Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-06
THE HARD|NGS VISIT
DISABLED VETERANS
President Ends Vacation With
Four Speeches; Explains
Bonus Delay.

Lancaster. n. H.. Aug. s.--The last
day Of President Harding's vacation In
the White Mountains was reminiscent
Of campaign days. With Mrs. Har-
ding, Secretary of War Weeks. his
host, and other members of the house
party at the lodge on the top of Pros
r-cct Mountains, the President motor
ed more than $50 miles. played a
round OF golf at the Balsems In Dix
Vile Notch and made four short adj
dresses at North stratford, Colebrook.
Berlin and GorhAm.
| AT North Stratford on his why to
the golf course. speaking from the
automobile he addressed crowd of
| 200. Again in the morning he spoke
TO 1000 at Colebrook.
| In all Of his extemporaneouH
speeches Mr.. Harding gave his hear
ers a little resume OF the problems
| that he has encountered since enter
ing the White House. and he express
| ed the opinion that il as a result Of
his term OF service he has united the
country "on common ground of
understanding" his work would not
| have been in vain.
The longest address WAS at Gorham.
through the northern part of the
Granite State. Here he stopped at
sanitarium for tubercuAr ex-service
men. To these men he explained his
position in going before Congress to
seek a post ponement OF the bonus bill.
declaring that the Administration
first obligation was TO those who were
disa bled in the service.
nn Fts,s4
TO a contract ssnftarium where the
former service men. now wards of the
Government, are placed under private
care and treatment. There We're fifty
six men in the sanitarium, which
nesties in the valley in the shadow
Of the Presidential range, all OF them
convalescent tubercular PATIENTS from
the New England States.
Following his speech the President
and Mrs. Harding expressed wish to
greet the men. AS they filed past
him Mr.. Harding had word of cheer
for each. One apparently robust young
fellow grasped the Presidents hand
| firmly. and Mr.. Harding, In a good
natured tones. asked, What are you
doing herer' And then added "Oh,
see. you are the athletic instructor
To another he said, You must be the
I master of boxing"
/ AS a great tall fellow approached.
the President turned To Secretary
Weeks and said John l thought YOU
said we were coming TO see some sick
/ boys. You've misrepresented il. These
/ fellows aren't Sick
/ There were a few of the more seri-
Gus cases confined To their cots, and
/ the President and Mrs. Harding went
/ TO each man and, bending over him,
uttered a word of comfort and hope
/ Standing on the porch of the sani-
tarium with the patients grouped be-
fore him in chairs on the lawn and with
several hundred Gorham citizens
erowding around, the president said
in part:
II think it is fair to say that while
/ it would always be pleasure to come
i to your community and note the won
derful setting, it is not always possible
TO do so. We have driven this way IN
| particular to express TO the service
men the interest OF the Executive and
| the Government in the welfare of the
men. ] like 10 say il because / know
speak the heart of America when /
say TO the men impaired in the de-
fense of their country that America
/ is interested in them in every way il
/ knows how.
81 do not want this great Repub-
/ lie of ours ever 10 slow up for one mo-
ment until ii has done everything il
can 10 make them as near whole again
as human knowledge and attention will
make them.
There was some criticism recently
because the President and the Congress
were interested for the time being in
passing what was known as he COM
pensation bill. like TO tell the men
who are now wards of the Government
4 that the chief reason was that we all
believed we owed our first considera-
ton 10 the men impaired in the SER
l.yice.
1T is a very wonderful thing and ii
/ is some compensation in itself to have
had the unspeakable experience of de-
tending our country and coming back
entirely whole, in the possession of un-
| impaired bodies and perfect health.
But ] want America first Of all % do
everything that can be done to some
how make well those who have suf-
fered physically as a result of their
war service"