The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1921-03-04
HARDING NOT A DICTATOR.


newspaper correspondents have evi
IDENTIFY become so accustomed to au
tocratic control of the government
and of political parties that they car
not conceive oBany other procedure
even under new administration,
remarks the Republican Publicity as
ISOLATION in statement, given out to-
day through the president of that or
ganization, Hon. Jonathan Bourne
Jr. Zone of these has recently writ.
ten for his paper speculative article
indicating the opinion that President.
elect Harding win name a new chair
man for the Republican National
scommittee upon the appointment OF
the present chairman to a. p6sitionch1
the cabinet, designating a Senator
for the craftsmanship. The sugges.
ton is not at all complimentary ia
Mr.. Harding-in fact it is a broad
hint at insincerity in his, campaign
utterances. In the. otening para.
graphs of his speech of acceptance
Mr.. Harding said:
"Let me be understood very
clearly from the beginning. 1
- believe in party sponsorship in
government. / believe in party
government as distinguished
Z from personal government, in
,s,. dividual, dictatorial, autocratic
I'LL or what not. No man
is big enough to run this great
Republic. There never has been
. one. Such domination was never
intended. Tranquility, stability,
b dependability - all are assured
in party sponsorship, and we
+ mean to renew the assurances
which were rended in the cata-
clysmal war
''The Republican National Com
mittee is composed of SO members,
chosen by the 48 states and five dis
tricts or dependencies. When a
change takes place in the chairman
ship of the committee, the members
will go through the form of electing.
If that be form only, with the real
selection made by an individual, then
there would be established in the
party organization a personal gov
eminent, individual, dictatorial, au-
tocratic.' To assume or assert that
Mr.. Hs riding would undertake to de-
signate man to be chairman is not
only to question the sincerity of his
campaign utterances but to reflect
upon the ability of the members Of
the committee.
"1n the management of party af-
fairs the National Committee has its
duties, with corresponding RESPONSE
bilities, just as the Senate and the
House have their duties and respon-
abilities in the management Of gov
eminent business. The same funda-
mental principles. which apply to one
apply equally to the other. In his
farewell address to the Senate, on
the opening day Of the present ses-
sion, Mr.. Harding said: "When myl
responsibilities begin in the execu-
tive capacity / shall be as mindful
of the Senate's responsibilities as
have been jealous for them as a
member, but mean at the same time
to be just as insistent, upon the re-
sponsibilities Of the executive ~
"Some newspaper correspondents
have seen fit to remark that, as Presi-
dent, Mr.. Harding may be embar-
raised by the deficit incurred by the
National Committee in the recent
campaign. For such embarrassment
there can be no occasion whatever.
The Republican National Committee
perfected its own organization, man.
aged its part of the campaign, COLI
lected funds and controlled expendi-
lures. Responsibility for the ex-
penditures rests solely with the COM