Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-16
CHAIRMAN HAYS Is
WISER THAN THE SENATE
His Protest Against Making a Party Issue
OF the Peace Treaty ls Politl-
caIly Expedlent as Well as
Fund n, n ~ IIv couod

Inc republican leadership in the Sem
ate has been pursuing a course which if
followed long would land the party in
the ditch and completely desti oy its use
! fulness as an instrument for executing
the popular will. In grave world crisis
it has been venting personal spite against
the President instead of rising to the
| occasion and basing its course upon
broad-minded and intelligent principles of
craftsmanship. 1t has been doing its
best to make a partisan political issue Of
| our foreign relations.
Such a course weakens the party that
enters upon it and it weakens the in
fuence of the nation as a whole in it's
dealings with other nations.
1t has been a tradition of American
politics for generations that all partisan
ship ended at the three-mile limit of ma
tional jurisdiction over the sea. Salt
water cemented all parties into one great
body of Americans acting through their
elected representatives, who for the time
might be either Democrats or Republi-
cans.
Mr.. Hays demands that this tradition
be respected. He says that "the conclu-
sion of the treaty of peace, including all
its provisions, is in no sense party ques-
ton" That phrase, Including all its pro-
Visions" means nothing more nor less
than the Representations section.
Why should Mr.. Hays be talking in this
way at this time?
Are not the Republican senators to be
trusted to act for the party?
The answer to these questions is easy,
if one will consider for moment what
Mr. Hays has been doing for many,
weeks. He has been travelling up and
down the country, talking with business
and political leaders in close touch with
the sentiment of the people. He has evil
IDENTIFY discovered that there is serious
dissatisfaction with the course of the men
in Washington and sincere desire that
the United States should join with the
other nations in league for the preser-
vation of the peace of the world. He
would not have rebuked the Senate if he
had not convincing evidence that the rank
and file of the party were back of him.
What he has said is patriotic and based
on the best traditions of the nation. 1t
is also inspired by the best practical
political wisdom which has been put into
words for many a day.
The sort of stuff that has been put
forth from Washington in the name of Re-
publicanism is neither good Republican,
ism nor good Americanism. The Repub-
licans throughout the country should pro-
test against the intrusion of it by the
Lodges and the Borahs and the rest of
them into the discussion Of the problems
of peace. The nation expects the sena-
tors to forget that they are Republicans
and Democrats when they consider the
ratification of the peace treaty, "includ-
ing all its provisions" and to act as citi-
zens of the United States sharing with
the rest of the world in the task of end
ing the great horror which has darkened
the lives of the nations for five years
and shouldering the obligation of pre-
venting its recurrence. We are sharing
with the whole human race in the great
adventure which began with the creation
of man. the episodes in which include the
conuuering Of nature, and the learning by
races of how to live together in nations in
peace and amity, and is eliminating in
the supreme effort Of nations to live to-
pether with decent respect for the rights
of one another
But we find the men who should be
cur leaders in this great task turning
aside from it and apparently deaf to the
imperative voice summoning them to the
pressing duty so much bigger than the
qualification of personal spite or the Sc
curing of partisan advantage that they
ought not to be mentioned in the same
breath.
Mr.. HAYS speaks for men Of all parties
when he protests against making the
ratification of the treaty partisan ques-
ton.
There are functions for the parties to
perform. Mr.. Hays does not ignore them.
He stresses those policies with which the
Republican party has been identified for
wears, and by indirection reminds his
associates that they are neglecting their
obvious duty to apply those policies to
domestic problems by spending their
time and energies on matters outside Of
the realm of political partisanship.
There is the protective tariff, for exam
ple. Under it we have the best paid
workingmen in the world and our re-
sources have been developed SO that they
supply our own needs and leave surplus
for the needs of the rest of the world.
The war has proved that many other
industries might have been created here
if the proper protection had been given
70 them. We discovered that we were
dependent on Germany for products
made from the waste of such industries
as thrive here, and we have been forced
by necessity to do those things which
prudence should have taught us to do
years ago.
We ought not to forget this lesson and
we should not be satisfied with a pro-
tective tariff on the dye and chemical in
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