may be confronted. The President is conducting national affairs, or such as receive his attention, with a detachment from every consideration, contact or experience except his own personal thought wholly unprecedented in the history of his office. He has made the path of his supporters in the Senate as difficult as he could, and he has deliberately driven the treaty to its death by methods. which, had he seen fit to change them slightly might have benefited his cause immeasurably. Opinion is as sharply divided over the President's presumed

attitude toward a third nomination as if he never had been ill and had maintained complete silence meantime. With the treaty killed in the Senate and the issue of Americanism versus Internationalism thrust into the presidential campaign, no one could lead the fight for the Internationalists with any effectiveness except Mr. Wilson; and his recent course has been so ungoverned by precedent or any other consideration, except his own imperious desire, that no one in Washington would be surprised by any decision he might reach.

THE PERSONAL SIDE OF BRYAN. William Jennings Bryan has said. that should his nomination for the presidency be demanded "under certain conditions," he would "feel it his duty to consider it." Mr. Bryan, in declaring that he is not a candidate for the presidency and that he can see nothing at present which might cause him to run, means exactly what For a generation this re

he says. markable man has stood before the country in the same pose, yet millions of his fellow-countrymen have had

no true idea of the political mainsprings which impel him.

Bryan is not and never has been an office-seeker. His life has been devoted to the pursuit of ideals, some of which have been realized, and he would or not run for the presidency, or for any other office, accordingly as those ideals might be advanced. Unsound as an economist, incapable as an executive, and dangerously impractical in his conception of the duties and obligations of a President in his international relations, Mr.

Bryan's elevation to the presidency would prove a national misfortune even worse than has afflicted the country for the last seven years, for he has none of the executive ability of Woodrow Wilson, and he is as much of a dreamer. Bryan could no more address himself successfully to the gigantic problems of the day, except through rhetorical generalities, than he could fly to the moon. He is a preacher only, but he is a sincere and honest one; and his frequent recurrences in national politics, even his dramatic advent in 1896, are all the result of powerful impulsions due to moral conviction.

Bryan does not want to run for the presidency in the sense that he does not want to be compelled to run by the failure of his party to measure up to what he regards as its duty. He does not want a quarrel with Mr. Wilson, but he would take on one if necessary; if, for example, Mr. Wilson should seek to influence his party to modify the prohibition laws. Bryan does not want to control the Democratic National Convention for the sake of power, but merely to put over

the principles in which he believes and to nominate a candidate who will espouse them. He favors the League of Nations equally with Wilson, but he is willing to incur the lasting enmity of Wilson by advocating compromises which may save not only the League but the Democratic party, which Wilson would not hesitate to wreck if he has not done so already —rather than to yield a stubborn point. Both are great moralists and doctrinaires, but one can preach to his countrymen for twenty-five years without losing their affection or respect, while the other must bend all men to his individual will or break them. No one knows at this moment whether Bryan is politically impotent or not. It is certain that the Administration leaders are stacking the national convention against him; not exclusively with that purpose in view, but to accomplish either the renomination of Mr. Wilson, if he so wills, or someone selected by him.

AN UNPLEDGED DEMOCRATIC CON

VENTION.

Where the Democratic jockeying will lead at Los Angeles cannot be predicted at this time, for the developments of the last month have brought no crystallization of opinion with respect to candidates. The tendency, in fact, has been the other way, for orders have gone forth that the convention shall be unpledged, and unpledged it will be. Unquestionably these orders emanate from the White House and are issued in the interest of Wilson control, but for whom is as much a mystery as ever.

The letter to Senator Hitchcock may seem to throw a little light, as

indicating the desire of the President. personally to take the League issue to the people, but it is hardly possible that Mr. Wilson will be found physically able to stand the strain of a campaign. On the other hand, the President might chafe more to sit by and see his fight made by others, and therefore might risk his health more dangerously by a strain of that peculiar kind. He would not need to stump the country-President Taft might have lost less votes had he remained in the White House-and much of Mr. Wilson's future activities will be measured by his condition of health. His guardians will not permit him to kill himself if they can stop him.

The candidacy of Attorney General Palmer is not taken very seriously by anyone but himself, particularly as it is noted that he enters the field most openly where a special fight has been organized against the Administration, as by the Hearst-Hardwick combination in Georgia. For all practical purposes, most of the alleged Democratic candidates, except Champ. Clark, are merely Wilson pawns; it still remains to be learned what use will be made of them. The relentless grasp of Wilson is as firmly closed over the Democratic national throttleas it ever was. The question with Mr. Bryan is a simple one, as he him-self has intimated. Will the Democratic National Convention go wet? Will it adopt a platform which in this. and other respects he cannot approve?Will it nominate a candidate he cannot trust? Bryan hopes and thinks it will not; partly because of his own. influence over an unpledged conven

tion, partly because he believes the leaders agree with him that the great moral issues are the winning issues. Mr. Bryan possibly is over-optimistic on these points, as Big Business has come back into the saddle more or less in poth parties, fortunately for the national stability, and both conventions will find themselves under orders to nominate "practical" men, if Mr. Wilson is not a candidate. Supreme Court decision or two and a threatening business depression meantime may have something to do not only with the ultimate decisions at Chicago and at San Francisco, but with the election results.

