Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-23
AMERICA
spirit AT MARION
Nation That Was Is Reborn at
Harding Notification
Ceremonies
BRINGS BACK DAY OF 1896
BY CLINTON W. GILBERT
voAR Ccrrespondent Of tho Evening Public
I.F Ledger

Marion, o., July 23.--warrcn Gam
aiiel Harding-one uses the middle
name because IL is part Of the picture
was formally notified yesterday of his
nomination to the presidency with the
perfect background Of his own home
town, with his neighbors taking part
In the show as they would in old home
week or in farmers picnic.
What you saw all about him was
America--America as it was. some
would say, and the maste. OF the cere-
monies gave little touch Of nrc!aicsm'
with the marching clubs wearing white
high hats, or the perspiring paraders
from Canton clad. as in 1906. in black
silk hats and the long tailed coats
affected by undertakers and occasionally
known as Prince Alberts.
But It was America AZ 1t Is. leaving
out the 1906 stuff, for Lawrence,
Kan. Cedar Rapids, Ia. Logansport,
Ind, and q thousand other small towns
and cities are exactly like Marion.
1t is an America of well kept lawns,
ehady streets. prosperous, respectable
almost untouched by modern Industrial
Ism, with no congestcd population,
where the struggle between men is not
bitter, where life is simple. and from
the point of view of New York. Chicago
or Philadelphia, a little Arcadian, but
an America well worth deserving.
Prospered Only Moderately
Mr.. Harding has his roots in Marion
He has lived there most of his life
only becoming a senator in recent years
He has prospcred there moderately. not
having the commercial ambitions of hi,
rival. who, starting with nothing, felt
the sharp stimulus of industrial Day
ton. and made himself very rich while
still a young man. He lives in a simple
house on a modest street. 1t is the
4 best residence street in Marion. but
I still Il Is a modest street. The houses
upon Il are frame houses. such as per-
sons Of moderate incomes would oc-
cupy. except here and there preten-
tio,is brick house built by some maker
1 Of steam shovcls or other prJSuct which
Marion has recently come to manufac-
ture.
The candidates house is frame
house of no particular architecture.
l euch ms YOU would find thousands of
IN the small cities of the country. You
70 along the best residence streets Of
lsfuch towns and you see house little
larger than the others with n rotunda
.Sst one end of the porch. You know
Dat once by this elaboration that it is
1.-THE residence of one of the leading Citi-
xzens. It is not big house: the Harding
.Shouse has ten rooms, but the rotunda
NAt the right end of the porch marks ii
ncut from the rest of the Eouses on Mt.
Avernon street, which have only straight
Dorches across the front.
y 1t is painted dark green trimmed with
swhite. Maple trees and one horse
Schestnut shade the lawn, which has
Nbeen covered two inches deep with road
sxiressing stone, to stand the wear and
gtear of the front porch campaign.
81 From the steps of this front porch,
1fr. Harding. all morning and until
The notification ceremonies in the aft
srnoon, greeted the marching clubs vino
hrrived.
~ Marching Clubs Come Early
N The Americus Club, of Pittsburgh
ycame early, wearing capes in spite of
Ethe heat. and high white hats, which
Kwere handed down from the Blaine cam.
apaign. The Canton Club, in the formal
frock coats and high hats of the Nc
SKinley days, the struggling Detroitcrs.
xwho come from an upStaTt town and
%don't know tue fine traditions of uni
Eform and marching preserved in Pitts
lburgh, Cincinnati. Canton and other
~places with memories going back to the
neighties.
N Mr.. Harding shook hands and ac-
Nknowledged cheers and applause till he
eswas tired, smiling and saying graciously
Rs.Glad to met you. boys When Mrs.
eHarding stood on the steps beside him,
he said, II am glad to have YOU boys
Zee the head of this household" in the
good old fashioned way. unconscious of
Show many times that compliment had
been paid. The boys replied, The next
FIRST lady OF the iand," Calling into the
sgood old Amcricanism about the presi
snent's wife.
It was an affair between ncighbors
sand the actual neighbors Of the candi'
ixiate stood about outside the ropes
(which were there merely to reserve the
Crushed stone covered lawn for the pa
lraders. The national committeeman
watching what happened proudly anC
aympathetically. were middle class peo
Sple, quite simply, almost rurally
Adrcssed.
D. Acceptance Speech in Harmony
y And the speech of acceptance deliv-
Ared in the afternoon at Garfield Park
was in perfect harmony with that back
aground. 1t was the speech of a man
swbo knows America in some of its
fkindliest, most lovablc aspects and who
wants to keep America what it was,
Awhat he knows it to be today and what
the people of Emporia, Kansas; Ca.
snapdaigua, y. Y. and a thousand other
towns like Marion know it to be-
NJ Mr.. Harding rejects anything which
would take US away from the America
which he knows and loves. the America
3of the past, one might say. when one
Regards the emphasis laid here today
An the Mckinley tradition, the march :
ing clubs, the archaic reguIa, the bar.
becue which Marion fed the multitudes.
but the America of the present, you
would say, when you saw Merton itself
and realized how typical Of much thar,
Ms best in this country touay this small
Eity 1t.
" The candidate wants the President