Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-06-21
Lack O, Teamwork Somewhere


THE Republican party needs dictator. 1t
/ needs somebody to reach out for all fac
lions. all leaders and all near-leaders, bring
them together with d bang and make them
play the game according to the rules. For
the time being the whole works is disrupted.
and there Is nobody big enough, strong
enough and bold enough TO whip the organi-
zation into line. TO solidify it and put the
punch into it necessary to make it invincible.
Just take a few Of the facts about the
&. y. T. as it is now managed or mismanaged.
In the first place. the Republican leaders in
the United States Senate, aided and abetted
by their associates in the House, are against
The league of nations. These are the men
who arc chosen by the Republican voters
Of the nation TO make the LAWS, to fix party
policies and prepare the way for party sue
cess next year. They act by virtue of cert-
fled commissions placed in their hands and.
therefore. may be regarded the only true
and faithful spokesman of the great mass Of
Republican citizens.
These leaders have made the league of ma
tons a straight party issue. They have done
it boldly and unblushingly. They have not
said so in so many words, but they do not
need TO say so. Their actions are eloquent
enough on that point. But. while the Senate
is proceeding in that fixed direction one Will
III. Hays. chairman OF the Republican Ma
lioHdi SoHlIlltlee. nllnScll opposed 10 the
league OF nations, is out ma king a frst-hand
inventory Of public sentiment Apparently
he finds that the country wants the league
or some league, for he rushes into print with
the warning declaration that the league fight
must not be regarded as party fight. In
effect. therefore. he repudiates the candid
stand taken by Republican Senator's
That is not all There is the Republican
Publicity Association. composed of Senators,
nx-C Cav d
sentatives, who clamoring almost daily
for an announcement to the effect that the
peace policies of President Wilson be made
an out-and-out partisan issue. That organ-
cation wants all camoufage thrown to the
winds. 1t knows where the party actually
stands. and it is sick and tired of both simula-
ton and assimilation in that connection
But this, Of course, is contrary TO the notions
entertained by Mr.. Hays and contrary to
what he regards as good Republican politics.
Then there is the straightout league Of
nations element in the Republican party 1t
is the most difficult crowd the party spokes-
men have to deal with. That element is
headed by the only living ex-President Of the
United States. Associated with Judge Taft
are such men as former Attorney G eneral
Wickersham, former Senator Elihu Root,
President Lowell, of Harvard University
Senator Porter j. McCumber, of South
Dahota, ana rev more OF that Stamp-all
OF them men who cannot be led about with
a halter, whom no politician or set of poll
ticlans can silence, and who are vastly more
concerned about the future peace Of the world
and the tranquility Of mankind than they are
about the result of the coming national cam
paign.
There does not seem to be the remotest
chance that the old organization can be har-
monzed upon the new issues that have arisen.
The wires are too badly crossed. The game
has been badly played. There has been no.
body with the intellectual strength who could
bring the warning elements into accord