Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1917 — LIVES CLOSE TO ALL THE PEOPLE [ARTICLE]

LIVES CLOSE TO ALL THE PEOPLE

Greatness of Woodrow Wilson Seen In Handling Problem of the War. ABLE EXPONENT OF TRUE DEMOCRACY Claud G. Bowers, Editor of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Speaks to Democratic Editors of Indiana. - By Willis S. Thompson, Indianapolis, June 30. A fitting culmination of one of the most interesting meetings ever held by the democratic editors of Indiana, was the banquet" Friday night. Claud G. Bowers, editor of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, was the principal speaker. His address was a splendid tribute to the administration and’the towering personality of Woodrow Wilson, the president who has successfully met more complex situations, involving greater and more serious consequences, than any other executive who ever presided over the nation. In part Mr. Bowers said: “We meet this year in the midst of the mightiest war that we have ever waged, for a greater stake than w e have ever played—for the preservation and the extension of the beneficent .principles of democracy. During the last three years the responsible head of the American people has advanced every argument and resorted to every plea in a patient effort to keep the sword within the scabbard. But when a little coterie of men, misrepresenting, as I think, the people of Germany, dared to violate our rights, degrade our dignity, destroy the lives of our people, and obstruct the pathway of democracy, while presuming to put out the light of liberty, every militant page of our herioc history cried out in protest against the consumation of the crime. “I am one of those who are proud of the fact that Wilson broke the pen before he drew the sword. The page of history will record no parallel to the ineffable patience with which he faced the provocations of Berlin and fought for peace. And then, confronted by the insufferable perfidy or stupiditv of the junker crew, he faced the world that day in the senate chamber with the noblest appeal for peace that has ever fallen from the lips of mortal man. On that memorable occasion he not only made an utterance that will rank in history as one of the few immortal political pronouncements of all time, but he unfurled a banner that every devotee of liberty and democracy can follow with the sword. “History will dispute why Italy entered the‘war, why England entered the war, why Roumania entered the war, but thank God posterity will never be in doubt why America entered the war —and the answer is the matchless ‘notes’ of Woodrow Wilson. Wilson of the Sword. “And this the miracle —the moment he drew the sword the foremost champion of peace became the most virile, far-seeing, energetic, constructive militant figure that ever led America against a foe. ✓ . “He had the courage to proclaim the passing of the volunteer and to demand conscription that can reach the rich and poor alike, and make it possible to utilize the service of eadi jnan .yfhere it can best contribute to common cause. The protest of the

slacker and the coward and victim of tradition beat against the stern, strong figure of Woodrow Wilson without avail—and now we hav,e an army of a million in the making before whose tread the tyrants of the earth mav tremble. “But that was not enough. We needed ships—our allies needed ships that they might live until we can join their soldiers with our guns. For every ship that sinks before the torpedo of a submarine, another ship must be launched upon the sea. And Woodrow’ Wilson—the dreamer, now the most virile and tremendous doer that ever led a people to the field of battle—instantly summoned to his side the titan of the Panama canal, and ordered him to build a thousand ships and give’ them to the waves—and almost in the twinkling of an eye the, gigantic genius of George Goethals was bending to the task. “But that was not enough. We needed food —our allies needed food. The fertile fields of France have sent their toilers to the trench to hold autocracy at bay. The men of the warring nations have been summoned to other fields than those that grow’ the grain. And the w’eary allied soldiers on the fields of France, and the civilian population behind the firing line, are more in fear of the lack of bread than the want of bullets. Every man throughout the w’orld who is fighting and suffering tonight in the battle for liberty is looking to the vast and fertile fields that are spread out to the sun and rain between our eastern and western seas. And Woodrow Wilson, the dreamer, now a doer, said to them: ‘“You give your shot and shell to the common enemy, and we will give our corn and wheat to you.’

