Democrats Stand Firm Behind the President
Title
Democrats Stand Firm Behind the President
Creator
Unknown
Identifier
WWP15734
Date
1919 April 24
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
Vigorously defending the stand taken by President Wilson in refusing to agree to a plan to assign Fiume to Italy, and championing the proposed League of Nations, United States Senator Key Pittman, of Nevada, stirred more than 1000 loyal Democrats assembled at a banquet last night in the Bellevue-Stratford to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Jefferson Club. The Western Senator proved to be the principal orator of the evening and, besides discussing national and international issues, he called for and forecast the redemption of Pennsylvania from the grip of Republican misrule.
Other speakers at the affair, which was one of the largest political banquets ever held in this city, included Joseph P. Tumulty, secretary to President Wilson; Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Congressman-elect John H. Wilson, of the Westmoreland-Butler district; ex-Congressman J. Washington Logue, Thomas F. McMahon and James Gillespie, the toastmaster
.Palmer Defends League of Nations.
Attorney General Palmer, who took for his subject “The New Democracy,” declared that the attack upon the proposed League of Nations would be repudiated by the citizens of the United States. He said:
“Any political party which haggles over the details of the covenant by which the war-weary nations of the world seek to bring eternal peace to mankind strikes a blow at the very liberty for which America stands, and the specious plea of a virile patriotic nationalism will not save such a party from the wrath of the people, roused as never before to the necessity, for our own sake and for the world’s sake of impressing American ideals upon civilization everywhere.”
Tumulty Challenges Republicans.
Secretary Tumulty challenged the Repulican party to investigate the Wilson administration. “I challenge them to go ahead and investigate,” he said. “The Republican party hasn’t a principle, but it has an appetite. Talk about your madhouses. I have certain ways of getting inside information, and I want to tell you all this talk about harmony that our friend Mr. Hays is getting off is camouflage.”
The speaker brought the diners to their feet when he read a cablegram from President Wilson which he received during the day. The message followed a report put out by political enemies that the President would enter a secret alliance with other nations. The cablegram read:
“There need be no fear. I will not consent that the United States will be a party to a secret treaty or alliance.”
Never Prouder of His Chief.
Secretary Tumulty declared that when he read the President’s statement on the Fiume situation he sent the following cable to his chief: “I have never been more prouder of my President than I am at this moment.”
The speaker said that President Wilson is a kind and generous man. “As an Irishman and not a professional one. I could not love a cold and distant man.”He warned the Democrats to beware of ancient standards, and in this connection he recalled an interesting incident following the overthrow of the Czar. On the night the news arrived that the Czar had been overthrown, Secretary Tumulty said he telephoned the report to the President, who said: “I cannot believe that an ancient autocracy could fall over night.” In this connection he echoed the call of Attorney General Palmer for a new-fashioned and modern democracy to meet the demands of the times.
Wilson Right as to Fiume.
Senator Pittman’s address was punctuated with lould cheering. His declaration that President Wilson is pursuing the proper course on the Fiume question was applauded and when he denounced the opponents of a League of Nations, the diners stood up and the demonstration continued for several minutes. Discussing the demand of Italy for Fiume, he said:
“The President’s declaration with regard to the Fiume incident has not been answered and cannot be answered. The only argument presented by the Italian representatives is an argument based alone upon groundless fear. Fear has from time immemorial been one of the chief excuses for aggression. It was the excuse of fear that Germany used to justify its aggression in the Balkans, in France, and in Belgium. There is nothing for the world to fear in this great settlement except greed and fear. Fear is the excuse of a coward. Fear is the excuse of the hypocrite. Fear is the cloak with which military power has always covered its greed. Fear is the argument used by the detractors and instructors of our President.
“No nation today dares base its demands for territory upon greed, and, with the establishment of the League of Nations and a peace based upon justice, the world will not again be called upon to listen to the hypocritical excuse of fear. What have our people to get out of the war except to destroy war. Is there a statesman so little that he will argue publicly that the mothers who gave their sons and the soldiers who marched to certain death at Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel, and in the Argonne, had no high aspirations, had no consciousness that they were dying to benefit the world. No humane, liberty-loving people would tolerate such an argument for a minute. They died fighting that their loved ones and those that should follow them would not have to again suffer the horrors of war with a brutal military system thrust upon our country as well as the rest of the world.
“These petty politicians and hired writers, who would sell their souls for office or a piece of silver, will be swept into oblivion by the outraged feelings of a Christian people. The League of Nations will be established, justice will reign throughout the world, and honor and love will be extended to the man who has done more than anyone on earth to bring about this happy condition.”
