The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-10-26

right to appoint whom he would. And
no one challenged his right to be loyal
to his friends when they were under
fire. Frequenters of the White House
soon learned that loyalty to his friends
| is one Of the Presidents sentimental
| hobbies, an admirable private trait
which easily becomes a public menace.
But when the President began to de-
fend his loyalty by recalling that So
and-So did so much for him in his cleo
ton, there was a feeling that he had
forgotten the millions of American citi-
zens who also did considerable for him
in the election. To be blunt about it,
the President owes a greater political
debt to the american people than he
does to Harry DauGherty. And yet in
the counsels of the President the Ameri-
can people have not counted for nearly
so much as has Harry Daugherty. 1t
is not merely that President Harding
has paid and is paying the penalty Of
his devotion to Daugherty, it is that
he is compelling the nation also to pay
and that is not fair.
The Washington conference is still a
name to use, but the thing itself has
shrunk to a shadow. If it lives at all,
it will be as tenuous and precarious
beginning of a great movement. 1t was
an invitation, gesture which the
nations of the world--many of them our
obsequious debtors, by the way-could
not ignore. But all of its provisions
they have ignored to date. The meas
ures of that conference may be gagged
by the fact that in the present cam
paign the itinerating statesmen are not
laying emphasis on it.
The pathetic thing about the bonus
veto was the manner in which it was
hailed throughout the country as a sign
Of independence on ttD part of the Pres
ident. With what bitterness he must
have read the editorial comments to
that effect. OF whom was he tndepen-
dent? Whom did he flout? None of
the people, whom he has habitualiy
needed, wanted a bonus There was no
overwhelming public opinion behind the
proposal for a bonus. The President
himself must wonder where the indie
pendence came in; he must wonder what
sort of a figure he has made before the
country that his veto of the bonus should
be hailed far and wide with such sad
hopefUlness as a ray Of the rising OF a
new independence of character, or an
old independence heretofore concealed.
1t is admittedly quite enough to make
Mr.. Harding disguised. If the reports
of his disgust are true, they are alto
gether a credit to him. His career as
President now depends on what course
his second mood takes. If he allows
himself to be soured or to sulk or to
withdraw his hands from the wheel, he
is lost.
Is there yet time and opportunity for
recovery? There Is. A cabinet error
can be rectifed at any time. The WASH
ington conference is not to be repented
of. The bonus veto is probably Of neu-
trail political significance. Recovery Is
not so much a question of undoing as OF
changing the atmosphere. N the in
terests of the country the President
must discard some of his friends who are
unfit for the office they hold; and in the
interests of his administration he must
show the country that he is able, for the
national good. to remove a personal
friend as readily as he has removed some
others.
The President is back where he was
at the beginning; he now has nothing
whatever 20 lose and everything to gain.
He can so back to private life with the