The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-10
|COX'S LEAGUE VIEW ! IS ACCEPTED WITH
 MIXED FEELINGS
Gilbert Says Some of the Party Leaders Think He Did Not Make Most of
 Opportunity
px CLINTON w. GupERT

By CLINION W. HILBERT
 Dayton. O., August 9.-(SpeciaID
 Most of the democratic leaders who
 came here for the modification of
 Governor Cox went home yesterday
 unhappy in their minds. The men
 whc nominated Cox think that the
 worst load Cox has to carry is
 Wilson and COX has taken up the
 Wilson burden. He is for President
 Wilson's league with interprcta-
 tions. He thinks Interpretations
 nre necessary.
 The President thought they were not necessary. but agreed 60 accept them, That is the only difference between the two men.
 The out~and-nlt Wilson men in the party are pleased. Nobody else is. Some of the governor friends say that he could have done nothing else but take the league issue as Wilson hand ed it to him. Others say that he could and should have taken an independent. position on the league which would either have eimlnated it as an issue or at least have strengthened the party tefore the country
 DID NOT CONSULT LEADERS
 The governor seems not to have con- suited with the party leaders whJ brought about his nomination at San Francisco. National Chairman Whites mistake at Washington in declaring that the league vas not to be the is- sue and tfe r;ompt repudation of hts statement here are recalled as indi- eating low little the governor has sought advise or taken his own po- litical friends into counsel regarding the league in writing his speech of acceptance.
 MISSED OPPORTUNITY
 In the opinion of many of his friends the governor missed political oppor- tunity in not declaring himself ready to go so far as to accept the Lodge res ervations for the purpose of getting the league started. He might! they as- sert have expressed a preference for purely interpretative reservations but said of himself as he said of the dem ocratic senators who voted for the Lodge reservations, that under pressure of political necessity it was justifiable to accept them in order to set the ieague promptly in motion.
 1t Is pointed out that the gover-
 nor hns left the way open for him
 sciA AtAiA tO OO tnIS m buDbequenI
 speeches. But those who know
 him best do not expect him to do
 1t. They think he will cling to the
 reservations he suggested himself
 in his speech and attempt to re-
 educate the country to desire the
 league.
 The political advantage of accepting the Lodge reservations, even grudg- ingly, as the best compromise likely to be obtained, some of the governor s friends believe would have been err roneous. In the first place, the Lodge reservations have been told to the country. People had made up their minds that the best practical way out of the dispute was to agree upon these reservations. They would require no defense or explanations if they raise no new technicalities.
 And in the second place. indication of a willingness to accept the Lodge reservations would have been embar- rassing to the republican party. Either the republicans would have had to re- pudiate the position taken by a ma jority of the republican senators, in-
 tContinued on Page SixteeD