Evening star., 1921-02-27
BY \. o. MESSENGER.

TNWO courtly-appearing, silk
HATED gentlemen will bow to
each other next Friday, short
ly after noon, shake hands
with a smile, bid each other good
speed and go their ways-Woodrow
Wilson into the retirement of private
citizenship and Warren G. Harding
into the presidency of the United
States. This will mark the culmina-
ton of the peaceful revolution of No
vcmber last, in which a majority of
100000 votes swept the democrats
out of power and installed the re-
| publican party.
| 1t will be the simplest ceremony of
the kind witnessed in this country
ent generation. Not the roll of a
drum, fanfare of a bugle or the jingle
! of military accouterment accompanies
! the passing of the old and the incom-
| ing of the new.
K x x x
| Men in public life are disposed to
recognize the fitness of the simplest
hlHu OI IcIlOUS ana the dDStlCt VI
| ostentation and display as being in
keeping with the gravity of the
times. Not since Lincoln's day. it is
admitted. has an incoming admins
| tration faced such momentous prob
| lens, domestic and international;
| such profound disturbances and dislo-
| cations. world wide in area and all
reacting upon this coGntry.
| The new administration is con-
| fronting appalling perplexities. and is
! aware, at the same time, that more is
| expected of it than human probability
warrants fulfllment. Disappointment
| is bound to come and the administra-
ton recognizes the inevitability. All
that can be done will be to buckle
| down to the harassing problems, solve
as many of them as possible and let
the country judge.
!: x X !:
The most marked characteristic
which public men in Washington have
discovered in President-elect Harding
thus far, and from which they augur
happily for the future. is his disposi-
ton to consult the Judgment of others
conceived opinions or even his fiat
judgment. More than once he has
changed his own judgment, strongly
held, after consultation with others.
His training in the Senate induced
him to such course. He by expert
ence realized that all legislation is the
result of compromise; that no person.
ality nor even one faction in Congress
can have its own way all the time. He
saw the benefit of the application of
more minds than one to bills pending
in committee and on the floor. and he
frequently witnessed the spectacle of
stubborn men riding to a disastrous
fall until they yielded their own will
to the combined judgment of other
minds.
X x x X
But this does not mean that he is
vacilating, or lacking a proper re-
gard for his office. its responsibilities
as, well as powers. In his swan song
to the Senate, last December. he serv-
ed notice that while he would render
unto Caesar the things that are Cae-
sar's in dealing with the coordinate
branches of the government, he would
be alive and sensible to the rights and
duties of the executive. and as jealous
of infringement upon one as upon the
other.
x x x X
AT the outset of the new admins
tration there does not seem to be any
portent of factionalism in the repub-
lican ranks-that deadly bane of the
party in the previous ten years. To
obviate factionalism at the start was
one of Mr.. Harding's dearest ambi-
tions. He catered to it's accomplish
ment assiduously in recognizing all
factions in discussing public affairs,
net. 1t was inevitable that the elimi-
nation of candidates desiring or rec
commended for selection would leave
personal stings and disappointments,
but his closest friends here say that it
has not left party breaches That
fact is a big asset to the party, it is
recognized, and invaluable to the ad-
miniStration.
x * x X
In the selection of his cabinet the
PreSident-elect is recognized as hav-
ing effected happy blending of
recognition of personal and party