Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-10
POPULAR WILL is SCORING
OVER POLITICAL GAMES
Difficulties Of Republican Strategy Have
Given to Wild Men a Speclous Prom
inence Which Can Be Countered
Win Credit to Party

| Win Credit to Party
! THE Frightening prospects in the Sen
L ate for the league of nations and the
| peace treaty are not properly to be con-
strued either as a blanket indictment of
Republican folly or as sweeping evidence
| of Democratic wisdom What the in
creasing auguries of the covenant in
| dorsement plainly do emphasize is the
ultimate soundness of public opinion.
Popular sentiment unquestionably
favors the pact of international partner
| ship unamended and unweakened. Popu-
| lar sentiment urges speedy ratification
| of the Versailles treaty. But the shift
and interplay of politics are not reducible
! to such simple terms.
Party maneuvering is subtle and
complex game. 1t is a match in which
such players as are strictly professional
| seldom wrap themselves in mantles of
irreproachable idealism, a conflict in
which expediency is prime factor and
sophsticaton a governing principle.
Naive party loyalty has for nearly
century and a half been industriously
capitalized by American partisan lead
| erS. But as a solvent of the political
cryptogram it is without value. Any
evidence submitted in 1900 to prove that
| Adams Federalism was all white and JEFF
fersonian Democracy all black, or vice
versa, was spurious.
| Neither a stainless nor a wholly spot
! ted Republcanism exists today. Nor is
| Democracy as it is played at the Capitol
complete symbol of perfection or a
sign manual of infamy. Like most cats,
politicians are gray, and their indefati-
gable efforts to see more in the dark than
their opponents beget the intricacies of
| partisanship.
That the nation has survived such tao
| tics is due, Of course, to the basic prin-
| cipic of representative government, which
| in the end renders the legislative spokes-
man responsible to his constituents. If
| the system isn't perfect it is at least
workable.
It is, however, repeatedly productive of
| situations mystfying to the ingenious
observer. Thus if one ignores the classic
rules Of politics there is the superficial
| semblance of faulty in the Republican
reactions against the league idea and
the picture Of perspicacity in the Demo
cratic lineup. AS matter Of fact, the
! whole scene at Washington is one of
strategy, in which considerations of the
| highest morality have played relatively
small part. 1t is impossible for politics
to be ineligible unless realistically
treated as such.
The Republican majority in the Senate
| has by no means proved an unmixed
| blessing to the party. The simple fact
of its existence made for confidence and
the determination to assert control. On
the other hand, the tiny margin of nu-
merical superiority-two votes-rendered
the least dissension in the ranks source
of immediate peril.
Mr.. Lodge has been accused of leader
ship at once bungling and truculent. The
| charge cannot be disallowed. Neverthe-
less, the difficulties which beset the path
of the self-constituted harmonizer were
formidable, and apparently they were
magnifed by his own realization of his
plight.
This consciousness of the problem
played directly and, from the political
standpoint, dsastrously into the hands
of the wild men of the West. William
E. Borah and Hiram Johnson, who might
have been impotent factors for mischief
had the Senate been overwhelmingly Re-
publican, became increasingly disturbing
elements in any program aiming at
sane party policy and successful party
politics.
How much the effort of conservative
Republicans to prevent such a split in the
party as wrecked it in the past governed
the original stand on the League of Ma
tions and how much the opposition as
expressed in the "round robin" was forti-
fed by sincere conviction are not easily
determinable.
But many things have happened since
last March. Those specific objections to
the first draft of the covenant which were
valid are imperative against the COM
| pleted document.
Mr.. Taft has crusaded untiringly for
the pact. Mr.. Root has indorsed it in
principle at least. Mr.. Wickersham and
Doctor Lowell are among its stalwart
champions. Some of the finest and intel.
lectually the strongest elements in Re-
publicanism are outspokenly cognizant
of its worth
And yet the political drama in the SEN
ate continues up to what appears to be
the brink of defeat.
Mr. Knox has made foolish exhibit
ton of himself; MI Fall, ditto. Mr..
Lodges alleged captaincy is seriously
clouded. The coveted harmony suggests
that of the lost chord. The Democrats,
the minority party in the upper house,
plume themselves on a forthcoming vic
tory.
4 In reality their role was easy, Politi-