Opposing Senators Denounced.
Senator Pittman denounced the 37 Senators who attempted to discredit the President and to defeat the League of Nations. He also criticized the Japanese delegates to the peace conference who attempted by threats to force President Wilson into a false position.
He began his address by referring to the control of the Republican machine in Pennsylvania by Senator Penrose, and in this connection he said:
“I have the highest admiration for his capabilities. I am amazed by his wonderful control over the credulous, the timid and the ignorant. I do not refer to his influence with the special interests; that does not amaze me. I am sure that an overwhelming majority of the citizens of the great State of Pennsylvania are Democratic, as they are in the other States of the Union, and that when they awake to the fact that they have been mercilessly and unconscionably deceived by the advocates of special interests, through false promises of unlimited privileges and incitement to fear and minor prejudices, they will arise and cast out those vote-changers as Christ scourged the money-changers from the temple.
“The Republican party today is under the leadership of Penrose and Lodge and those same other reactionary Republican leaders that brought the party into disrepute and aroused the terrific arraignment of the Progressive Republicans, under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, in 1910. It is inconceivable that sincere Progressive Republicans and independents will ever again support a leadership that they so fearlessly and frankly excoriated but nine years ago.”
Wilson Administration Praised.
In his address Attorney General Palmer denied that the nation was not prepared for war. He recited the constructive legislation passed during the first four years of President Wilson’s term, and he then said:
“The reforms enacted into law during the first Wilson Administration constituted an almost inspired stroke of preparation for the great war, and, without them, the magnificent courage of 2,000,000 men on the western front would have led only to disaster.”
Congressman-elect Wilson made a hit with the crowd a moment later. He declared that the League of Nations was an issue at the special election at which he was elected to Congress, marking the first Democratic victory in the Twenty-second district in more than 50 years.
“There has been a controversy whether or not the League of Nations was an issue at that election,” he said. “It was an issue and as plain a one as any question can become. Every man who voted for me believes down in his heart that there must be a League of Nations and every honest man in my district is willing to trust the formation of this league to President Wilson. There must be a League of Nations and there will be a League of Nations.”
The speaker convulsed the crowd when he recited some of the marvelous events that have occurred in his district since his election.“A friend of mine was recalling them a few days ago and he reached the climax when he said: ‘And the most astounding event of all is Senator Penrose, who is advocating cottage prayer-meetings for the moral uplift of Vare’s garbage collectors.’”
Other speakers at the affair, which was one of the largest political banquets ever held in this city, included Joseph P. Tumulty, secretary to President Wilson; Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Congressman-elect John H. Wilson, of the Westmoreland-Butler district; ex-Congressman J. Washington Logue, Thomas F. McMahon and James Gillespie, the toastmaster
.Palmer Defends League of Nations.
Attorney General Palmer, who took for his subject “The New Democracy,” declared that the attack upon the proposed League of Nations would be repudiated by the citizens of the United States. He said:
“Any political party which haggles over the details of the covenant by which the war-weary nations of the world seek to bring eternal peace to mankind strikes a blow at the very liberty for which America stands, and the specious plea of a virile patriotic nationalism will not save such a party from the wrath of the people, roused as never before to the necessity, for our own sake and for the world’s sake of impressing American ideals upon civilization everywhere.”
Tumulty Challenges Republicans.
Secretary Tumulty challenged the Repulican party to investigate the Wilson administration. “I challenge them to go ahead and investigate,” he said. “The Republican party hasn’t a principle, but it has an appetite. Talk about your madhouses. I have certain ways of getting inside information, and I want to tell you all this talk about harmony that our friend Mr. Hays is getting off is camouflage.”
The speaker brought the diners to their feet when he read a cablegram from President Wilson which he received during the day. The message followed a report put out by political enemies that the President would enter a secret alliance with other nations. The cablegram read:
“There need be no fear. I will not consent that the United States will be a party to a secret treaty or alliance.”
Never Prouder of His Chief.
Secretary Tumulty declared that when he read the President’s statement on the Fiume situation he sent the following cable to his chief: “I have never been more prouder of my President than I am at this moment.”
The speaker said that President Wilson is a kind and generous man. “As an Irishman and not a professional one. I could not love a cold and distant man.”He warned the Democrats to beware of ancient standards, and in this connection he recalled an interesting incident following the overthrow of the Czar. On the night the news arrived that the Czar had been overthrown, Secretary Tumulty said he telephoned the report to the President, who said: “I cannot believe that an ancient autocracy could fall over night.” In this connection he echoed the call of Attorney General Palmer for a new-fashioned and modern democracy to meet the demands of the times.
