The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-09-28
HARDING TALKED
BRIF TO GREAT
baltimore Crowd.
col lnnsd rom page one.l

-. II 80 \
passed, never to return. The
pRafi war has wrought changes as
fbendoug In the economic inter-
Sodf OF nations as in their polit-
icaI relations Our commerce, our
bur agriculture, our indus
tn! our hnance-all are different,
s. HER present phase and in their
prospect, because OF the war
aftermath. Old contacts
ye been broken, new forces have
i5eed sFonsed. There has been
hiff Ia vital centers, and cities,
de 6ind tyiduals, are facing new
Opportunities, and greater respon-
sfbIitless
Il needs no effort to realize how
BsIdnore Is seeking to meet this
nged requirement. A more in
tense Industrial life, growing
pnpuIation, q larger area,a busy
waterfront forerunner OF an ex-
ding commerce-an alert read
to engage In business venture
and trade enterprtse-theae are
tlf st impressions which crowd
one, coming as do for
Dried visit,
prt.of what you may hereafter
do depend, as heretofore, on
yourselves-on your energy, your
enterprise, your business talent
and your Industrial fidelity. But
81 part will depend on the
sttIng within which your efforts
are staged, on the governmental
policies which are to be initiated,
on the administrative practices
which are to be carried out-polt-
fcfes and practices Of the govern
5ient atfWashington as to finance,
taxation. price levels, credit sup
ply business regulations tarln
Id justnents.
6jnpreparedness for Peace.
This As the warrant for my pres
hnee here this evening. 1t is to
make clear to you-men end wo-
men OF Maryland-to only very
few of which I shall be able to re-
r-ipon which, almost to a
peculiar degree, the well-being of
YOUR city and your state, and the
hapnfness Of you who live herein,
depend; and as to which there
should be3 on the part of govern
mental authority, prompt, earnest
and sympathetic regard.
Just as at the outbreak Of the
~ with the country's safety at
stake, you, as a great Industrial
center, swiftly, mobtlized your re-
courees s6f men and materials in
! the nations defence-so since the
aTnisttee y0u have wrestled with
the task pf beating swords into
pIotIea mares. It has been task
mad e. and costlier by the
uTcbrt and ineptitude of gov
erniten practice. Much as the
pfeseRt administration has to an
swers B6e as to Its appropriateness
for n az even more culpable has
been it's deliberate unpreparedness
for peace,
War, however protracted its
length and ruthless Its course,
must eventually come to an end.
Wfse craftsmanship will prepare
for the inevitable ending before
it comes taking counsel as to how
the passing from a wartime to
peace-time basis may be effected at
least cost. With characteristic
far-sigh Great Britain APP
pointed committees Of reconstruc-
stion as far back as 1916-actually
Two years before the armistice, at
time when the end of the strug-
Gle still seemed far of. Others OF
the allies took like measures of
precautton, with the most favora-
BILE results.
president Rejects Suggestion.
Only In the United States was
there neither provision nor pre-
paratton. Not a plan was fashion
I'd. not q provision was made, be-
fore or indeed after-the armis
icef to bridge the passing from
war to peace. This was no mere
oYeFsIght, but deliberate avoid
Sncs. In September, 1918, an earn
est attempt was made in the sen
ate. under Republican sponsorship,
to- create by concurrent resolution
tolnt congressional committee on
reconstruction, with ample powers
of INQUIRY, and report. Encounter
ing favorable reception in congress
from members of both parties, the
rropoBal met prompt Quietus in the
president's blunt disfavor of any
form OF congressional advice or
Suggestion as to after-war poll
TIE result was that the signing
90 the armistice usherd in vori-
table condition Of Save who can"
IA our economic life. Industry,
commerce. labor, finance-all were
left to struggle and drift, while the
standardization was intent on an
Iinava1iing pursuit OF an interna-
tionh1 super and con-
esrned as to domestic affairs only
detached opportunism.
10 Is entirely within bounds to
insist that had there been careful
PREPARATORY survey Of the problems
IN to present themselves as
the nation demo llized, we should
h1xS escaped many Of the trials to
which We have been subjected in
the past two years and from the
sVil possibilities of which we are
ven now far from free.
Material Help.
Il would have been practicable
% have erected, with far greater
Sousi dsfateness and far Jess dislo-
tion, the returnSot the four mill
Hon mem gathered in the nations
fehse to their accustomed places
rms and factories.
The acute distress of housing
horfge, consequen upon the
=