The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-07-23

eminent to develop any leadership
within themselves.
Not only have the Republicans in
the house and senate failed to develop
the kind of leadership which would
give them command and discipline,
but in the lack of that development
the thing that has happened or at least
threatened to happen, has been dis
Indignation of the party in the house
and senate hardly equalled in our his
tory.
Instead of individual leadership and
party discipline, we have seen mark
ed tendency of the unled members of
the house and senate to split into little
groups and bloc" So obvious has
this tendency been that if Harding
should now continue in his reluctance
to accept the leadership in the legis-
lative branch of the government, we
would be certain to see in the house
and senate chaos of these little
groups, pulling and hauling according
| to sectional interest, or industrial in
terest or ex-soldier interest or what
| not.
Leadership is thrust upon Harding,
and his responsibility as head of the
Republican party will compel him to
accept it. For that matter, his re-
sponsibility to the country as whole
| less he supplies the needed leadership
| little is to be expected from congress
except delay and inaction.
Harding Grows Popular.
! Leadership is usually an informal
1 I'D :o1 t. -,
| who happen to have the personality to
live up to it, and it is conferred more
or less by the informal verdict of a
| kind of loose public opinion. In the
atmosphere of Washington there is
nothing more obvious than the steady
growth of President Harding in public
favor.
| Washington has seen his judgments
and his actions turn out well. not
merely in big things but in small and
unexpected ways. For example, among
President Hardings appointments
there were one or two important ones
and several small ones as to which
| Washington tended to smile indulgent
ly when they were made. At the time
the general thought of Washington
was that these were purely personal
appointments and that the President
was entitled to make them chiefly as
| largess.
But the unexpected development
highly favorable to Harding. has beer
that these appointees in their various
offices have turned out to be con
spicuous successes. At the end o.
four months neither Harding nor these
lappointees need to ask any indulgence
They stand solidly on their own fee
with proved records of achievements
Two appointments of entirely differ
ent kind which have contributed great
lv to Harding's success are those o.
Hughes and Hoover. The politicians
do not want either of these men il
the cabinet The Republican member.
of the senate committee on foreign
relations, who had the ambition t
share equally with the executive il
the management of our foreign affairs
were practically a unit in wanting
some other man as Secretary of State
+ Were Opposed to Hughes
They had other candidates definitel.
in mind, and they felt it was almos
their right to demand that Harding
should at least appoint a secretary o
state who had shared and been sym
pathetic with the senate in the Ion,
contest over the treaty of Versailles.
To most of the Republican senator
Harding's selection of Hughes is
surprise so great that it could be callet
without exaggeration or a shock. A
it has turned out, this appointment