New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-23
The Harding Acceptance

sence Of a spirit of omniscience. He
does not present himself as possessed
of all knowledge. Fundamentally a
democrat, while President Wilson is
not, he is modestly willing to be
merely part of great cooperating
machine.
We have before us a champion of
diffused representative government
as distinguished from one which is
personal and tends to be dictatorial
and autocratic. No reasonless faith
is this. AS Senator Harding re-
marks: "Republics haze risen and
fallen, and transition from party
to personal government has pre-
coded every failure since the world
began"
A pregnant saying is this, packed
with wisdom. From Athens to Rome,
from Medicean Florence to modern
Mexico and the despotisms of Latin
America, whenever allegiance has
been to a man, whenever one is the
sole policy maker, subtle retro
gression has come. The sometime
tedious checks and balances of our
constitutional system show how
wildly the fathers grasped this
great truth.
Government, according to the men
of 1887, was By the people. The
blessings Of distribution of power
were thought to outweigh it's admitted
Inconvenience. The contrary is the
assumption of pestilent theorists of
the hour who cry for master be-
cause too slothful or impatient to
have minds of their own. Those
who ask for what is called a Presi-
dent of the proletariat are the intel
lectual descendants of the foolish
ones of Israel who clamored to Sam
uel for king, though duly warned
of what king would do to them.
If Mr.. Harding stood for no more
than a determination to turn away
from one-manism, if his only issue
were a protest against an effort to
wreck system of divided power, he
would richly deserve success. No
reasonable person questions the d.
rection of the course of President
Wilson, to which his party is COM
mitted. Both as a bookwriter
and a politician he has sapped and
mined to make the President not a
first magistrate, responsive to laws
made by others, but ruler both
making and enforcing the law.
The President recognizes no re-
sponsibility except to his own judg-
ment, for to pretend to a RESPONSE
bility to the people while denying
to them opportunity of expression
in an organized way is to have no
responsibility at all. The best part
Of the Harding speech, wherein it
rises to the level of craftsmanship.
is its clear statement of what it
means when Congress is ignored
when Cabinet is composed of dunn
mics, when the public is consulted
after decisions are reached, and no,
before. The temper of the times is
not friendly to a discussion of
fundamentals. Principles are rated
as tiresome; nevertheless, the mani
fest desire Of Senator Harding tc
emphasize them is much to his credit
and will strengthen him In the es,
TEEN Of the country.
Mr.. Harding is saturated with the
spirit Of the Middle West. In the
East, from a variety of causes, a
drift toward boss-ship has occurred.
A general director or superintend-
ent Is selected, and he, or small
committee working with him, is the
party. The political atmosphere
which has enveloped Senator Hard
ing is less atrophying to active
individual participation in politics.
As such it represents, it would seem,
, sounder American tradition. This