Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-09
HAYS RESTORING
PARTY HARMONY
AT WASHINGTON
Pleased With Recent Visit to
Capital; Looking to the
1920 Campaign
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

tReprlnted by permi mission OF the New
York Evening Post.)
Copyright, 1919, by y. Y. Evening
Post, lnc.)
Washington. April 9.-Will Hays.
chairman OF the Republican Nation
al Committee, has come. has seen,
and has gone away with the impress
sion that the Republicans in the
House are going to compose their
differences and give the country an
example of constructive legislation
IN the next session which will make
the party go over the top" in 1920
as it did in 1918.
Mr.. Hays found a ticklish situation
and handled himself as usual. tact
fully, lest the older heads in the
party get the idea he was unduiy
meddling. Denials have. been made
that Mr.. Hayes sought to have the
steering committee enlarged, but
that's what is going to happen event
ually. and on that steering commit
tee will be representatives of labor
and of farming interests. as we'll as
other elements from which the Re-
publican party hopes to derive it's
strength in 1920.
Unquestionably Mr.. Hays wants a
committee. These men are going to
control the fortunes of the party in
the next Congress. and the Republi-
can National Chairman has a very
vital interest in whether the men
who are selected have the capacity
and the visionA TO deal with the
changing America.
Party solidarity is what Mr.. Hays
is trying suavely and quietly to bring
about and there is much significance
in his trip to Washington, for with
a special session beginning toward
the end of May or thereabouts, there
is little time for the Republicans to
get together and agree upon pro-
grams OF legislation. In the mean
time. Mr.. Hays himself is losing no
time in making a systematic study
through a body of experts of the
various questions which the Repub-
licans will endeavor to solve in the
next Congress, for every country in
1920 will pudge the Republican party
not by what 1t did in the days of
Cannon and Aldrich. but what it did
in the two trying years OF recon-
struction which are ahead.
AS for the League of Nations as
an issue. Republicans are not dis
Iurbed. Mr.. Taft's warm cspousal
of the League and the stand taken
by men like Wickersham and Root
will, they contend, prevent the DEM
ocrats from making it party issue
Much satisfaction is derived espec-
tally from the letter sent by Elihu
Root. Press dispatches from Paris
saying the Root amendments are
meteing with favor there will tend
to strengthen the impression that
the Republicans have, in a measure,
assisted in making the League of
Nations a vital international body.
As for, the sisners of the round
robin" ratification of the treaty it
self will be the answer to that, and
no Republican OF prominence is to-
day predicting the failure of the
Senate to ratify the compact that
may be eventually presented to the
upper house. This is largely due to
the cables from abroad saying that
the covenant is being rewritten to
meet Republican objection.
Mr.. Hays reveals on the whole,
therefore, an optimism about the
outlook of the Republican party. His
talks with the various leaders there
have been earnest and persuasive.
His plans of campaign organization
are meeting with favor. His hand
Is on the political pulse of the coun-
try constantly, and If the Republican
leaders in Congress are Indifferent