Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-02
Degrading A Nation
From The New York world

Tho Republican Party has turned its
back on it's own prlrci pies Of 1850 ard
1918 I" Thus writes the vorerable Charles
W Eliot in the current issuc Of the ATTAIN
tic Morthly.
DIR. Eliot adds by way Of further com
mont This deplorahle charge Of frort
is a deep modification and distress 10 all
patriotic Americans. Republican or Demo
cratic. and particularly thoS who romem-
her the political ideals which tho Republican
Party was founded TO col toud for and
which il led 60 glorious victories"
As II 60 emphasize Dr. Ehot's caustlc
criticism. Serater Harding said IN his
speech at Nhochrg Tuesday night: i
was not present when the Senate passed
the war resolution, but | know what II
conveyed. | know what it means, ard
we did not go to war 20 make the world
safe for democracy. We did rot so to
war even for humaritys sake.
Trevelyan remarked Of George III, that
''he could rcver forgive a politician for
| taking the right course urleSs il was from
! a wrot motive Serator Hardin & him
| self had no part in voting the declaration
/ OF war agalrst Germany, but he Is wlliiI &
| to Justify il provided il is agreed that the
/ motives Of the American people were.
/ sordid and materialistic. On that basis he
| might even forgive. President Wilson
/ for his successful conduct Of the war
/ For the rest, Senator Harding refuses
/ 10 concede that our dead died for any'
/ noble and irspiTirg principle Tic refuses
/ 10 admit that the American people had
! ary exaltation Of spirit that they regard
/ cd the war As an lrTcpreSslble conflict be
| tween freedom ard autocracy, between
| the doctrIIe Of right ard tha doctrine OF
/ might To the Republican candidate II
was Just a row over some ships and sub
marines and disputed Interpretation Of
4 the tradiI status of Tcutrals.
| IF Senator Harding Is right IN his est
mate OF the motives Of the American
/ people. the war was a needless war. Every
/ lfe that was lost was wasted and every
/ dollar that was spent was wasted We
| could have easily bargained with Germany
| for protection. Both sides had violated
! American rights on the high seas. and If
nothing mattered except the materials
/ tic aspects of the case. Germany had
more To offer than the Allies
/ The Kaiser could never understand the
attitude of the American people toward
/ the war From his point of view they were
/ foolishly blind 10 their own interests. The
/ thing for them TO do was to pick q quarrel
| with Great Britain over the blockade
restrictions. go 10 war on the side OF the
( Central Powers and take Canada and all
the British possessions IN the Western
! Hemisphere as their share OF the spoIls.
That Is what any country would have
done which was concerned only with
permanent material advantages and not
| with morals.
! The Kaiser was mistaken IN his esti-
mate of the American people, and Sena-
tor Harding is also mistaken. In Tact, We
do not believe that the Senator himself
believes what he says or that the marvel
Gus demonstration of devotion to high
principle which the American people
gave has been wholly lost on him. Even a
Republican SenetOr cannot be so callous-
ed to the really fine things IN American
life But III order to sustain their Opposl-
ton to the League of Nations, the Re-
| publican Senators have been compelled
to sneer at everything that resembles
idealism, and high purpose in the affairs
Of the country. They jeer at ideals be-
cause ideals are dangerous TO the kind Of
campaign they are forced to conduct.
They assume that the surest way TO
discredit President Wilson is to try to
| drag the Nation down to the lowest level
| of political motive. That is why Senator
| Harding tells the American people that
they went to war without single gen
erous or disinterested impulse and asks
| them TO indorse at the polls his degraded
estimate of them.