expects the Commission to go into the field of foreign tariff duties and to convey to American export organizations complete data as to the existence and effects of discriminating duties, commercial treaties, and preferential rates; the effects of export bounties and preferential transportation rates; and the effects of any special or discriminating privilege that may be used against the United States.

The scope of the Trade Commission's activities, according to the policy in the President's mind, includes the development of plans by which American business firms may best prepare themselves for the plunge into the international markets. For example the standardization of materials, manufacturing methods, and products, so that a uniformity of quality and price may be maintained in foreign markets, will obviate many of the difficulties experienced by American exporters in keeping up their historic endeavor to compete with one another. Another measure approved by the President is the development of a system of accounting which will enable the American business man to tell more accurately what it costs him to turn out his product. The President was surprised recently to learn from Federal Trade Commissioner Hurley that, whereas 50 per cent of German manufacturers can compute the exact cost of their products, only 10 per cent of American manufacturers can do so.

In general, the President intends that the Trade Commission shall apply itself vigorously to methods of reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of production.

The President is wholly committed to plans for maintaining and developing the transportation facilities at the disposal of the nation's business. His views on the need for an American merchant marine such as will assure American manufacturers means of conveying their products to foreign markets without depending on other nations, are now well known, and the shipping bill which embodies his ideas is now before Congress. The public is not so well informed, however, as to the President's attitude respecting the conservation and development of our domestic transportation facilities, namely, the railroads. With a view to obtaining the real facts about the difficulties confronting our great railroad companies the President has brought about the creation of a Congressional Commission to make a thoroughgoing inquiry into all phases of railroad problems. The President does not ignore the fact that in many instances the State Railroad Commissions and the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission have worked at cross purposes, thereby seriously retarding the development of the roads as national utilities. The President's mind is open on the subject of Federal incorporation and he will embody in his constructive business policy the conclusions which may seem justified by the investigation of the Congressional Commission.

Welcomes "Dollar Exchange"

There are many other phases of the railroad problem, however, regarding which the President desires the public to be better informed so that the Government may be enabled more fully to do its duty by the roads. These relate to credits and methods of expansion, as well as to schemes of regulation; and most important of all, to the spirit in which the public is to approach all questions relating to the welfare of the common carriers.

Another phase of the President's plans centers around his desire to provide means of assuring to the country the most efficient exertion of its great accumulated financial strength at the end of the war.

The United States has more gold than either group of the European belligerents and her financial position is incomparably stronger than that of any European nation with which we are shortly to engage in competition. But the President faces the fact that this new and happy condition has been created by the war and that plans must now be evolved for expanding our credit structure if the nation's industries are to reap the full benefits of our great financial strength when peace comes. The President believes that one of the measures which should be taken toward this end is the establishment of joint agencies of the Federal reserve banks in Europe as soon as sufficiently stable conditions are restored there. He also favors the establishment of such agencies in South America. It is his policy further to encourage American banking institutions to establish foreign branches in South America, where American trade is endeavoring to establish new footholds, and in general to adopt the most liberal attitude permissible while observing the spirit of the Federal Reserve act. The development of "dollar exchange" he contemplates with real enthusiasm.

The Government Must Help Business.

The President's policy may be summarized in the statement that he desires the Government to assume the role of the vigorous and robust friend of American business men in their endeavors to cope with competitors from other nations. This general statement covers not only the measures which have been discussed in this article and the holding of financial conferences between the United States and countries with which our trade may be expanded, but other concrete ideas for legislative enactments and executive acts which will promote the same purpose.

The President believes that the measures which his administration has taken for conserving and energizing American labor are part and parcel of the policy which I have been permitted here to set forth.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 26, 1916, p. 8.

Lincoln Cabin Accepted by Nation

1916

The humble log cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born, on Feb. 12, 1809, is now the property of the United States, having been accepted for the Nation by President Wilson in his speech at Hodgenville, Kentucky, last week. The cabin is in the beautiful granite Lincoln Memorial, on the summit of a hill two miles from Hodgenville.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

White House Wedding Superstitions

1915

Mrs. Champ Clark, wife of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, writing of the White House wedding scheduled to take place Saturday, says:

"Concerning President Wilson and the Select Lady (predestined in the councils of eternity before the foundations of the world, that is, if Calvinism still holds good) to preside over the social destinies of the White House in 1916, this much is apparent: neither is superstitious. Else in selecting the date of their marriage they would not have run contrary to the marriage day proverb, which says:

"'Monday for health,
Tuesday for wealth.
Wednesday the best day of all;
Thursday for losses,
Friday for crosses,
Saturday no day at all.'

"I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Saturday leap forward into popularity among the list of wedding days out of compliment to the high contracting parties. For the influence of the bride-elect is already manifest in the beautiful 'Edith pinks' lavishly displayed in all the department stores.

"However, among Mr. Wilson's predecessors in office there were several who were superstitious, notably among them General Grant, who tells in his autobiography the story of his own wooing and how it was affected by his pet superstition.

