Norwich bulletin., 1920-10-21
JOHNSON CONTENDS ISSUE
 IS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

uobokan. N. J. Oct 2O-Senator Harding. republican presidential nominee stands for outright rejection of the league of nations and there is nothing amhlgu- ous or uncertain in his declaration ol at- titude. Senator Hiram Johnson. of CalItor mia. league trreconcilable," declared IT. an address here tonight.
 For reasons of their own" Senator Johnson said, certain interested indivld- uals and newspapers may mlsrepresent and misinterpret his words. l resent these irnputations upon the sincerity Of the utterances of the candidate and the manifest endeavor in some quarters to distort his plain language.
 From those who believe as l do he Is entitled to not only the warmest com mendation, but the strongest advocacy and most enthusiastic support The issue today is the league of nations as present ed by President Wilson, which Cox says he will take this country into, and which Harding says he won't.
 ''The men and newspapers who pretend to be friends of Senator Harding and who assert that he is to take this country into the league of nations do him a distinct dis-service and pay him a sorry compli- 1nent I sneak, of course. solely from the public utterances of our candidate. and these utterances make plain beyond caVil that when Senator Harding is president he will not take the United States into the league.
 He characterizes the league as a mill tary alliance which menaces peace and threatens all freedom He called it the supreem blunder and asserted that he would leave America free, independent and self-reliant but offering friendship to all the world. He instanced the war be- tween Poland and Russia as indicating what we would have been let in for, in the language of Secretary of State Lan- sing. but for the action of the senate, and this Polish Russian war, he said, brought home to us the danger of committing our selves in advance to causes that We knew not of
 Again he referred to America as a member of the league as one in a pitifu minority among many states in merged world government and included himself among those who had opposed what we sincerely regarded as 8 betrayal of ouI own country in the interest of others He deprecated his vote for reservations ano said that conditions had now changed Experience had brought enlightenment
 q am unable to understand the intel IectuaI processes which can msinterpre or misconstrue these words, and I do no appreciate the friendship of individual. who in the teeth of declarations describ ing the league as a military alliance nenacng peace and threatening all free dom the supreme blunder, obviously i'm potent. resting upon the power of might not of right will still insist that tn, words are meaningless and that Senato Itarding intends something else than h, says.
 ITO make doubly plain his meaning h said I am opposed to the very though of our republic becoming a party to st great an outrage upon other people wh, have as good a right ct seek their free dom as we had in 177G and the sam right 10 develop eminerce under the in spratlon of nationality as we had fo ourselves"
 Joining a league with countries tha owe the United States ten billion dollar is like a merchant placing himself in th hands of his debtors, Senator Johnson said.