Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-27
DESPERATION FORCES cox
TO JETTlSoN WILSON'S LEAGUE
His Promise to Compromise Removes II
as Factor, Leaving Democratic
Failure at Washington as Real
Issue Next Tuesday

II
~ must have been dumfounded when they
read his Huntington speech in the news
papers yesterday.
Their candidate abandoned the chief issue
on which he has been making his fight.
turned his back on the Democratic Presi
dent and went over body and breeches to
the Republican position.
He not only abandoned the President. but
he left the Wilson Article y Republicans
who have announced that they would vote
for him without any justification for their
course.
And he did this less than thirty six hours
before the President was to assure these
Wilson league Republicans that there was
a vital difference between the two parties
on the issue.
II Mr.. Wilson repudiates Mr.. Cox today
as completely as Mr.. Cox has repudiated
him it will surprise no one. Mr.. Cox has
been ignoring the President ever since he
made a formal call on him after the San
Francisco convention. lie has announced.
Il am running for the presidency, and not
Mr.. wilson There is apparently as much
lack Of sympathy between Mr. Cox and Mr..
Wilson as there was between Mr.. Bryan and
Mr.. Cleveland in 1896. The party is de-
moralized. with its leaders pulling in diff
ferent directions. And it's candidate has
been continually shifting position in the
hope that he could find some plea with
which to make telling appeal for support.
He must be in desperate mood or he would
not have made his Huntington speech
We have said he has come over TO the
Republican position. Now. let us look a
moment at what that position is as set forth
by Mr.. Harding. In a formal statement
given out in Marion on October IL Mr..
Harding said, II am unalterably opposed to
going into the League of Nations as that
particular proposition nor stands" He also
said: II nm in favor of a world associa
tion--call it what you will, the name Is Of
slight consequence-that will discourage or
tend to prevent war and that will encourage
or tend to encourage a better understanding
among the nations of the earth" As to his
| plan for modifying our entrance into the
league or association las that particular
proposition now stands" he announced that
he would 'call into conference with me the
best minds the clcarest minds that America
affords
Mr.. Harding has amplifed these state
ments and put them in n different form on
other occasions. but nothing that he has said
justifes any one in assuming that he is not
in favor of the entrance Of the United States
IulO u Pusle Vi ndllOuS on COuulLlOHS bullS-
| factory to majority of the American peo-
| pie. In fact. he has persistently announced
! his belief in world association for peace,
and he has been persistently opposed to the
| league covenant las that proposition now
stands. The form of words he has used
| has been prescribed by the cxigencies of the
campaign in which he is fighting the party
which entered the contest definitely COM
mittcd to the proposition as it now stands.
He voted for the Lodge reservations twice
along with an overwhelming majority of his
Republican colleagues and in association
! with almost half of the Democratic senator's
These Republicans and Democrats were and
are opposed to the proposition in its present
form.
Mr.. Cox seems to have made beated
discovery Of the sentiment of the nation. and
in the last week il making n desperate at
tempt to put himself in line with il. He
said in Huntington. II am willing to accept
any reservations that are helpful and that
clarity" In order TO discover what reser-
vations were 'hepful.' that is, what res
ervatiOns were necessary in order to secure
the ratification OF the agreement he said :
II will sit down with the Senate and reach
an agreement about our going into this
league If too much has to be
gwen III compromise now III OTutT 10 insure
our entrance into the league, the people
themselves will have an opportunity to
modify and correct later. 1t cannot be a
matter of the exercise OF merely the eIecu-
tive will.
The position Of the two candidates is
briefly this:
Mr.. Harding is opposed to the league in
its present form and will consult the best
minds in the country in order to discover
how that form must be modified
Mr. Cox is in favor of the league, but
knows that it will be impossible for the
United States TO enter it unless some modi-
fcations are made in it, and he will consult
with the Senate to discover what modifca.
tions are necessary.
One OF them is definitely committed to
tweedledum.
The other takes his stand without equivo-
cation on tweedledee.
Now that Mr.. Cox has at one stroke swept
the League Of Nations issue out OF those
which are seriously contested what remains +?
There remains what has been the pre-
dominant issue from the beginning, namely
the failure Of the Democratic party. Mr.
Hoover compressed it all into less than fifty
words when he said a few days ago: ITO
have Obstinately held up the peace Of the
world for eighteen months to have rejected
the opportunity of amicabe adjustment of
differences so as to meet those; 10 have
projected the issue into presidential cleo
ton, is the greatest failure of American
statesmanship since the Civil War"
Mr. Cox is asking the country to give his
party another trial on the promise that it
will do better next time. That is all he has
to offer. And in offering 1t he is slappins
in the face the President who has been ac.
claimed as the greatest Democrat since
Jefferson. But Mr.. Cox is saying by i'm
nlication that insistence on the will of the