The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-14
MASTER MINDS NOW WISH HARDING HAD REMAINED AT HOME
Claim That Numerous Bad "Breaks" Would Not Have Occurred if Had CIunu
 to Front Porch
By HITCH w. ROBERTS
 Washington Bureau The Age Hera

500 Davidson BIildirg
 Washington. October l3.--tSpecial) )-The
 master mind" of the republican organ ization which directs Senator Harding in bis movements as the operator with nim- ole fingers causes Punch and Judy to perform, has about concluded to abandon that programme which would have sent the candidate on tour of the east Whi.e 1t is true that Harding, in the west and south, made good the recognized fact that a presidential aspirant is an Al drawing card and while his utterances slicited the warm applause of partisans, there is no question but that the party's manipulators realize that mistakes have been made which, had the candidate re- nained on his front porch, would not have been made.
 The leaders Of the republican party are not the Borah and Johnsons who would scrap the league, or the Tafts and Wickershams who would make it a thing of life. The leaders are the Lodges and Penroses, who would have HarIn khe non-comnittal, the vacillating, the eeuivocating the pulseless creature which naturally he is and has been The mas ter minds," therefore, think 1t was en- tirely unnecessary for Senator Harding in Des Moines last week to express senti- nents so closely approximating an from hand decision as to give democrats a terabe excuse of claiming that the can, didate. after weeks of ''wobbling," had ,een forced by Borah into an uncompro- missing position against the League of Nations or any league.
 HIS TALK UNSAFE"
 Senators Lodge and Penrose, in their direction of the campaign, look with alarm on the different interpretations of Harding's anti-league statements as au- shorized by Senator BUrah and ex-Presi- dent Taft No sooner had Harding de- livered his Des Moines speech, than Bcrah and Johnson, perceiving wind ca- tion of their own iconoclastic procedure, exclaimed Our views are his views" And ex-President Taft. on his arrival at Victoria, with a bland smile, an ap- parently forgiving certainly a most toi- erant smile, said softly +'Why, Hardin despite that speech. is for League of Nations His election would mean the entry of the United States into the 1es, ,gue."
 The falling apart of the republican party following the Harding assertion, tne de- sertion of the pirate ship on the part of those republicans who thought Hard- ing sincere in his former allegiance to the league idea with the indication that following a session of the League to En- force Peace this week in New York there will be other and perhaps more notable Assertions, is viewed hv Lndee and Pen rose with illy-concealed alarm, and eaken by them to mean that their candi- date cannot be trusted more than twelve inches from the steps Of his veranda.
 THE RACE PROBLEM
 There are other causes which suggest 10 the strategists the wisdom of aban- dcning the contemplated tour of the east. It is recalled, in the first place, that luestioner in Baltimore, the first of the month, by the simple process of inter- roeating in most polite fashion. drove Harding frantic, and resulted in an arrest and near scandal Tn the second place Harding in Oklahoma became involved in ! he mire of the race question. with the result that in the s7uth he has alienate sclne men who still abhor social equal sty and In the west and east has chilled the enthusiasm of that negro support which was thought strong enough to put hin, in the White House
 In Oklahoma, a newspaper asked Sen ator Harding the direct question: no you favor separate railroad cars schools and other accomm rotations for the white and back racesa" After equivocating sufficient lensth of time to quote the con- et;tution and other high authorities, the
 
 necessary that the two races enjoy their rights together. and that he would not endeavor to solve the problem of the south for southerners. While this answer was sufficient to placate the fears of the intelligent, the fact that he did not specifically state that he favored separate accommodation for the two races. was taken as an indication by cer- tain southern republicans that he sought to dodge.
 And the glittering generalities with which he answered a simple and specific question were construed by the vicious Element of northern negroes which is determined before the end of time to as- sociate with white men, as desire on ehe part of the speaker to conceal his nat ufai repugnance to intimacy between the whites and blacks. The result has been an appreciable subsiding in the en- thusasm of nerro republicans.
 EARLIER SHOWS UP"
 And Senator Harding walked Into ar- other Questionable avenue in endeav- bring. without giving offense. to make