Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-09-14
THE REACTIONARY MIR. HARDING

Gov. Cox@will have it all his own
way in showing up Mr.. Harding as
a reactionary. Substitute the word
conservative" and Mr. Harding's own
friends and admirers would welcome
the designation. But reactiOnary is
really the better word because it more
accurately fits the present situation.
Mr.. Harding's attitude has been
that of protest, either tacit or ex-
pressed, against nearly every forward
step taken in the pasU15 or 20 years
and this fact Should be borne in mind
when he begs the country to return
to normally" In the most progress
siVe days of the Roosevelt administra-
ton, Mr.. Harding was a consistent
political follower of Senator Foraker
of Ohio, who fought progressive rail
road legislation and identified himself
with the most sinister plutocracy of
the time.f His close Standard oil con-
nectiOns finally drove Mr.. Foraker
from public life.
Of course Mr.. Harding condemned
the Ohio constitutional convention and
opposed violently the adoption of the
new state constitution. Gov. Cox now
recalls the editorial comment of Mr..
tons adoption. Socialism" was all
Mr.. Harding could see in that develop
ment. 'The revolution in Ohio dates
from September 3. Our own notion
is that the radical victory of Tuesday
will be followed by conflict after con-
t1ict until socialistic rule is thor
oughly established. Ohio has broken
her mornings. The revolution is on"
Revolution indeed! Massachusetts
has gone much the same revolutionary
way in revising its old constitution,
and it was all done under the red
torch auspices of the party of Mr.
Lodge. Mr.. Mccall and Gov. Coolidge.
In national affairs, Mr.. Harding
has done nothing to remove the i'm
preston The had made in the affairs
of his own state. His few years in
the Senate made Mr.. Penrose of Penn
sylvania fondly regard him as pre-
em1nently safe. and the latest report
from Philadelphia is that Mr.. Penrose
is anxious to take the stump for Can
d1date Harding, notwithstanding that
he is yet scarcely out of the care of
his physicians. Mr.. Penrose never
was classed as progressive; if you
called him ''forward-looking'' he
would greet you with a Falstaffian
guffaw. But Mr.. Penrose dotes on
Mr.. Harding.
1t is Mr.. Harding's natural desire
at his time of life not so much to
slow up things as to reverse things.
and that is why, in contradistinction
TO a conservative, he may properly be
called reactionary On Monday of
This week he declared that his cleo
ton would mean 'the complete re-
Versar of the present foreign policy
OF the United States. AS matter of
fact, Mr.. Lodge would not let him
go to such an extreme, for even Mr..
Lodge has no quarrel with the pres
ent administrations policy on a num-
Der OF foreign questions. But Mr..
Harding. being naturally reactionary,
approaches the question of foreign
policy with the very simple idea that
the thing to do is to reverse every
thing that has been done.
President Mckinley was by temper
ament and training almost a radical
compared with Mr.. Harding. In his
last speech Mr.. Mckinley urged lib
eral modification of the high tariff
policy. Mr.. Harding is In tempera-
ment, habit of thought and political
associations the most reactionarv
person probably the republican party
has made its candidate for the presi-
dency since Abraham Lincoln. =
Springfield Republican.