New Britain herald., 1919-01-22
HARANGUES AGAINST IDEALISM
gho Senator's Speech Taken as Presidential Platform Keynote

QflltlnS Into chaos, Senator Hard Ing, republican, of Ohio declared in speech in tho senate yesterday, in which he urged that President Wilson and those closely affiliated with him in the administr ration give up their idealism' and resort to sound prac- ticality in the conduct of the 1a- tion's after-war reconstruction work.
 MT. Harding'S speech, in view of the recent talk of him as the repub- lican nominee for president in 1920, created a profound impression in the senate. When he had concluded Senator John Sharp Williams. demo- crat of Mississippi, went across the aisle to shake the Ohio senator's hand
 Senator Harding criticised the pres ident for not having devoted himself imm ediately upon arriving ia Europe, to the task of bringing about a speedy peace. The president. he said. might better have waited until a conclusive peace was made before going about Europe to receive the acclaim of the multitudes.
 The speaker also found fault with the president for not having started reconstruction work for America be- fore going abroad. MT. Wilson, he said, while opposing a program for reconstruction evolved by congress- had forced his own program through. but had not lifted a hand" to carry it out
 Because of the lack Of action on the part of the executive we are drift Ing into chaos,' declared Senator Harding. That is why l am urging that this government give up the ldeahsm It has pursued and get back to practical york;
 Senator Harding said it was "a lie from the beginning for the United States to allow the impression to go out that We were in the war flor dem ocracy's sage"
 We ought to have let the world know we were in the war because American rights had been violated bA Germany" he said. II don't agree with the president that we must es- tablish a new 'internatio la lism,' para lyzed by socialism. The world today 1 trem bling with the menace of Bo1- sheVlsm, owes good part of it's diffi- culties to the policies of the chief 1 eXecutive.'
 The Menace Of BoIShcviSm The Ohio senator referred to Presi-
 dent Wilsos's cablegram asserting l that the spread of Bolshevism in Flu | rope must be stopped by feeding Eu- ! ropes starving nations.
 You cannot buy permanent tran i quility anywhere in the world" he l said. You cannot shower the world l with gold and harvest contentment. : You cannot reach practical results ! through an avenue of dreams. There 1 is no rhetorical route to the estab- ] lishment of normal conditions. ! "A good deal has been said about i inc destruction class rl1lo' If is 1 significant that autocracy is vanish i ing, but I want to know if we are go- l ing to establish another form of gov ernment based on force. You cant
 have popular government dictated by 1 the force of physical numbers The
 rule of physical force might we'll wreck the worlds civilization.
 'In this uncertain pursuit of a
 modern idealism we are drifting in
 that direction. l am not imputing
 any questiona ble motives to the pres l ident's trip abroad. I am only doubt
 ing the practicability of that trip. If | the president had gone abroad as the l American premier or as the head of 1 the American peace commission, to
 which he has appointed himself, and 1 after concluding the peace treaty, had l made a triumphal tour of Europe, I l would have rejoiCed, for there is no l jealousy in my soul. But he should | have gone abroad to conclude a treaty 1 of peace as soon as possible. In chas-
 ing the dreams of idea alism he has ! neglected that great essential He l has neglected the practical things
 here at home in the United States. 1 We have been infinitely more neglect
 full in preparing for the duties of 1 peace than in preparing for the duties | of war"
 One vital problem before the coun-
 try which demands the presidents at l tention now, Senator Harding said, is that of wages and the cost of living. You cannot reduce the present
 cost of living" he said and keep
 up the present American wage. It is demagogy to say otherwise. l think
 the war will have been Waeed in vain 1 if we do not go back to the old con ditions that prevailed before the war. Labor at Dollar An Hour.
 If you do not have a fairer divi-
 sion of profits of business here you will have more Bolshevism in the , United States than you have in Russia. Common labor in some cases is now receiving $1 an hour. It is time to be
 practical. We can fix an American 1 policy for ourselves at home We have ] taxed the big industrial enterprises
 until they are almost paralyzed. Why
 not, instead of giving so much atten-
 tion to the expenditure of $100, 900, 900
 to feed the people of Europe, give
 more attention to the taxpayers?
 America needs policy America
 must understand that, above every
 thing else orderly government is the 1 first essential. I do not forget that the 1 Hynnl1tiHEn Ill tln ..la 4s--o d1I.i ncr