Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-08-28
Candidate Takes Decide,
Stand On InternaIionsl.,.
Affairs.
DEFINES ATTITUDE s
TOWARD LEAGJJl
Wilson Plan Would Have Put Amsri
can Boys in Poland Fighting Hoi
sheviks-couId Not Have Bee
Avoided Under Terms of covenar
Harding Not In Favor Of U. 1
lsolation-Body With Safeguards.

'ooooy WIN oare9uafds4
Marion, o., Aug. Ex-senator Hard
ing delivered the most important adj
dress Of the campaign 50 far toda{
when he addressed delegation fron1
Indiana on the league Of nations anJ
Americas attitude toward internal
tional affairs. He said in part:
Let us suppose the senate ha(
ratified the peace treaty containin
the league covenant as submitted q
it by the president in July OF las
year, what would be the situation
confronting our common country to
day? To my mind there Is but on
answer Before this day we worl}
have been called upon to fulnl tn
obligations which we had assumed
under Article x of the league cove
nant, to preserve the territorial In
tegrity of Poland "as against az
ternal aggression"
Sympathy for Poland.
I shall not now attempt to meas
ure the boundless sympathy for tai
Just aspirations and restored indoI
pepdence of Poland. Our present con
Germ is the international situatiol
which Poland has brought to our atl
tention.
The council OF the league of ma
tons would have reasoned. and reay
soned correctly, that the Unit
States could furnish the muniti
and, If necessary, the men to ~
stand the hordes advancing
Russia far more easily than
the exhausted nations OF ID
Moreover. tnasmuch as this
be the first test Of the sch
world government which y
mulated and demanded by t
dent, speaking for the United StSt@
the fact Of q special responsibilities
resting upon our shoulders, manifest
" would have been undeniable. unI
doubtedly tho league council, In ed
vising upon the means" by which til
obligations to Poland SHOULD be ful|
filed, as provided In the covenant
would have SO held. and probabi2
the conscience OF America. certainlN
the opinion OF the world. would hav
sustained that Judgment.
Had Treaty Been Ratified.
The conclusion that our oountr
be confronted by such
situation, II the senate hsd ratificI
the league covenant, requires
stretch Of the Imagination. None ca
deny that 1t is possible. To man
candid minds, as to my own, such
distressing situation will seem high
ly probable. Let us assume that I'll
ratification had taken place. Let
assume, further, that the performand
of the allotted task required the wa
ing of war upon the Russian peopl|
as, Of course, 1t would, what wou
result; what would OF necessity hay
to result? Nothing necessarily,
are glibly informed, since only u
congress can declare war, and Il
congress might reject the appeal
the executive. But would the congree
do that? Could the congress do thu
without staining indelibly the hond
of the nation?
Answer Is aNo.r
I answer NO." and I say It not o
my own authority alone. Back
my Judgment stands the presided
OF the United States. Upon that poi1
there is first-hand Information.
the course Of the discussion whic,
took place at the meeting OF til
president and the senate commttte
on foreign relations, raised It'd
question by stating a Hypothetical
case precisely analogous to ths
which I have depicted, and then i'd
quired whether we might not right
fully be regarded as perfidious ped
Pile If we should fail to contribute q
armed force, If called upon to do q
The president first replied. az
thought somewhat evAsively, til
we would be our own Judges as
whether we were obliged In tho
circumstances to act IN that way
not" Pressed further, however,
response to a query incorporate
the assumption that "the case On
vided for the prescribed had aEse
and that "the extraneous attack
exist precisely as it does exist too
in Poland" the president admit
specifically that I'VE would be unit
if we did not keep our word"
A Debt Of Honor.
Replying further to quest
which perhaps ought not to h.
considered necessary, the presid
pronounced a moral obligation q
course, superior to legal obligation
and Of "a greater binding force"
What then becomes of the argi
ment that congress, not the preside
in this instance at any rate, mi
keep us out of WARP" TechnicalIy.
course, it could do so. Morally, "
equal certainty, it could not do so
would it ever do SO. The Amerid
people would never permit a repud
ton Of a debt of honor No congrl
would ever dare make this nation q
pear as welcher, as it would appe
and would be in such an event
fore the eyes of the world.
Am l not right, my countrymen
saying that we needed only the
break of war between Poland
Russia to make us realize at ID
Cae of the things which, in the wc