Wilson Right as to Fiume.
Senator Pittman’s address was punctuated with lould cheering. His declaration that President Wilson is pursuing the proper course on the Fiume question was applauded and when he denounced the opponents of a League of Nations, the diners stood up and the demonstration continued for several minutes. Discussing the demand of Italy for Fiume, he said:
“The President’s declaration with regard to the Fiume incident has not been answered and cannot be answered. The only argument presented by the Italian representatives is an argument based alone upon groundless fear. Fear has from time immemorial been one of the chief excuses for aggression. It was the excuse of fear that Germany used to justify its aggression in the Balkans, in France, and in Belgium. There is nothing for the world to fear in this great settlement except greed and fear. Fear is the excuse of a coward. Fear is the excuse of the hypocrite. Fear is the cloak with which military power has always covered its greed. Fear is the argument used by the detractors and instructors of our President.
“No nation today dares base its demands for territory upon greed, and, with the establishment of the League of Nations and a peace based upon justice, the world will not again be called upon to listen to the hypocritical excuse of fear. What have our people to get out of the war except to destroy war. Is there a statesman so little that he will argue publicly that the mothers who gave their sons and the soldiers who marched to certain death at Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel, and in the Argonne, had no high aspirations, had no consciousness that they were dying to benefit the world. No humane, liberty-loving people would tolerate such an argument for a minute. They died fighting that their loved ones and those that should follow them would not have to again suffer the horrors of war with a brutal military system thrust upon our country as well as the rest of the world.
“These petty politicians and hired writers, who would sell their souls for office or a piece of silver, will be swept into oblivion by the outraged feelings of a Christian people. The League of Nations will be established, justice will reign throughout the world, and honor and love will be extended to the man who has done more than anyone on earth to bring about this happy condition.”
Opposing Senators Denounced.
Senator Pittman denounced the 37 Senators who attempted to discredit the President and to defeat the League of Nations. He also criticized the Japanese delegates to the peace conference who attempted by threats to force President Wilson into a false position.
He began his address by referring to the control of the Republican machine in Pennsylvania by Senator Penrose, and in this connection he said:
“I have the highest admiration for his capabilities. I am amazed by his wonderful control over the credulous, the timid and the ignorant. I do not refer to his influence with the special interests; that does not amaze me. I am sure that an overwhelming majority of the citizens of the great State of Pennsylvania are Democratic, as they are in the other States of the Union, and that when they awake to the fact that they have been mercilessly and unconscionably deceived by the advocates of special interests, through false promises of unlimited privileges and incitement to fear and minor prejudices, they will arise and cast out those vote-changers as Christ scourged the money-changers from the temple.
“The Republican party today is under the leadership of Penrose and Lodge and those same other reactionary Republican leaders that brought the party into disrepute and aroused the terrific arraignment of the Progressive Republicans, under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, in 1910. It is inconceivable that sincere Progressive Republicans and independents will ever again support a leadership that they so fearlessly and frankly excoriated but nine years ago.”
Wilson Administration Praised.
In his address Attorney General Palmer denied that the nation was not prepared for war. He recited the constructive legislation passed during the first four years of President Wilson’s term, and he then said:
“The reforms enacted into law during the first Wilson Administration constituted an almost inspired stroke of preparation for the great war, and, without them, the magnificent courage of 2,000,000 men on the western front would have led only to disaster.”
Congressman-elect Wilson made a hit with the crowd a moment later. He declared that the League of Nations was an issue at the special election at which he was elected to Congress, marking the first Democratic victory in the Twenty-second district in more than 50 years.
“There has been a controversy whether or not the League of Nations was an issue at that election,” he said. “It was an issue and as plain a one as any question can become. Every man who voted for me believes down in his heart that there must be a League of Nations and every honest man in my district is willing to trust the formation of this league to President Wilson. There must be a League of Nations and there will be a League of Nations.”
The speaker convulsed the crowd when he recited some of the marvelous events that have occurred in his district since his election.“A friend of mine was recalling them a few days ago and he reached the climax when he said: ‘And the most astounding event of all is Senator Penrose, who is advocating cottage prayer-meetings for the moral uplift of Vare’s garbage collectors.’”
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Unknown, “Democrats Stand Firm Behind the President,” 1919 April 24, WWP15734, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.