Hoover “Called.” “And that promise carried, too, another imperative duty that Woodrow Wilson met in the Woodrow’ Wilson way. He knew from history of the gluttons of greed that fatten on the necessities of a state in the days of battle. He knew of the buzzards of speculation that hover over the field where heroes fight and die. He knew of the reptiles of gain that snake their wav into the larders of the women left at home. And Wpod row W ilson turned to the men who must fight the nation’s battle in the field and said: “‘You may carry to the trench this promise of the republic: while you are fighting the common enemy in the field, I pledge the honor of the republic to protect your wife and child against the copperhead of greed who dares to speculate with the nation’s food.’ - “And Woodrow Wilson turned tc congress and said: “‘You give me a law to make good the pledge of the republic.’ “And the buzzards began to swarm in the lobbies, and the snakes crawled out of their holes and coiled themselves aboj.it the columns of the capitol, and Joe Cannon, true to form, tried to rally the lawmakers against the protective measures of the president, —but there stood Wilson, the dreamer, now a doer, with flashing eye, pointing to the republic’s promise. And because Wilson of the velvet touch who wrote the ‘notes’ had become a man of iron, the will of WiU son was w’ritten into law, and during the period of the -war murder, arson, and highway robbery may be safe, but God pity the copperhead- and pirate who dares to line his pockets on the nation’s needs. “But that was not enough. The times demand the mobilization of the producers of the nation, the centralization of distribution, the domination of a master mind in the problem of the nation’s food. And Woodrow Wilson with a passion for efficiency looked across the sea, and in the marvelous record of the American genius of organization who had fed the millions of dependent Belgium, he found the man the nation needs today—and at the beck and call of Wilson, Hoover put on the harness for the nation’s good. The Liberty Loan. “But that was not enough. It requires billions of dollars to finance the greatest fight in the history of mankind for the greatest stake that humanity has ever battled for since the dawn of time. And Woodrow

Wilson the dreamer, now a doer, had the courage and the- genius to turn his back on the house of Morgan and hold forth his hands to the millions of the mine and factory and field. “God pity the man of such petty party spleen that he would withhold from the administration 1 the meed of praise for determining to go directly to the people fbr the financing of the battle for democracy. “The Liberty Loan is the translation of the Declaration of Independence into the language of finance. ‘’‘Because this war is for liberty’ and • democracy and not for gain. Woodrow Wilson said that no buzzards of greed, no mercenary’ clippers of coupons, no speculators on a nation’s necessities shall hover over the dead and dying of the battle field and lick their chops in anticipation of thenprofits. And he went to the people for the loan —to the end that the people may reap the profit with the loss. And he made it easy for the man in the factory and mine to contribute to the loan and share in the profit. “Thomas Jefferson gave us political democracy/ Woodrow Wilson has given us financial democracy. “Thomas Jefferson freed us from the kings of courts; Woodrow Wilson has freed us from the kings of the counting room. “Thomas Jefferson gave us liberty, and Woodrow Wilson gave us opportunity. “Thank God for McAdoo.” “And Woodrow Wilson, did something more—he gave us the greatest secretary of the treasury since Alexander Hamilton. “Thank God for a secretary of the treasury who has the genius and the courage to transfer the financial capital of the country from Wall street to Washington. “Thank God for a secretary who is not ashamed to place the bonds of the people in the hands of the grimy sons of toil. “Thank God for a secretary who fears no ridicule for going out among the masses and asking them to buy a bond and showing them how it can be bought. “Thank God for a secretary who has more democracy than dignity, more courage than craft. “Yes, and I say’ it reverently, in this crisis of our history’, thank God for the genius, the energy, the grit, and greatness of McAdoo. Wilson —The Efficient. “But Woodrow Wilson was not through. His keen, constructive mind foresaw the vital need of co-ordinat-ing the industrial resources of the nation to meet the grim demands of war—and he called to his side the greatest minds of the industrial world and placed within their hands" the power to act. “Note the intense- activity* and the unerring judgment of Woodrow Wilson: “He needed a builder —and there stands Goethals. “He needed an inventor —and there looms Edison. i “He needed a master of transportation problems—and there is Willard. “He needed a director and distributor of food —and there stands Hoover. “He heeded an inspiring, dashing, dominating, safe and sane leader for the fields of France —and there rides Black Jack Pershing—the son of Mars. “He needed a conciliator and diplomat for Russia, and brushing aside all party thought, he turned to Root. Daniels-Lies vs. Truth. “And now for the copperheads of greed and their vile conspiracy against Josephus Daniels. And I want to reach you with this message now—that: any democratic editor who fails to disclose the perfidy, the cupidity of tiie infamous conspiracy of lies against Josephus Daniels, fails less in his duty to his party than in his duty to his country. “I place my’ hand upon the tomb of Dewey, and by the token of his written words I here proclaim that Josephus Daniels is the most efficient secretary es the navy that the republic ever had. “Scratch the slanderer of Daniels and you will find beneath the skin of

patriotic respectability eitner a private interest that can no longer loot the public treasury at will, or one of its hired pensmen.' Behind the mask of the politician who damns him are the leering features of the power trust which charged the people of this country 80 Cents a pound for powder until Daniels proved that it can be produced for 34 and now these delectable patriots have found that they can reduce their price from 80 to 53 cents and still make a handsome profit. “Josephus Daniels made it difficult