A

Gasoline is now retailing at over thirty cents a gallon, and is likely before long to soar to prices positively prohibitive for many owners of motor cars. It is a fair question whether in this commodity, as in sugar, the Democratic administration is not measurably responsible for high prices-for the failure to open up the great oil reserves of the country, of the country, notably in Wyoming, which State promises to supply the scenery for the next oil romances.

For six years the Democrats had control of the White House and both branches of Congress, and they could have put the coal, oil and phosphate land leasing bill through long ago had they been so minded. So great is the world shortage of oil that even if the developments in the new oil fields were in full blast it could not be overcome for some time, nevertheless much of the existing scarcity was avoidable. Congress failed to enact oil land legislation partly through timidity, political and other

wise, partly because under the Democrats it held back its most important bills until the last moment. The oil land leasing bill could easily have been put through the Sixty-fifth Congress had not the leaders permitted it to slumber in committee until the closing days of the session, when it was killed by a filibuster.

During their entire reign in Washington the Democrats have been in a panic for fear someone not exactly in cahoots with the Administration would make a little money out of legitimate business enterprises, and the notorious dislike of the Administration to business success is shared by some Republicans also, who are accustomed to keep themselves in office with agricultural votes by shouting "Wall Street!" every time a new business development is planned on a large scale. The oil land leasing bill is now a law, Mr. Pinchot having failed to scare Congress into inaction with his latest blast, and the scanty supply of the precious fluid will soon be materially augmented.

Incidentally it may be remarked that probably nothing can save the Navy and the new American merchant marine an exceedingly difficult and anxious year, thanks partly to the enterprise of British interests in cornering the world supply of oil while the United States, obsessed with the dream of a League of Nations, remained wholly oblivious of the practical problems of reconstruction. It is not impossible that the hopeful champions of a great American merchant marine are about to experience a painful awakening, solely because of the lack of fuel oil.

A STARTER IN SANE FINANCE.

Congress has an excellent chance. to quiet unrest in one of the most important labor groups in the country, and this in a manner which the people will approve. The Reclassification Commission appointed to recommend readjustments in the Federal payroll has made its report, after a long and exhaustive investigation of conditions in the various departments, and if Congress legislates substantially in accordance with these wise conclusions, the Government employes will be paid something like living salaries. With vitally important agencies like the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Standards, the Patent Office, and a dozen other high ly scientific bureaus practically wrecked by resignations, the Federal structure is in greater danger than outsiders may have realized; and such is the temper of the clerks in less technical but enormously larger bu reaus, in view of such an incident as the threatened reduction of their pay through a point of order, that wholesale resignations may be expected if Congress pigeonholes the report of the reclassifiers. It will hardly dare do this nor, to be perfectly fair, is it minded to do so. But should Congress neglect the Government workers and then pass out more than a billion dollars to soldiers, most of whom have not asked for and do not need it, one would not be straining proph ecy in predicting that the Federal Government in Washington would stand in danger of going to smash. The likelihood is that the employes will get their readjustments and increases and the soldiers' bonus bill

will not get through Congresswhich would mark a beginning of sane financiering. The Republican party does not need votes so badly that it must buy them in such a bald way.

MR. WALSH OF NEW BEDFORD.

When Speaker Frederick H. Gillett arranged to leave Washington for a ten days' rest, he appointed Congressman Joseph Walsh of New Bedford Speaker pro tem for the period of his absence. The compliment was merited. Mr. Walsh is one of the ablest parliamentarians of the House, perhaps the equal of James R. Mann, which is high praise, of its kind. No man in Congress has grown more steadily in breadth and influence than this Massachusetts congressman, who now is one of the recognized leaders of the lower branch, and through sheer industry and ability has placed himself in line for the prestige which in time results from leadership. For a long time Mr. Walsh distinguished himself only as a critic of technical procedure, a sort of guardian of tha! much abused institution the Congressional Record, etc., but he has outgrown that sort of thing now and has so expanded his activities that they include almost everything in the field of contemporary legislation. Congressman Walsh has not asked for this tribute, and does not, indeed, know that it is being written; but it is due to him and to the great State he represents to let Massachusetts know that again she has begun to contribute leadership to the national legislature.

Women in politics have a pungent way of putting things-as the suffra