The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1922-07-05
Presid
Depends on.
Public Aid
Harding in Address to Friends
and Ncighbors' Declares
Government Is Fulfill.
ing Peoples Will.
Discusses Free America

Governments cannot tolerate am
class or grouped domination through
force, President Harding declared
today i'll an address at a home com
ing centennial celebration here.
addressing thousands OF hon,
folks and out-ot-town visitors. who
had gathered to welcome him bach
10 Marion for his first visit since hi.
inauguration, the executive told hi.
audience he meant to sound no note
OF pessimism.
This republic is secure ht
added. 'menaces do arise, but public
opinion will cface them. Meanwhile
government must reprcss them.
Commenting in a general way on the
industrial situation, the president
made this observation:
"A free American has the right to
labor without any others leave. 1t
would be no less an abridgement to
deny men to bargain collectively and
governments cannot tolerate any
class or group domination through
force. 1t will be sorry day when
group domination is reflected in our
laws. Government, and the laws
which government is charged with
enforcing, must be for all the people,
ever aiming at the common good"
Describes Greatest Traitor.
The president declared with en-
phasis that his "onc outstanding con-
viction" after 10 months in the White
House was that the greatest traitor
to his country is he who appeals to
prejudice and inhamcs passion when
sober Judgment and honesty OF
speech are so necessary to firmly
establish tranquility and security
Referring briefly to internationa!
relations OF the United States. Mr..
Harding said that all is WE'LL
They are securer today. with
more assuring prospects of peace,
than ever before in the history of
the republic. New guarantees have
''recently been added. by the very
process OF exchanging viewpoints
and bringing the spokesmen of great
nations to the conference table, and
for the exchange of views, and to
resolve to do together those fine and
nobler things WHICH no one nation
could do alone
At the outset OF his address the
president told his fellow townsmen
it was Exceedingly good to come
home ard meet with you again
The text of President Harding's
prepared address follows:
MY Friends and Neighbors:
1T is exceedingly good to come
home and meet with you again and
join you in the centennial celebration
OF the founding of Marion. Frankly,
it would be preferable to come SIM
ply as a Marionite and speak as one.
because it is easily possible for me
to feel a peculiar intimacy toward
such an occasion.
Il ca"not justify a claim to any
grcat part i'll making the Marion OF
today, but as a newspaper worker tor
more than third of a century, |
have done lot of cheering. which is
no less essential to the forward move )
ment in community than it is Ill
football or baseball. Amid the cheer
ing and boosting | did my share OF
observing and recording, and l could
relate things interesting to me, prob /
ably interesting to you. OF Marion,
but they would seem rather trivial |
to that larger community which is
habituated to expect some form OF
broadcasting to every presidential
uttcranCe.
Speeches Travel Far.
For an interesting reminder of the !
unacceptable responsibility for presi-
dental uttcrance came to me year :
ago. I was on brief vacation in the /
mountains of New Hampshire and ,
my generous host said we must go
to the nearby village, which had been /
his bovhood home, and meet the peo-
pie who would be assembled. We !
motored down the mountain, we had
most agreeable meeting, and |
spoke extemporaneously for prob
ably IS minutes. Sixty days later
there came to my desk a newspaper
published in Pekin, China, with
verbatim reprint of the speech.
"Oi course. there was nothing IN
it whici, l did not say sincerely. No
one fit for public service will ever
be guilty of that.
MY thought is that, ordinarily,
there is time and place tor particular
speech, but in the presidential ofhce /
all times and all places are very much :
alike. There may be justified PRIDE
in the manifest interest of all our
own people and all the world beng j
interested in what the, United States !
government is thinking or saying. but
/ confess being human enough to
wish to talk of the intimate things
relating to Marion, without mlscon-
strrction or misapplication.
Miseonstruction Example.
There is very much of the latter.
Maybe 1t will not be unseemly to re-
late an instance. Several weeks ago.
! invited some 40 or so captains of
the great iron and steel industry to
dine with ME. to confer about the
abolition of the l2-hour work day.
! did not choose or proclaim the pur-
pose in advance. because dislike the
tendency 70 promise excessively and
accomplish inadequately. Imagine
my surprise, yea, my amusement. to
read in an important metropolitan
newspaper that | was dining the steel
(russ to Page Two, Column One)