The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1920-06-10
2 SC
| DC
THE THIRD STAGE.

! THE THlRD SIAGE.
What the republican leaders neei
more to be on their guard agains
than anything else is the swing for
ward that always comes in the thlrC
stage Of the agitation.
: The first stage is the stage of easy
and universal acceptance, the seconc
stage the stage hurried and al
but universal disapproyal, the thirC
stage, if the movement has vitality, is
the stage of reasoned support, 1t is
the last stage we are now entering
in the debate over the league OF
: nations, and the republican leader
who has been too much influenced
by the apparent unanimity OF disap.
prevail in the second stage is not
i wise.
| Probably nothing was ever hailed
by the people with more enthusiasm
than the proposal to organize the
world against Nv var ar, When the pro ao
force peace was submitted to the
! business men by the National
Chamber of Commerce So per cent
of them voted in the affirmative. The
i presidents fourteen points were sc
popularity received that not even his
bitterest enemies had the courage to
challenge them. Up until and for
some time after the armistice was
signed nobody in America spoke
The second stage was entered
when the president decided himself
! to go to Paris. The assault was not
made on the program he carried, but
personally on him. Even to the last
a lot of senators protested to be for
the league. Only Johnson and Borah
and Reed had the courage to make
the assault direct. The impending
Pq nla al ea%pahgn sayrb he b po was
thrown out that to beat Wilson We
must beat the league. Even at that
it did not set we'll with many to have
our late allies pictured as hungry
bankrupts, seeking, like some great
octopus, to get their tentacles hook
ed about us. But the reaction was
on, and the reactionaries had the
floor.
But the swing back has come.
last votes in congress showed the
stiffening of the presidents lines.
The feeling everywhere that his
policies will dominate the demo-
cratic convention is another straw.
The people never until now really
believed the purpose to be to beat
the league, they thought it was
mainly strategic move to beat Will
son. Now they see that the league
ask why. and to come back to their
first enthusiasm. The president is
not going to run again, he is out of
it. Why then pursue the fight
against the league any further, why
not accept it? That is in general
the plainly discernible trend.
Does anybody believe the presi-
dent could have vetoed the peace
resolution of congress, as he did,
fective protest, if in fact the people
were not turning again to their
original program? The peace res
olution was intended to put an end
once for all to the league. Why
was it so shamefacedly passed, and
why was it allowed to die without
funeral or a mOurner? The answer
carries it's own logic for those who
are shaping the party policy at
Chicago.
There has never been deep down
a real doubt in the minds of the
people that the republicans would
put America into the league. All
they have seen in the byplay thus
far was to sidetrack the president
and keep him from being third
term president. That once disposed
of, the way was clear for doing what
we had intended to do all the while.
Just now there is an uneasy con-
seriousness that perhaps that is not
the program. The people are sit
ting up and taking notice. They
have no more intention now of being
left isolated in a warning world,
every nation for itself. than they had
back in 1916 when they voted 80
unanimously for world organization.
This uneasy consciousness that per-
haps the leaders have gone too far
is already stirring things.
be made at San Francisco. But,
granting candidate who personalities
the issue, and platform affirming
the presidents proposal to Europe:
does ANYBODY doubt the swing of
sentime emit, if at Chicago the rybubli-
cans in candidate or in platform, or
in both, hold themselves in the second
stage of the debate It is just as
inevitable as the rising of the sun
on election morning that the the s SWING ing
reason that the original proposal OF
league was in keeping with the
American spirit and the American
world purpose. An isolated, armed
America can no more stand the test
of campaign debate than any of the
other reactionary proposals that
from time to time have been submit
ted to popular vote and consigned to
the limbo of dead issues.
It is going to require the over
turning of the powerful Johnson
faction at Chicago, and the sacrifice
of some personal pride on the part
of some of the leaders, but unless
it is done the swing may not bA
strong enough to dominate the cleo
ton, even if the democrats are wise
enough to put their best foot for
ward, but the swing will be the other
way, and nobody knows how, far the
swing will go once it is started. and
everybody knows how fatal it is to
win narrow victory against the
republican party never needed leader-
ship as it needs It today.-Dss MONIES
Register.