The Washington times., 1921-04-12
HARDING Wins
NAT|0!N'SFA|TH
Notes on zap and Foreign Poll.
cies Have Increased His
Strength, Hapgood Says.
BY NOPMAN HAPGOOD.

Five hundred and thirty-one men
came together yesterday on Capitol
Hill to wrestle with a set of ques-
tions that might test the brains Of
Washington and Hamilton, jefferson
and Franklin.
HARDING REAL LEADER.
From all over the country came
these 531 men-politicians, business
men, farmers, lawyers--on the whole,
good ordinary average citizens with
rather more than average training.
They will have the samo old lead
ers, but all the same they will have
a new leader, s new eommanier-ih-
chief. While WnodroW Wilson WAS
President the official Republican lead
er in the Senate was Henry Cabot
Lodge. The actual leadership was in
a small oligarchy, headed by Boise
Penrose. In that sense the same
leaders are taking the newcomers to
Congress by their innocent hands and
showing them the way around the
woods.
Make no mistake. however, about
the fact that a new leader Of the Re
publican majority has arrived. His
name is Warren Gamaliel Harding.
That he may lose his leadership Is
true. He will lose It IL his intelli-
gence or his will prove insufficient
to the duties OF Leadership. But he has
It today.
Senator Moses MAY make a flippant
remark in private conversation, that
the postmasterships are not yet d.
vided. He may mean by that remark
that the President will not get what
he wants until he has satisfied tip
Senators and Congressman that the
cutting of the pie will be satisfactory.
PATRONAGE A SIDE ISSUE.
1t is true that the divis' - r.
ronage has had the first .--c- tnoS
far in the intercourse be zen the
leaders and the new leader, but they
are now up against the date when
they have to act and no patronage
squabbles are going to count.
Last December. when Mr.. Harding
came back from Panama. Henry Cabot
Lodge tried to dissuade him from
making in the Senate a speech In
which he said that ne as President
would respect the function OF the Sem
ate, but that, on the other hand. the
Senate would have to respect the
function of the President.
Lodge was not able to disuade him.
however. and the speech was made,
1t is now to be tested. The first test
comes today.
President Harding, following the
example of Woodrow Wilson. John
Adams and George Washington, ap-
peared before the two Houses and
gave them an impression OF just how
much solving thought. he has tucked
away in his cerebral hemisphere; just
how much determination he has to
contribute to the great questions OF
the age.
l am convinced that the President
!s extremely serious about his resItor-
sibilities. OF course. he has spent his
political existence in regular Ameri-
can party team-play, as an obedient
member of the organization.
But since his election to the most
powerful office on the planet there
has come over him a deep seriousness
about his opportunities.
II Is a solemn feeling that a lot OF
things are up to him. 1t is a moral
renaissance.
FOUR BIG QUESTIONS.
Looking at the 531 men wandering
around under the dome, and feeling
important and bewildered. one knows
there are a lot OF questions they would
like to ask the President, but the ones
that the largest number are waiting
to hear about are these:
How are we going to make peace
and get our export business started
again? How will our foreign policy
help business revival?
How are we going to raise the i'm
mense revenues needed without in
furiating the consumer? This point
usually concentrates on a discussion
OF the tax on sales.
What sort of a tariff are we going
to build after the emergency ,tariff?
How will this affect exports?
What about the railroads?
The reason the foreign questions
narrow down to so sharp a point, II
must be said, to the credit OF the
Administration, Is that most OF the
steps so far taken in foreign affairs
have given widespread satisfaction
The method of handling the Pan
amanian-Costa Rican boundary dis
put was praised by everybody.
The answer to Germany, in which
the real point in the last paragraph
was made easy for France by the
sounding paragraphs which preceded
1t. is looked on as adroit and just
Most of all, the position taken on
Yap is everywhere admired as nn
unanswerable exposition of the basis
of Americas world rights. 1t will
serve not only for the question OF
Yap, but equally well for the aues
tion of Mesopotamia, the questions
that will spring later out of China
and indeed for our interests in any
part of the world.
All the positive steps, therefore
in foreign affairs have been sue
cessful, with the exception of the
Russian note, and the general ef-
feet has undoubtedly been to give
The Administration the confidence OF
nearly all members of Congress in
the diplomatic field. Abroad, as al
home, it is waiting for guidance in
the constructive economic field.
WOMAN SHOT BY THIEF