for the powder trust to steal—that is his crime. “Before Josephus Daniels’ time the manufacturers of armor plate were submitting exorbitant bias without competition and through the good old pirate rule of addition, division, and substruction. He had the honesty and courage to reject the bids and force a competition which saved the nation on three ships more than a million dob lars. And even then the profit was sufficient to permit them to hire men to poison with their pen the public mind against the man who wrung from them'their million dollar graft and restored it to the public treasury. “Josephus Daniels has made it harder for the manufacturers of armor plate to steal—that is his crime. “Ah, but they say the navy has retrograded under Daniels. Let’s see: Under Long and Moody $83,000,000 were spent in the building of new ships; under von Moyer $128,000,000 were spent; under Josephus Daniels more than $655,000,000. Let’s see: Where We had a shortage of torpedo boats before Daniels’ time, and had 100 when lie went in, we had 158 more at the beginning of the war and these constructed in a governmental plant at a saving of SJ,OOO on each one. “Let’s see: When Daniels took the reins we were 5,000 short in the number of enlisted men allowed by law. He raised the standard of admission and added more than 6,000 more. “Let’s see: The number of re-en-listments under Daniels has increased from 53 to 90 per cent; the number of desertions has fallen off from an average of 216 a month to 90 a month; and the number of prisoners has decreased from an average of 1,800 to 700. “With millions of dollars in loot chopped off by the common honesty of Daniels, with more ships, better and bigger guns, greater efficiency in the general staff, the finest record in target practice ever made upon the sea, and more men better satisfied anti more efficient than ever before in the history of the navy—with more brain and brawn and less booze —more liberty for the men and less loot for the interests—Josephus Daniels will go down in history as one of the great constructive minds of' the Wilson administration.

“If he can fight Germans as well as he has fought greed, if he can fight ruthlessness as successfully as he has fought rapacity, his position in history is assured. “When Admiral Dewey, after sixty years of service, wrote the private letter to his wife which she has given to the pul lie to proclaim to Josephus Daniels the greatest secretary of his time, he tore the mask of. patriotism and respectability from the repulsive face of cupidity ;>jid greed and placed a weapon in the hands of honest men with which to crush the foul conspiracy against an efficient and an able servant of the state. The moment the roll call in congress ended on the declaration of war, the navy, under Josephus Daniels, was ready to respond. It cleared the decks immedm+elv for action. And while

the peanut politicians and the carping critics of the flesh pots clamored against the navy and its chief, their sneers and snarls were drowned in the frenzied shduts of enthusiastic welcome from Queenstown’s crowded wharves as America’s flotilla of destroyers sailed in from the open sea and reported ready for instant action. ‘“When will you be ready?’ asked the British commander, ‘“We are ready now,’ was the proud response. " ‘ “The record of Daniels was known to Woodrow Wilson—that’s the reason he called him to his side for four years more. “The record.of Daniels is known to Col. George Harvey, of the North American Review—and that’s the reason he assails him, for it has been written that the ass knoweth his master’s crib. “The armor plate grafters hate him, the powder trust hates him, all the gluttons of greed hate him, and their hirelings of the pen hate him to the jingle of the coin. And because they hate him the republic, when it comes to know him, will love him for the enemies he has made and the manner that he made them. Honest, energetic, wonderfully efficient—a constructor and a creator—with a record never equaled in the history of the navy, we send our ships into the smoke of battle with a Supreme faith in the wisdom of Josephus Daniels.

Wilson and Mankind. “And now let us immolate all party thought upon the altar of the common good, and granting full meed of praise to the patriotism of Roosevelt, Taft, arid Root, let us rally ’round the standard the genius that we gave the nation as a leader in this the mightiest war in all the tide of time. I cannot think of Lincoln and Wilson without the firm conviction that there is a divine direction in the destiny of the republic. The plain, homely, comparatively obscure lawyer of Illinois, who reached the pinnacle of power by passing by the seasoned politicians of his time, now h:£6& his- counterpart in the polished scholar who emerged, comnartively Unknown, from the classic- shades of a university to pass the idols of a- party by and grasp the sceptre of the state. As Lincoln startled Seward by his prescience and grasp, so has this scholar amazed mankind by the superb capacity with which he has met the problems of the nation’s life—-the greatest and the gravest that we have “ever known. “And I am so firmly anchored to the faith that the blessings of liberty and democracy will always follow the fluttering of the flag that I like to picture to myself the day, perhaps far off, when the man on horseback rides no more, and autocracy is but a hateful memory in the twilight land of kings, when in a Germany no longer blighted by the Shadow of the Junker’s sword,” the German people so beautifully and brilliantly exemplified by Maximilian Harden will sit down in a German garden and lift their steins in a grateful toast to the immortal memory of Woodrow Wilson.**