Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-14
"BEST MINDS " HAVE
DAY OFF At MARION
Gov. Sproui and w w Atterbury
Wire They Are Unable TO be
There Today.
~ A..ocIa,ed rress q Z very Evening

BY Associated Press 70 Every Evening
Marion. Ohio, Dec ~ Governor
William c. Sproul Of PeansylvanIa. who
was TO be one of President-elect Harding
canferees TODAY. wired that he would ~
unable 20 come 70 Marion TODAY lie
was detained. he SAID, hy executive mat
ters 4 later date viii be arranged
" W Atterbury, Nlce-Presldent ot the
Pennsylvania Railroad. Who was to come
with Governor Sproul, also sent word 81 MS
inability 70 come today
MIR. Harding spent q comparatively
quiet day engaging only N short confer
ences.
Marion. Ohio. Dec l3 If the League
of Nations j. to be rejected absolutely
by the United States. as the peopie
seem 70 have demanded on Novem-
ber ,. what IS 70 tax rs place. ha'
kind Of " rid association 10 reyent
or discourage war viii Senator Hard
ing sponsor vi en- he becomes PrssI-
d. mt an essays 70 ful ! his campaign
j pledge 10 work for some kind Ct u orld
! association that will leave the future Of
i America unmortgaged3
\ strong hint of the II end OF the
president-elect's mind was obtained
last night when it was discovered that
he has been spending the greater par1
of his time in the last ew days dis
/ cussing a proposal submitted to hin
by Col. Geor.e Harvey, "a proposal
Col Harvey informed the press, which
dwarfs all previous propositions de
signed to perpetuate peace and to democ-
rattle the world.
THIS proposal Is reminiscent OF a plan
TO which " J. BRYAN has devoted Years
i =. l. oIu+oD1r,fafas rafavap-
dunn against offensive warfare by nations
entering into great new world bond. II
seems 10 mean that the PTesident-eiect Is
considering seriously the very proposa
which once was held 10 be corner
stone OF radical faith that warfare, Of
fensive warfare especially. Is steF
which never should be taken by any ma
ton until the people themselves have
voted aye.
The news Of this discussion concerning
ore of the most interesting and possibly
important of the many ideas that have
bubbled out of the Marion caldron Wa
not revealed until after Senator Harding
had finished long conference Will
FHhu Root. The talk with MIR. Root
lasted three hours and had to do largely
with Mr.. Roots plan for n world court
which could furction with or without
the League Of Nations Presumably the
fate of the League Of Nations itself was
not iguored in the conversation IN Sen
ator Hardings 5 office from until i TIN,
morning. Each, however saw fit L
ignore this part Of their conference. Mr.
Root in a leisurely talk with the news
naper men spoke only Of the explanation
and argument he had made on behalf q
the plan for a world court He had tbs
bearing Of man who was satisfied viii
the outcome Of conference
Col. Harvey was very careful to POM
out that he had no authority to speal
for the, President elect and the Presi
dent-elect did not care to say any
thing for publication. Nevertheless tbs
fact stands that the plan has very ear
nest consideration Moreover, William J
BRYAN, who long has favored an inter
national association not dissimilar to tn,
kind under consideration here has beef
invited TO confer with the President-elec
next Friday. The news last night make
Mr. Bryan's appearance here especial,
significant.