Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-24
HARDING BOWS To
HIRAM JOHNSQNON
LEAGUE Of NATIONS
Acceptance Speech of Re-
publican Nominee Comes
as Surprise-Es Featured
by Tone of Dignity
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

BY DAVID LAWRENCE
| Copyright, 1920, for The Atlanta Journal.)
MARION, Ohio, July Ex-senator
| Warren G. Harding has surrendered
! to Senator Hiram Johnson, and is
! in favor of scrapping the treaty Of
peace which contains the present
League of Nations. Mr.. Harding pro-
poses. If elected, to make a sepa-
rate peace by congressional resolu-
ton, and to ask the nations of the
world to create p different League
of Nations from that proposed by Mr..
Wilson.
Senator Johnson had threatened to
bolt the Republican nominee if he did
not accept the Interpretation of the
Republican platform which the Cali
fornia senator had enunciated. I'm
less Hiram Johnson reveals himself
merely as a poor loser, there is moth
ing in the Harding speech of accept
ance as it relates to the league issue
to which he can take objection.
Unquestionbly Senator Harding
doesn't believe the league, which is
now in existence in Europe, has much
of hold on the American voter and
takes his place, therefore, alongside
Hiram Johnson, who has managed in
the east, at any rate, to rouse a con-
siderable following for his views.
Speech Surprise
But the speech of Mr.. Harding
comes as a surprise to those who
had expected that the presence Of
Elihu Root in Europe and the record
of the Ohio senator in voting for the
treaty of Versailles with reservations
would commit him to an endeavor
at least to fashion something out of
the present international structure.
But Mr.. Harding rejects it absolute
ly and calls for "a new association"
Of nations.
Irrespective of how many reserva-
lions, interpretative or otherwise,
may be proposed by Governor Cox,
the. Democratic platform commits
him to the present League of Ma
tons and the ratification of the treaty
of Versailles.
To the extent that President viii.
son sought a clear-cuti issue on the
league, his wish has been gratifed,
for Senator Harding throws over
board the treaty of Versailles and
calls for new peace agreement with
the nations of Europe. Naturally the
Democrats will say this means a new
peace conference and more inter-
national negotiations and confusion
and delay
Appeals to Farmer Vote
But the whole tenor of the Harding
speech of acceptance indicates that
he believes the Johnsonian view of
the league is more popular than any
other. He unhesitatingly subscribes
to it. AS for the remainder of the
speech, the Ohio senator has written
an eloquent grafton, with solemn
warning to the ever-increasing de-
mand of labor for more wages, which.
ne says, cannot be needed unless ac-
companled by efficient services in re-
turn. The Ohio senator goes into detail
sklllfully. on the subject of farmers
cooperative organizations, thereby
appealing to the agriculture vote. He
goes back to the old Panama canal
toiI nght OF 1913 and practically re-
verses the position taken by Sena-
tors Lodge and Root at the time.
who claimed that for American ships
to be immune from the payment of
Tolls was a discrimination against
British ships and violation Of the
Hay-Pauncefote treaty between the
United States and Great Britain
However, the Irish voters opposed
the repeal of the Panama Canal tolls
act and the presumption is that they
still feel indignant about it.
Throughout the Harding speech
there is,a tone of dignity and conserv-
tism. Not a word of denunciation
or President Wilson by name occurs
In the speech. There are only i'm
pl1c1t references to one-man govern
ment and autocratic rule.
Town Crowded
Inc OHIO senator gave in his adj
dress an impression of earnestness
and conscientious desire to do the
best he could if elected to the presi-
dency; His phrase, mo man is big
enough to run this great republic"
has its curious counterpart in Wood
row Wilson's speech of acceptance lin
1912, when, in refer ring to the Roose-
velt desire for a third term, the then
Democratic nominee said, "There is
no indispensable man."
Aside from a belief in the protec-
tive tariff, efficiency in government
bureaus, a general proposal about
more equitable taxes, a less belligerent
statement full of hope and toptimism
about our relations with Mexico,
which carries in it no threat of VIC
lence, the speech of acceptance in
PRODUCES new suggestion that is
bound to make a popular appeal when
the stump speakers get hold of it
namely, requiring the government to
make its Liberty and Victory bonds
worth all that it's citizens paid in
purchasing them. Of course, bonds
ultimately will be redeemed at par,
but the Republican nominee hints at
new fiscal policy that he hopes will
raise the price of bonds.
Thousands upon thousands of WIS.,
itors crowded this little town to hear
Senator Harding speak. The whole
thing seemed more like an old-faSh-
Toned political rally in state or
county than a national affair. 1t was
gathering principally of plain folks
in which the visiting politicians from
the urban centerS seemed conspicu-
Gus minority. Senator Harding is in
the old Mckinley atmosphere and to-
days ceremony breathed the spirit of
the old days of Republicanism in