Yesterday

Whether or not Mr. Roosevelt is a great leader is a question which cannot be decided on the basis of his actions so far; the final answer can be made only in historical retrospect. One thing, however, is certain. Roosevelt, like Lincoln, is a highly sensitive reflector of public opinion; he possesses an uncanny faculty for gauging the mood of the country, and how it will react to any given measure. The reception accorded by the public to his budget proposals is ample testimony to the truth of this. Everywhere they have met with almost unqualified approval by the people.

It is interesting to note in this connection how this show of popular sentiment has quelled the roar of Congressional dissent which greeted the budget message when it first appeared. With the political foresight of glowworms, the Republicans were prepared to leap gleefully on Mr. Roosevelt and see him overwhelmed by public disapproval of his monstrous expenditures, whil they posed grandiloquently as the saviors of their country or at least of their country's credit. Mr. Snell announced that he was so shocked that he did not expect to recover for "several days." The several days have passed and Mr. Snell is apparently still laid low with shock -- or, at any rate, if he is capable of learning anything, he has retired into a silence which will probably not be pregnant of the rash bombast that he has displayed in the past. Mr. Snell's confreres are also quietly lugubrious, and it looks as if the President has once again outsmarted the boys at the Capitol at their own game.

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A further ironic comment on the muddled and glucy state of the Congressional mind is provided by the debate about the tax to be levied on liquor. Mr. Connelly wants a tax of five dollars a gallon or more in order, he explains, to break up the "Whiskey Trust." Unfortunately, this does not appeal to Mr. Shoemaker of Wisconsin. What we need even more than a five cent cigar, he avers, is whiskey at twenty-five cents a quart. As an after-thought he appended the interesting information that when he was a guest of the government at Leavenworth Prison, there were a hundred and seventy stills within the prison walls. One can only regret that Norman Douglas' gentleman who laid all the ills of the world to a faulty method of fornication, and who had invented a new and better system to remedy this was not in attendance with Mr. Shoemaker and Mr. Connelly. Surely, with their combined talents they could have brought about the Millenium in a week at the most.

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Wars in Central and South America are usually comic opera affairs. Despite bloody tales coming from the Chaco region the struggle there between Paraguay and Bolivia probably falls into this category, for the list of casualties is unimposing and both sides seem quite willing for the battle to go on indefinitely. After a short truce which was agreed to only after considerable urging by the assembled American diplomats the war was resumed when a Commission from the League of Nations failed to do anything save distinguish itself by its peculiarly inept handling of the matter.

The Grand Chaco is in itself a completely worthless piece of territory, comprising jungles and waste land for the most part. Unfortunately for Paraguay it borders on the Paraguay River. Hence, if Bolivia could gain control of it she would have a much coveted outlet to the sea, the lack of which has been keenly felt by that country since Chile closed the Pacific to her. Paraguay naturally is none too eager to see such an extension of Bolivian power in her back yard. The result is the present interminable struggle, in which Paraguay has so far been victorious, having almost completely demolished the southern army of Bolivia just prior to the signing of the truce. Bolivia, however, has taken advantage of the truce to recuperate, banish the peace party, and get rid of the German general, Kundt. Apparently, she is now ready to enter the struggle with renewed energy.

In all probability neither Paraguay nor Bolivia think that the Chaco is worth the battle that is being waged for it. The reason for its continuance is to be found, I think, in the vague rumors that seep out of both countries about popular discontent with the governments. Obviously, if the rabble are occupied in the jingoistic activities that accompany a war, their rulers will feel relatively safe. Consequently, the Chaco is an ideal place to wage such a war, for defeat and loss of such a God-forsaken region can have no very serious results for either country.