THE UNITED STATES AND PEACE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 4

THE UNITED STATES AND PEACE

When the cablegrams briefly announced a few weeks ago that the Republican Party had scored a .victory in the American Congressional elections,' it seemed reasonable to assume that the result would be, if anything, to stiffen the war policy of the United States and its attitude towards conditions of peace. The more extended news which has since arrived by mail distinctly upholds this view of the matter. Tho defeat of the Democratic Party in the elections was severe. Going to the country with a majority of one or two scats in the House of Bcprcsenfcalives it came back in a minority of 46. The whole of the 435 seats in tho House of Representatives arc contested at tho biennial election. Tho members of the Senate,' 93 in all, are elected for six years, one-third of their number retiring every two years. Thus only 32 Senate seats were contested in November, but the result of this partial election was to chango a Democratic majority of 12 in tho Senato into a minority of two. In

any British country similar election results would have involved a change of Government, but in the United States tho conditions of government are peculiar. There is no responsible Parliamentary Government on the British model. The President holds office for a fixed term, which can he shortened only by his death or impeachment. The composition of the Cabinet is determined not by Congress, but by the President, Whatever the voting at Congressional elections may be, President Wilson is in office until 1921. There does not seem to be any doubt that the November elections turned largely on questions of war policy. If there had been no war and the Democrats had relied solely on their record of reforms and legislation they might have fared better than they did at the polls. In the course of the election campaign 4 however, the people of the United States were invited by the Republican Party to declare for a firmer attitude in regard to conditions of peace than President Wilson had taken up. It now seems evident that a considerable majority of the electors approved the invitation and responded to it in such a fashion as i to issue a definite mandate. The agitation which culminated in this way is to be distinguished clearly from an attack on President Wilson. Its aim was to influence his policy, and there is little doubt that this aim hns been and will be achieved. Had President Wilson's position in the United States been that of head of a responsible Government in tho British sense of tho term it is difficult to say what tho result of tho recent appeal to tho pcoplo would have been. In that ease his immense personal popularity, based on' respect for his statcs> manship and administrative ability and on general approval of his policy, would undoubtedly have been a vory weighty factor. On the other hand he has been freely criticised by many, of his countrymen on the ground that_ he is_ inclined at times to stray into impracticable idealism, to the neglect of essential conditions and safeguards of peace. As it happened, however, the' electors of the Uriitcd States were not called upon, in November, to declare for or against their President. Me. Wilson was in any caso firmly established at the head of affairs for'the ensuing two and a half years, and no doubt at least a majority of his countrymen were glad enough that it should be so. The essential question submitted to tho American electors was whether they favoured an absolutely uncompromising attitude towards Germany or the rather weaker stand which President. Wilson on occasions seemed inclined to favour. His more moderate critics and,opponents maintained that for the very reason that under the Constitution of the United States the President is not responsible to tho popular will and is amenable only to the moral suasion of public opinion it was desirable that in a time of national crisis the party in opposition (to tho President) should be in a majority "in order to exert legally upon the Executive that control which can otherwise be brought to boar only by moral suasion." In addition it ■ was contended that the Republicans more acourately reflected public opinion in the United States on vital questions of war and peace than the Democrats who were consent to unquestioningly follow the' President's lead.

One of the journals which upheld these views was the New York Outlook, which supports the. Republican Party, but is in general notably fair and judicial in tone. Stating the Republican case in an article published shortly before election day, the Outlook said in part:

This country is against a negotiated peace. It is for a dictated peace. It is against having Germany sit at tho peace table. There are indications that the President deems it wise that Germany should have a seat at tho pence table and a share in the negotiations. We believe that it will not be an unwholesome thins for the country and for tho cause of Allied liherty if the result of tho elections in November indicates to tho President that there is a .strong body of public opinion which wishes to register itself,'in the only political way it can under our system of" government, against any peace without victory and any association with. Germany in a peace conference or in a League of Nations: until Germany over a period of years has clearly demonstrated a spirit of reparation, reform, and democratic'liberty. It, is only fair to note that there is still no definite evidence that President Wilson is prepared to admit Germany to participation in the peace negotiations. But in any case in the mission upon which he has now set out he is the bearer of a mandate which he is bound to respect and which should make definitely for unity and harmony between the United States and the Allies in settling conditions of peace. "Wide as his authority is his policy must needs be influenced by a popular verdict in favour of the political party which excludes any thought of compromise or half-measures 'in dealing with Germany.