Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-10
CONSIDER PRINCIPLES
BEFORE CANDIDATES
When the Republican Issues Are Framed
They viii Point to the Man
TO Head the Ticket

They viii Point to the Man
TO Head the Ticket
THE primary purpose of the meeting
l. of the National Republican Committee
in Washington today is to select the place
and date for the meeting of the next
national convention. The forecast this
morning was that Chicago would be the
place and that the opening date would be
Tuesday, June 8.
If this forecast be correct the signih-
cance of this date is tremendous, for it
indicates a determination on the part of
the leaders to fight an aggressive battle
next year on the issues already in the
minds of the Republican voters. 1t has
been the custom for years for tho party in
control of the presidency to hold its con-
vention first and for the party contesting
for that office to wait until the party in
power had framed its issues and then to
meet them. This happened in 1876, in
1880 and in 1884 when the Republicans
made their nominations in advance of the
Democrats. 1t happened in 1888 when
the Democrats renominated Grover
Cleveland before the Republican conven-
tion was held. In 1892 Benjamin Harrison
was renominated two weeks before
Cleveland received his third nomination.
There was an exception to the rule in
1896 when, with Democratic President,
Major Mckinley was nominated in adj
vance of Bryan. But there was a return
to the rule in 1900 and thereafter.
The national committee is evidently in
-, h.,
of the party for which it speaks. There
will be gossip in Washington today and
tomorrow about possible candidates for
the presidency, but the country is just
now more interested in principles than in
candidates. When the principles are
formulated the selection of candidate
to apply them will be easy.
Now what is the big thing about which
every one is thinking in these months
following war in which we raised the
largest army in our history and sent two
million men across the Atlantic, break
ing all precedents in the military history
of the world?
We have discovered that whether we
will or not we cannot isolate ourselves
from what is going on in other nations.
The war in Europe was our war. The
issues involved in it were issues vital
to our own national life and independence
and self-respect. We faced them bravely
for two years and did our part heroically
and well. But there has come a reaction
and there are men who want the United
States to. withdraw itself into it's shell
and let the rest of the world struggle
with the world problems as though they
did not concern us.
But the time when we could do this
passed many years ago We cannot
escape ENHANCEMENT in world affairs
if we would. Roosevelt saw this during
his presidency and he said time after time
that the United States must play large
part in the affairs of the world, and
that the only opportunity for the exer-
else of our will was in deciding whether
we should play that part nobly or ignobly.
We are confident that the nation as a
whole desires to play its part nobly and
to shoulder all the obligations that par
ticipation in the war has placed upon us
rather than to act the part of scuttler
and a shirker.
The record of the Republican party
during its more than sixty years of life
qualities it to lead the nation in adjusting
itself to it's large place in the family of
nations. The party has been characterized
from the beginning by its ability to per-
ceive the problems that must be solved
and by its genius in solving problems
and it has not been handicapped by servile
bondage to any academic formulas or
| political doctrines that would hamper it
in it's constructive work. No dead hand
has bound it. 1t has regarded the con-
stitution as a living document expanding
with the needs of succeeding generations.
which find in its provisions warrant for
carrying out within the lines of rep
reseatative government the undoubted
will of the majority.
1t was not until the leaders of the party
failed to perceive the trend of popular
sentiment and became reactionaries that
serious disaster overlook it in 1912. They
turned their back upon the forward
looking constructive program for which
! Roosevelt had been fighting, and as the
inevitable result the party suffered the
most humiliatng defeat in American
political history.
The party stands on the threshold of
a great opportunity. Its members are
ready to pass through the door and use
the party as the instrument for carrying
out their will. They can be prevented only
by the blindness of leaders who face the
past instead of the future.
Not only are the Republican masses
committed to the proposition that the
United States must do its full share in the
family of nations, but they desire also thai
it apply to the domestic problems the
constructive wisdom which preserved tn,
Union, abolished slavery, solved the fnan
cial problems of the Civil War by bring
ing about the resumption of specie pay
ments in an incredibly short space Of
time and then developed and applied tn,
policy of protection to native industry
L..