The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-25
SMOKE OUT HARDING
 IS PARTY STRATEGY FOR FINAL WEEKS
Republicans Worried About Taft and Root, Who Have Not Been Invited to
 Make Speeches
By LOUIS sEIBoLD

New York. September 24.-(spe-
 cini)-RoIl call would probably
 disclose the fact that the im-
 portnnt men in the democratic and
 republican national organizations
 have been concentrated in New
 York for n week. Taking advan-
 tagc of the apathetic conditions
 which have so far resisted the at-
 tempts of the professional to dis
 pell, the rival leaders have di-
 rected their attention to prcpara- ton for the storm that is expected
 to mark the final phases of the
 campaign.
 The leaders of both parties cite par allels between the existing political conditions and those that characterized two previous campaigns. The repub- ilcans go back to 1892 for their analogy. They assert that the demo- crats are now confronted with the same conditions as the republicans were in 1892, when vast percentage of republicans refused to vote for Ben jamin Harrison
 DEMOCRATS FIND COMFORT
 The democrats find comfort in the lesson of 1908, when MT. Taft defeated Mr. Bryan in the final stage of the campaign, When Mir. Taft left his front porch" of that day, the surface indications showed him to be beaten Mir. Bryan had successfully attacked the injunction decisions of the repub- lican candidate and attracted to his support q substantial support of the labor and radical groups, yet Mr Taft won by meeting the issue squarely in tA tba nlz which he inaugurated on September Fl of that year. The republican lead CTS now assembled at New York be- lieve that the result of '92 is to be re- vised The democrats cling optimis- tically to the hope that MT. Cox can duplicate the Taft achievement of 0S. All signs and portents to which pro- fessionals attach importance unerring- | ly favor the republicans at the pres l ent stage of the campaign. There is no doubt about that. The democrats confronted with the probable loss of all l the New England, Atlantic seaboard, l the more important of the middle vest
 ern, mountain and Pacific coast states
 that Theodore Roosevelt drove into the | democratic column eight years ago | and Woodrow Wilson kept there--fully realize the tremendous obstacles that
 must be successfully negotiated during ! the remaining thirty-eight days of 1 fighting.
 | The democratic troubles of vital im- port consist of groups Of voters of alien
 origin and ancestry-Irish, Italians. Germans, Polish and Russian Jews plus intense and unreasoning prejudice
 against President Wilson personally
 and his administration generally. Republican leaders are quite certain | that they have sowed the seeds of dis | sent too solidly to be uprooted, no mat ! | and turn over.
 DEMOCRATIC PLANS l But the democrats are going to | tackle the task by attempting to prove that the republican campaign Is an emotional fake, due to clever professions al manipulation. The republicans are
 ready to fight 1t out on that line, con i fdent that the democrats cannot win
 q single doubtful" state. New York, | West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky Illinois I lndiana-essential to democratic sue | cess, but not entirely vital to the re- Eublicans.
 | The republican troubles. as revealed by the leaders of that party, are few and only one is really important. Of course, there is the League of Nations. Many of the republican leaders view 1t with more or less alarm. To them it lis surcharged with explosive poten,ial- | ities that may cause d great deal of damage, or only little mischief The attiture of Governor Cox is 1 conceded by many republican lead- 1 CTS to call for no further iIlumina- 1 tiohs; that of Mir. Harding to he so | vexatiously uncertain. Reports l from republican state leaders in- l dfcate disturbing division of senti- 1 ment among vOters-leaders hold 1 ing antagonistic views regarding | Iy hnt In rd- 1 ing must make another effort to define his exact attitude. There's the rub. If he surrenders to the 1 advocates of slightly diluted reser- vations to the league covenant he runs the danger of mourning the 1 wrath of the irreconcilabie groups | headed by Johnson and Borah. If he does not he may lose the sup l port Of the very large numbers of | republicans who accept the judg-
 ment of Elihu Root. former Presi- 1 dent Taft and former Attorney 1 General Wickersham. as also an impressive array of public men 1 who are normally republicans. The | republican national OrEanixatiO has lodged n show down up to 1 date, but they frankly admit that | one cannot be deferred much 1 longer.
 | The fact that former President Taft lhas not been invited to take the stump
 for MT. Harding. or had not been up Ito Thursday. is most significant. Whether MT. Root will be is yet to be determined Some of the hard boiled professional leaders and one or two stanchly republican newspaper have
 already started to read MT. Taft put of
 the republican party because of his "apostacy."
 TAFT IS DANGEROUS One of the most important of the na- 1 tional republican leaders said today: l ITO turn Taft loose would be to invite | a dog fight with the Johnson Borah groups who have been tanned by Har- 1 ding's declaration of hostility to the
 league project. They are none too docile at best, and if we turn loose Taft and
 Root with their pronounced friendly con yiction there's likely to be hell to pay,
 I hope Taft and Root will appreciate tho very great service they can render the party by going fishing
 1 The only explanation to be obtained at
 republican Headquarters today for the | failure of the national committee to in- vite Mir Taft to take hand in the cam- paign was that i've haven't got around to 1t vet: he'll probably speak later on MT. Tafts admirers are quite positive the other way. They make no secret ot (centinued on Page TweiSsl