Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], March 08, 1919, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
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I WILSON TRIES TO SHIFT I
r BLAME TO SENATE
aw
r T T is the plain duty of President Wilson to call an extra session of
Kkei A congress. He cannot escape this responsibility by a childish note
' e seeking to shift blame from himself to the Republican senators.
Let it be admitted that the failure to provide the $750,000,000 ap-
Z propriation for the railways is deplorable, yet the Republican leaders
f, are justified in repudiating the "personal filibuster" of three members.
Even conceding that the entire filibuster should be 'laid at the door of
the Republican contingent in the senate it was physically impossible
to give due consideration to all the important bills in the allotted time.
Had the railway appropriation bill passed and the other bills failed
the president still would have declared that "a group of men in the
', senate have deliberately chosen to embarrass the administration of
t the government," and "to make arbitrary use of the powers intended
1 to be employed in the interest of the people."
The same charge can be flung back at the president. Has not the
president been making arbitrary use of his power and has he not de
liberately chosen to embarrass the administration of the government
; by embarrassing the legislative branch ? Has the president any right
to complain that the senate occupied many hours in discussing his
League of Nations covenant? When it was his duty to remain at
home in touch with the senate he went to Europe, concluded an
I agreement which superseded the sovereignty of the United States and
committed the future of the country to his own League of Nations.
Having neglected to consult the senate he returned to this country
and, figuratively speaking, strode into parliament like another Oliver
Cromwell and told the senators to "take it or leave it." The entire
f country was thrown into an uproar. Everybody wanted to talk at
once about the League of Nations. Taft and his party of propagand
ists wanted to talk. Surely it surprised no one that United States
senators wanted to talk. And now that the senators have taken up
some days in picking flaws in the president's League of Nations, which
JLhas about as much balance as a baby's block house, he denounces the
senators as filibusters.
In the circumstances it was impossible to give due consideration
to all the important bills before them. In addition to the railway
appropriation bill there were, among other measures, the following jH
up for consideration at the time of adjournment:
Bills defining a shipping policy. H
Bills dealing with unemployment, labor and illiteracy problems.
Oil, gas, coal land and water power development bills. H
Compromise women's suffrage resolution.
Laws to enforce wartime prohibition. H
Meat industry legislation.
Bills to limit immigration, and deport aliens. H
Resolution to terminate government wire control. H
f Secretary Lane's bill to reclaim waste Western lands for soldiers. H
Resolution to repeal 10 per cent tax on luxuries. H
Wilson's nomination of scores of public officials, including post- H
masters. H
But consider a moment to the president's argument : H
"It is plainly my present duty to attend the peace conference in H
Paris. It is also my duty to be in close contact with the public H
business during a session of congress." He goes on to say that as he H
must choose between these two obligations, he chooses the more im- jH
portant the trip to Europe. Therefore, he concludes, no duty de- H
volves upon him to call a special session of congress.
When he first went to Europe in conformity with a "plain duty" H
which was clear only to himself, congress was in session. He ignored H
his duty to remain in "close contact with the public business," took the k
trip to Europe and thereby handicapped congress and delayed legis- k
lation. As it transpired his European trip was a fizzle in all except H
the personal glory he attained. He accomplished nothing worth while, H
but he did produce delay. And now he condemns the senate for delays H
which he himself occasioned. H
Is it his plain duty to continue delaying needed legislation ? Why H
is it necessary for him to be in Europe ? Cannot Lansing and his aides H
do as well as the president did, or perchance better? H
We believe that most of his countrymen will believe that the H
president is doing the country a grave wrong in his pique by declining M
to call a special session and sailing for Europe at a time when he M
should remain in "close contact with the public business." B
p President's League Of Errors
PRESIDENT WILSON returns to Paris forlornly with the shreds
and patches of what he considered a perfectly good covenant for
a League of Nations when he departed from the shores of France. In
the first flush of his triumph, amid the acclaim of stricken Europe
which regarded him as its rescuer, the president sailed for home con
fident, no doubt, that a whole nation would rise up to pronounce his
covenant a masterpiece of genius. He must have sustained the sever
est shock of 1 life when, upon landing, he found that his plan had
I been, picked to pieces while he was joyously sailing the high seas and
1 that little was left of it that was approved by the wise men of Wash-
Jg ington.
One of the stanchest supporters of the covenant, at prepared in H
Paris, is former President Taft. While his defense has been brilliant H
he has added little to his fame for sagacity. So eager has he been H
to see a League of Nations established that he has permitted him- H
self to be dazzled by a pleasantly written but loosely drawn document. H
If there are those who still believe that the covenant was the perfected H
work of the world's greatest intellects they will be surprised by an H
item which we find in the Echo de Paris. H
. "The covenant," says this journal, "bears visible marks of the H
haste with which it has been drawn up. It was necessary to have the H
goods ready to go aboard the George Washington on a certain day, H
tl SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, MARCUS, 19 J 9. M
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