Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-18
AS SAGE OF PENNSYLVANIA,
MR.. PENROSE WILL NOT DO
Farther. Sighted Men VIII Have to
Speak for This State In
the campaIon


inertia Of Pennsylvania on the heat
If you are thereby comforted But
truth seems to reside in the first asser
ton. In no other year was 10 presi'
Dental campaign so yitally important.
In no other year did the people seem
reader to leave II to the professionals.
Those who ordinarily are supposed to
guide and inspire public opinion-school
men. college men. ministers and men
of affairs-arc afar in these momentous
days gathering tan. taking their ease
with Amaryllis in the shade, doing
their bit toward the reduction of the
gasoline supply. But politicians who
matter aren't on vacations. They are
with us to stay. Mr.. Penrose himself
/, talking of taking the stump.
That bit Of news. stirring as it Is,
will start no wild applause In these
columns. The stole senator, saying
over and over again that we have moth :
ing 10 worry about but the high cost OF
! living, has reverted automatically to
the methods of the old school leaders
who seek to win votes rather than to
enlighten their hearers.
It is for that reason that we should
grieve to see him going about and pre-
scnting himself without competition as
the one authoritative voice Of Pennsyl-
vania in the rising debate of the ma
tional campaign.
There are issues more important than
the high cost of living; unsettled issues.
on which. as a matter of fact, costs OF
living inevitably depend.
There is war. for instance.
| There is the matter of American in
tcrnational trade, which will suffer
enormously if our interests are not
properly guarded in the remaking Of
| Europe.
There is the Fall report in the Sem
ate. which Is still living thing and a
continuing threat Of war with Mexico
and the alienation of all Latin America.
These are some of the things that
should be discussed from the viewpoint
of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians
between now and election day.
n survey OI lllt Slll'NlN pul N''"'' ~
isn't uplifting.
Editors in both camps are either bad
tempered or dumb. Like n good many
political leaders. they are in state OF
complete unprcparedness. They were
not braced to meet the dangerous COM
plcXities that emerge in an unending
series out of the European confusion
and challenge the rational attention of
the United States. And they cannot
be too greatly blamed for that.
Astonishing overnight changes in the
tactics of foreign governments, plainly
! indicative of great, mysterious conflicts
below the surface of Old World poll
! tics. cannot be explained and measured
| in stump epigram or an editorial
paragraph. But they may be viewed
! frankly and honestly assessed and scru-
tinized as they develop.
! Mr.. PpnroSe is not the man to do that
sort of thing. He has closed his mind
and locked the door. He is opposed to
the League of Nations-or let us say,
to make it palmer, he is opposed to plans
by which foreign countries now drifting
to new disasters certain to affect us
directly or indirectly might be checked
by the force of world opinion or pacitied
with the assurance Of simple justice
peacefully rendered. The senator, In
thinking Of votes rather than Of issues.
! is doing what ordinarily is expected OF
him. But one may wonder whether he
really knows what is in the minds of
! Republicans in this state and whether
be can understand the drift Of their
homes and the nature of their desires.
Republicans paid war taxes. They
are still bending under the burden. They
sent their sons to war and they endured
Iightless nights and workless days and
days of anxiety and even sorrow. Are
we to suppose that they ache 10 have
all these Affections renewed in greater
measure?
1t must appear to any rational OBJ
server that election will be easy for Mr..
Harding without a harrage of mislead-
ing phrases intended to confuse pop
ular opinion at a time when. above all
others, popular opinion needs to be
progressive and enlightened.
Mr.. Harding. unlike Mr.. Cox, has
shown a disposition to study the march
OF changing events in Europe and to
fiji his judgments with the facts as they
are revealed. He probably realizes in
all sincerity that what might be good
policv for the United States today
might. because Of some enormous shift
Of events related to the present crisis
be bad policy tomorrow.
This certainly Is not time for rigid
formulas. 1t will be time enough for O
formula and time enough for the defini
ton of a foreign policy when we are
able 10 measure anew the forces with
which We shall have to deal. But the
new foreign policy Of the United State.
Is and will and ought to be the most
important concern Of parties and candi
dates. Most of what we hope for may
depend upon it, even though there are
still many people who regard any for
pign policy as superhuous luxury o.
government in America.
Mr.. Harding and his friends ar,
aware Of this. But meanwhile the,
ought to know what Pennsylvania ant
pennsylvanans think and feel. Th,
state should be more than a spectator a
so great an event as a presidential elec
ton.
Unless our democracy is dismal pre-
: tense politics should not be the exclu
sive affair OF party leaders. Nor shOult
: it be for those who like to parade them