Palisadian., 1923-08-31
FRIDAY, AUGUST 81, 1923.
A LEGACY" LETTER

The letter of the late President
Harding to Mr.. Wellman is patheuc
assort tn barmonize his own convic-
tions with the position his party forced
him into. His convictions were sound
his aspirations were of the highest, his
natr;otism was not parochial; it took
in the world; but there was the Sen
ate's rejection of the peace treaty, ana
the platform on which he was elected.
Mr.. Harding felt profoundly that a
policy of isolation was impossible Tor
the United States, and that there was
an obligation upon this country to
mite with other countries to prevent
a breach of the worlds peace. The
country might not have to use force,
but again it might. The police pre-
serve order without drawing their pis-
tolls, but they have them to draw if
need be.
No association OF nations could pre-
vent war unless they were prepared in
the last resort to use force. The
League to Enforce Peace, organized by
one of Mr.. Harding's Republican pre-
decessors, contemplated this, and it
was the specific object of the posse
comitatus of nations" which his othe:
Republican predecessor urged pas
sionately in various books and ad-
dresses from 1910 to 1915. And Henry
Cabot Lodge told Union College in
June, 1915, that such an organization
offered the only road to peace. The
League of Nations did not originate
with Mr.. Wilson, and it is not in the
least Democratic. 1t embodies the be-
liefs of the most distinguished Repub-
licans. Mr.. Wickersham, Attorney
General in a recent Republican Cabi-
net, is now advocating our member
ship in the League of Nations at Chau
tauqua.
In his letter to Mr. Wellman Mr..
Harding repeated his fear of super
government" by means of the League.
But two members of his Cabinet were
not afraid Of this, and three years ago
urged Republicans to vote the Repub-
lican ticket as the most practicable
means of getting the United States
into the League. And in his speech in
New York, April "a. Mr.. Harding him
self said:
IF other Great Powers can accept
without fear the voting strength of the
British dominions, when they are with
out ties of race to minimize interna-
tional rivalries and suspicious. We
ought in view of the natural ties of
English speaking kinship, to feel our
selves free from danger"
Fifty-two nations, great and small,
have joined the League. Why should
we be afraid to join it? Are we the
only people in the world who care for
our national independence?
NJ Harding's anxiety that the prof.
ect Of an association of nations should
be discussed without any partisanship
or any political purposes is pitiful in
view of the fact that the essential
features of the League of Nations were
never suspected of being Democratic
until chance gave the Republican Sen
ators the opportunity for lighting
President Wilson" The covenant of
the League expressed the aspirations
of Republicans as well as Democrats
until the Republicans made a party
issue of it,
1t is most visionary to suppose that
alt nations of the civilized world-ex-
cept the United States-entirely satis-
fed with the League. will abandon it.,
or add an association" to it, to accom-
modate us. We have got to enter the
League of Nations or persist in our
very discreditable aloofness Mr.. Har.
ding felt deeply our national duty
but there was the record his party
had made He was willing to risk his
chances of second term by pressing
its duty upon the country but he was
cropping about for some way of har-
monizing his convictions and his party.
Philadelphia Record.