Evening star., 1920-10-21
JOHNSON ATTACKS
LEAGUES FRIENDS
Hardino's Supporters; S; I Pay
Sorry Compliment, Says
Senator in Speech.

! HOROKEN. N. J.. October 21 fby the
Associated Press).-Senater Harding,
republican presidential nominee.
stands for outright rejection Of the
| league OF nations. and there is moth
ing ambiguous or uncertain In his
declaration of attitude, Senator Hi
| ram johnson Of California. Ieague ir-
lreconcilable," declared in an address
here last night. ~.
For reasons Of their own,"Senator
| Johnson said, certain Interested in
| dividuais and Newspapers may mis-
represent and misinterpret his words.
I resent these imputations upon the
sincerity of the utteranees of the can
d1date, and the manifest endsayor In
some quarters Ia distort his plain
| language. ~, .4" 90.
| From those who believe as l do. he
, IS entitled to not only the warmest
lcommendation. but the strongest ad
yocacy and most enthusiastic, support
The issue today Is the league of ma
tons as presented by President Will
son, which Cox says he will take this
country into, and which Harding says
he won't.
Pay Sorry Compliment.
The men.and newspapers who pre-
| tend to be friends of Senator Hard
ing and who assert that he is to take
| this country into the league of ma
tions do him distinct disservice and
\ PoJ HiHi compliment. L Spedh
OF course. solely from the public ut
! terances of our candidate. and these
utterances make plain beyond cavil
that when Senator Harding is Pres-
dent he will not take the United
States Into the league
He characteriZes the league as g
military alliance which menaces peace
and threatens all freedom He called
1T the supreme blunder' and assert ed
| that ne would leave America free
Independent and self-reliant. but of.
fering friendship to all the world.
He 1nstanced the war between Poland
and Russia as Indicating what we
would have been let in for. in the
language of Secretary Of State Ian
sing. but for the action of the Sen
ate, and this Polish Russian war he
SAID, brought home to us the danger
OF committing ourselves in advance
to causes that we knew not Of
Deprecates Reservations.
Again he referred to America as
memoer OF the league as one in a
pitiful minority among many states
in merged world government and in
cluded himself among those who had
opposed what we sincerely regarded
as a betrayal of our own country
In the interest of others He depre-
Gated his vote for reservations and
said that conditions had now changed
Experience had brought enlighten-
ment.
Il am unable to understand the in
tellectual processes which can mis-
interpret or misconstrue these words
and l do not appreciate the friend
ship OF individuals who, in the teeth
OF declarations describing the league
as a military alliance menacing peace
and threatening all freedom, the su
preme blunder, obviously impotent
res1lng upon the power of might. not
OF right will still insist that tn e
words are meaningless and that Sena
tor Harding, intends something else
than he says .-'-
ITO make doubly plain his mean
ing, he said: I am opposed to the
very thought of our republic becom-
ing party to so great an outrage
upon other people who have as good
a right to seek their freedom as we
had In 1875. and the same right to
develop eminence under the inspira
selves"
Joining the league with countries
that owe the United States ten bill
non dollars is like a merchant plac
ing himself in the hands of his debt
ors, Senator johnson said