Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-28
TREATY SMASHERS MlSPGAY
STRONG REPUBLICAN CARDS
Clumsy Disregard Of Strong Ratification
Element in the Party Has Vital Bear
ing on 1920 PreIimnaries

ing on 1SEu PrellmlnarleS
| DAST presidential elections cast their
shadows before. The trouble is that
! these reflections are always variously in.
! terpreted, with the result that reading
! history as clue to the future becomes
process largely dependent on the taste
and fancy Of the historian.
1t is useless to pretend at the present
| hour that both the Republican and the
! Democratic stats are not thinking very
earnestly about what happened in 1916.
On the one side there is dligent endeavor
to repair former gaps in the line. On
the other there is more a hope than a
conviction that the front will hold for
1920.
In word, and despite disavowals, shy
or fervid the immemorial game of poll
/ tics is being played in Washington fast
and furiously Convention prescribes
that everybody, major participants and
fabulously innocent bystanders alike,
must be Mortified if the truth is so much
as whispered. 1t is one of the most deli
cious fctions extant that no one in the
United States plays party politics save
your political opponent. He is the rogue.
You and all the fellows on your side of
the partisan line are the angels.
In that case the verdict at national
elections would be received by the de-
feated only with the kind of rage and
despair which is never manifested, and
the American constitution, which lent
itself Immediately, and on the whole so
! admirably. to party government in the
land, would be futile and withered in
strument
Behind the pose in the whole national
scene there is actually the sound belief,
| born of experience, that the success of
| party maneuvering is directly dependent
on the common-sense judgment of the
! public, and that though Democrats or
Republicans may wreck their own chances
| for Office, they are extremely unlikely to
dash the ship of state to pieces.
There would indeed be ground for panic
and CONSERVATION in America if all the
| dire damage with which the Republicans
threaten the peace treaty were really i'm
minent. There would be equal cause for
alarm if Mr.. Wilson's original obstinacy
! concerning that document were impene-
trable 1t is inevitable that some agree
ment will eventually be reached. Ca
lamity howlers Notwithstanding, we can
dismiss the thought of the nation going
to the bowwows. But perhaps one of its
| two great political parties will. That is
the possibility which gives pertinence to
| the thrusts and counter-thrustS in Wash
! ington.
Granted the leaven Of sincere patriot
ism which generally governs the actions
of our most professional politicians,
granted that genuine differences of opin-
ion exist upon the merits of the treaty
| and the league covenant, granted that
the peace commissioners disposition of
Shantung is offensive to most Americans
sense of fair play, and still the battle
smoke of practical politics rises over the
Capitol. 1t is not really wicked smoke,
but it is intensely interesting. Its pres
ence is proof that both sides are mobil-
izing for the presidential campaign of
1920. To be shocked at it is hypocritical.
The contest is quite of the customary
character.
Republicans with firm confidence in the
general principles and traditions of their
party would like to see legitimate tactics
skillfully operating, valid contentious
adroity advanced, telling blows delivered
in telling manner. What is exhibited is
something regrettably different. There
is scramble for temporary and shallow
advantage. Attacks on the treaty have
been made from so many different and
contradictory angles that the force be-
hind each drive has been quickly dissi-
pated.
Mr.. Lodge has fumed like a he-Cas-
sandra and with just about as much effect
upon the general public. Lawrence Y
Sherman's shrieking TRADES are already
forgotten. The Knox resolution is mort
bund. The Fall amendments, embodied
in the action of the foreign relations
committee, which if Endorsed would ne.
cessitate some fifty changes in the treaty
are palpably absurd.
There remains Shantung. The treaty
opponents have obviously been expecting
great things from their exploitation OF
the weakest feature of the international
pact. In theory they are quite right
Even the President admits that But
there is a rational way to express Ameri
can sentiment in this matter, and this
course they have not taken.
The proposed amendment substitut.
ing the word China for the word Japan
in the treaty clause disposing of the for,
mer German concession has the appear.
ance of being a clumsy sop to California
opinion. Perhaps the retrospective tend
ency in presidential preliminaries is
working. The dramatic delay in the
California returns in 1916 gave undue
prominence to that state as determi,
nant of the election. Mr.. Wilson could
not have won without those twelve elec,
toral votes. He would, however, have
been defeated had he not carried Ohio
which gave him twenty-four ballots in
the college. But "the West did it" be-
came post-mortem slogan, and the West
- I.a.-a.a