Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1922-11-16
The Reputation of Harding

Harding and his Republican asso
ciates a blank check for the conduc
of the Government of the United
States
On Tuesday, Nov. z, 1922, they
voted to stop payment on the check
Both morally and politically the
election returns are a popular re
pudiation of the Harding admins
tration. In the light of the majori
ties by which the Republicans were
swept into power two years ago
the results are perhaps the most
sensational reversal of political
sentiment that the country has ever
known
The majority of 167 in the Sixty.
ed out, and it is now question
whether there will be any Republi-
can majority in the Sixty-eighth
Congress.
Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republi-
can leader of the Senate. gets
through by fewer than 5000 votes
He ran more than 10000 behind
the Republican candidate for Gov
ernor in a state in which his re-
election had virtually been conced-
ed by the Democrats.
AT the same time, Mr.. Mondell
the Republican leader of the House
ran for the Senate in Wyoming and
was beaten.
The New York landslide might
have been explained away on the
ground of Smiths personal popu-
larity, but Smiths popularity does
not account for Calder's defeat on
the tariff issue or the remarkabl
increase in the number of Demo
cratic Representatives in Congress
from this state.
In New Jersey, Mr.. Harding's
personal friend Senator Frelinghuy-
sen was overwhelmed by Gov. Ed
wards.
In Ohio. Mr.. Harding's personal
ly conducted candidate for Govern
or was defeated by Democrat
That the Presidents own state
managed to elect Republican Sen
ator was due mainly to organized
labor's opposition to POmerene,
who tried to out-Harding Harding
during the railroad strike.
The same influences that defeat
ed Pomerene, the conservative
Democrat in Ohio, defeated the ex-
Progressive Beveridge in Indiana.
No sooner was he nominated for the
Senate than Beveridge abandoned
every liberal principle that he had
ever advocated and took up the
cause of Old Guard Republicanism.
The shift was fatal.
In Michigan, a Democratic Sena-
tor has been elected for the first
time in seventy years, on the issue
of Newberryism. 1t was Mr.. Hard
ing who intervened to save Newber-
ry when the Senate was considering &
the question of declaring his seat
vacant 1t was Mr.. Harding, ac-
cording to common report, who in
spired Secretary Hughes to write
his extraordinary defense of New
berry, and the voters of Michigan
have now expressed their opinion
about this exploit in capitalized
political corruption.
New Hamsphire, which is the
state of Senator Moses, has elected
a Democratic Governor for the sec
ond time since 1875. Delaware and
Maryland have elected Democratic
Senators to succeed Republicans,
and in Minnesota, Kellogg, the
Harding champion, has apparently
lost to a radical running on an in
dependent ticket.
In Nebraska. where Hitchcock
the Democratic minority leader of
the Senate, was defeated, he was
beaten by an anti-administration
Republican who will affiliate with
InFt ha nY.txr 1o
Democrats elected a Governor. If
Frazier should pull through in
North Dakota he would be a Repub-
lican only in name, like La Toilette
There are no bright spots for the
President in any Of the returns
The country as whole is against
the tariff, it is against Daugherty-
ism, it is against a leaderless ad-
ministration and it is against the
normalcy that masks political bour-
bonism and reaction. 1t has again
turned its face toward political lib
eralism in government
The Democrats are celebratine
the election as a Democratic vic,
tory, but it would be far more ac.
curate to describe it as a Republi
can defeat. There has been no vote
of confidence in the Democratic
party. The country has merely
used it as a weapon to punish the
Republicans for their sins and mis-
demeanors. Whether the Demo
Gratis gain any continuing advan
tage from the election will depend
wholly on their capacity to evolve
q program that deserves public
confidence.
AS the matter stands now, they
are the accidental beneficiaries Of
the popular resentment against Ole
Guard Republicanism, but that is {
precarious political status. The
country is weary Of the Hardins
administration and the Harding
policies. but it does not yet know
where to turn for constructive lead
ership. West of the Mississippi
radicalism is no longer a possibili
ty; il is fact; and the unrest q
the East can no longer be dismissed
as figment of 'alarmist imagina
ton.
The country is ready for a new
deal, and there will be no politica
stability until it has again discover
ed method by which it can agar
bring about an administration ot
Gore~a~ocnt fhat i8 10th mepoEstr.
and responsib!e.--New York World