The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-05-21
BIG STRAIN
IS TELLING
ON LEADERS
Harding Shows Effects of
Grueling Problems-Hoov-
er Looks Tired-Hughes
Fatigued-All Press On.
PHYSIQUE IMPORTANT
BY MARK SULLIVAN

for those who try to understand a
complex thing, and those why try to
make it clear, there are various de-
wees for simplicity of these, one Of
The most frequently useful is to pic
ture a situation in terms Of the men
who figure in it,
1t is pert OF that philosophy which
says that what will come out of any
situation will always be whatever is
The net resultant Of the pulling and
hauling Of the strong men in II. and
that the whole tansie of the world
altogether comes down to strong men
seeking their own ends in their own
ways. sometimes at cross purposes,
sometimes in cooperation.
Such picture of Washington be-
gins OF course with Harding. His
dominant trait and purpose continue to
lc as in the beginning harmony, good
feeling and back to normally" But
everybody has learned by this time
that while to Harding harmony means
extreme consideration for the rights
and feelings Of others, 1t is as far as
possible from meaning willingness to
abandon his own purposes. nor easy
going compromise. Harding will squirm
and shrink from doug or saying a
,lsaereeable thing. He will show obvi-
Gus discomfort in his resistance TO
those who want him to do what his
cNn Judgment does not endorse.
Follows Own Ends.
He will go to any length 10 leave a
good taste in the mouth of one who is
necessarily disappointed at the end of
Il transaction with l,im-but in the
erd Harding follows his own ends as
steadily and surely as any public man
in Washington.
II is a striking fact that this pres
ident who was TO be the "creature OF
sensational oligarchy" has given the
senate in his soft-speech way, more
rebukes than it has ever had from any
president in the same length of time.
Harding has his own program about
cur foreign relations and his own de-
termination to support the secretary
If state, who is his own choice. That
program goes forward slowly and
steadily and in the judgment of all ex-
sept a very few, satisfactorily.
The strongest group of men IN
Washington, i. the narrow sense OF
resolute men determined upon their
own purposes. is the 7concilaoles
of the senate. Whether you like the
fight they have made or not the tact
is they won it by sheer determination
and the willingness to stake their own
political eXjstences on the outcome.
For the present the irreconcilables
are not as dissatisfied as many re-
ports imply. In the rejection OF the
League of Nations they won 100 per
cent victory and the slow and gradual
building of our new bridge to Europe
is not likely to revive the organized
OPPOSITION OF the past two years.
Hoover is Titan
BY most ways of Judging Hoover is
the biggest man in Washington. His
engineering training. his business ex-
rerience, and the quality of his mind,
give him the kind Of grasp on the Uni
verse that g small town grocer has on
his own business.
Ii the country ever determines 10
hire d general manager and leave eF-
Crvthing to him there would be no
other candidate in Hoover's class. VI
politics Hoover knows nothing what
ever. He works out plan and then
iinds that for political reasons or Tor
personal reasons it can't be made to
work and abandons it in the spirit in
which he would yield to an insuper-
able obstacle in an engineering prob
lem.
The picture that most of US in
Washington have, is of Hoover and
Hughes united in furnishing Harding
with guidance on our foreign affairs.
For the purposes Of those European
problems which are most immediate
these two are the big men Of the cab
met.
Confidence Increases
Some of the irrecOncilable senators
are suspicious of Hoover and Hughes
n .
able attitude toward the League of
. Nations. But this suspicion is de-
creasins quantity. And every indica'
ton promises a smooth working out
of our foreign problems by Harding
and his advisor.
Hoover works to hard. He plunges
into work in the spirit of headlong
self-forgetfulness with which some
men go into dissipation. Just lately
there has been some concern about
Hoover's health and his friends have
been engaged in an effort 10 remind
him that he is too big an asset to
the country and the world to be i'm
periled by neglect. Hoover. even az
lis best, always looks a little tired
kevness. in his book on the peace
conference. spoke of hoover as Look
ing like tired Titan"
Hughes Shows Strain.
Hughes also shows the strain a
little. When Hughes came to Wash
ington on the 4th of March he had the
spirit of galloping into his new duties
He still works hard. but there is en-
ough diminution OF his exuberent
vitality to be noticeable and to give
concern TO those who realize how
much rests on him.
Harding also is little tired. When
YOU watch him at one of those big
receptions shaking hands with long
lines of visitors, you can notice his
tired personality. grasping at even