"General Grant says be was brought up to regard it bad luck to stop or turn back after you had stopped any place until you had arrived at your destination. So when he received orders to go to the Mexican War he suddenly realized that he was very much interested in Miss Julia Dent. He was on leave of absence at the time, but he rushed back with all possible speed to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where he polished up his armor and brushed up his clothes and made himself as attractive as possible. Then mounting his horse he rode away, taking a bee line for Miss Julia Dent's house.

"Arrived at Gravoist Creek, a small, insignificant stream that ordinarily would not have had power to turn a coffee mill, he found it on the boom, out of its banks and making as much noise as the cataract of Lodore.

"But he was not to be stopped by a little old creek, even if it was on the rampage. So he plunged in and swam for dear life, the current carrying him down the stream, and if he had not been a country boy and used to meeting emergencies the story of Appomatox and its 'famous apple tree' would have had a different ending.

"As it was, he kept his own head and headed his horse persistently for the opposite bank. And got there safe and sound but wet to the skin and with no dry clothes on that side of the creek. However, he borrowed some clothes of his future brother-in-law, courted Miss Julia, was accepted, and four years afterward they were married and lived happily afterward, at least as much so as the circumstances would permit."

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 6. The publishing date of this paper is the same day President Wilson and Edith Galt were married.

Street Gossip About Town — Kingston, New York, 1916

1916

STREET GOSSIP ABOUT TOWN

We notice quite some change in woman's styles this season, the hair being dressed low and the skirts high.

Our June tip to bridegrooms — If you start now helping the bride to wash the dishes you will have, unknowingly, contracted a life job.

The remarkable power and strength of the human eye is almost unbelievable and to quote but a single instance. The other evening one of the large plate glass fronts in the Arnold saloon on Mill street fell out. The bartender when questioned next day as to how it happened said "Somebody looked at it." As every one knows bartenders are unusually truthful and his statement as to how it happened should be accepted without reservation.

We rise to remark that we hope the present administration has now decreed a closed season on ultimatums.

Did you forget to carry your umbrella with you Wednesday?

For the first in some time we went off to work leaving ours at home, much to our regret.

Constant Reader suggests that as President Wilson has now qualified as an expert in note writing that he be requested to send one to the weather man.

We are hoping, however, that Company M will not have to contend with rainy weather when they go to camp.

Our own weather report — like the present administration's foreign policy, somewhat unsettled.

It is said that North Rondout residents are thinking of applying to the state fish hatchery for a supply of fish to stock the trenches in the streets which have now been filled with a quantity of water on the grounds that as long as the R. P. W. does not fill up the holes in the streets they should be allowed to have some pleasure in sitting on their front porch and throwing a fish line into the deep holes with the prospect of landing a nice trout for dinner.

There Is no foundation to the rumor that the government is thinking of chartering the Skillipot to transport the soldiers to the summer camp.

Residents of Ulster county are still watchfully waiting for work to be started on the concrete piers for the Sleightsburgh bridge.

With the thermometer registering as low as 55 degrees the first night of summer it is still best to use plenty of bed clothing.

An old resident remarked during the rain storm on Wednesday, the first day of summer, that he fails to recollect a rainy season at this time of the year to equal the one we are "enjoying."

The reason why we emphasize the fact that Wednesday was the first day of summer is that no one would guess it from the weather we are having.

Have you joined Company M yet? If not better hurry before the boys leave for camp.

We wonder if the men who shouted loudest for intervention in Mexico were among the first to join the National Guard when the call went out for recruits.

—The Kingston Daily Freeman, Kingston, New York, June 24, 1916, page 2.

Detroit Mayor Thinks Prohibition All Roses

1920

AN EXPERT OPINION

Mayor James Couzens of Detroit is quoted as saying:

"I have never been a teetotaler. I have voted wet. But if another election were held now I would vote dry. I believe Detroit would. Prohibition has been a revelation. It has upset all the alarmist predictions of the wets and more than sustained all the rosiest predictions of the drys."


SETTING A NEW FASHION

Roundabouter in San Diego Union: Since President Wilson was seen to drink his coffee with the spoon still in the cup while in San Diego last August, I understand that it is becoming quite a fad with San Diego society people.

—The Appleton Daily Post, Appleton, Wisconsin, January 7, 1920, page 8.

U.S. Senate Votes World War at End

Wilson's Veto Thought Certain for Peace Move.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 20. -- With few thrills and no hitch in the prearranged program, the Senate adopted, 43 to 38, the Republican resolution declaring the state of war with Germany and Austro-Hungary at an end.

The measure was in the form of a substitute for the peace resolution recently adopted by the House which dealt with Germany alone. The two proposals are expected to be adjusted in conference, the result endorsed by both houses and the final resolution sent to the President for signature.

That the President will veto it is a foregone conclusion, unchallenged by any speaker during debate in the House or Senate. It is uncertain when the final resolution will reach the White House, but Republican leaders anticipate no difficulty in putting thru a conference draft with little delay.

Predictions by leaders on both sides that the treaty of Versailles would remain in its present unratified position indefinitely were made during the debate.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 2.