THE PRESIDENT AND THE AMERICANS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 226, 12 June 1918, Page 5

THE PRESIDENT AND THE AMERICANS

The very position of, the American President makes it difficult , for critics to question his actions, soys lan Hay. He is at once the titular Head of, the State and its Chief Executive Officer. In Our.own country, these functions are allotted to the King and the Prime Minister respectively. Dissatisfied pah-iota aro therefore able to belabour; Mr., Lloyd. Georje without affronting". the.jdignity of Vno Crown. But in;Ainerica to-day it is impossible to criticise the Prime Minister without' criticising the President as well. This fact causes many useful critics to remain silent altogether, while it brings a storm of opprobrium -upon the heads of those who decline to do so—Mr. Roosevelt, for instance In this connection it should bo noted how difficult ic tho position of prominent men of tho Republican Party in America to-day-like Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Taft, and Mr. Root. Among these experienced statesinca would bo stimulating tho performances of the Government na leaders of His Majesty's Opposition. In. America they are not even member , of Congress. Consequently theiv son-ices in these days of all dnys aro officially lost to their country. Mr. Roosevelt in particular is eating hia heart out; yet some of his political foes have been guilty of the incredible- meanness of stigmatising his genuine, if not always tempered, zeal to servo his conntry to-day ns mere vrindow-dressing for the next Presidential campaign. However, tho faith of the American nooplo in Mr.-Wilson to-day is unshaken. By pormlar ncclaim lie ranks among the great Presidents, and the principal shaft of criticism levelled against him is the suggestion that hn is; surrounded by colleagues who are less' distinguished for administrative ability than for personal loyalty to himself.