The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-03
PRESIDENT LOVED APOPLEXY CAUSE HUMANITY; WAS OF DEATH AFTER
 IN TURN BELOVED RECENT ILLNESS
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CContinued from Page One) Christian, also Knight Templar, to l perform the duty.
 Secretary Christian left for Los 1 Angeles last night and this afternoon ! read the address the President had prepared for the occasion to his fel- i low Knights Templar, and delivered i tie beausant to their keeping. l Tonight he was on his way back 1 from Los Angeles at the time the President died and did not learn of 1 taat event for some time afterwards Iuhen urgent telegrams caught his i train as it approached central Cali fGrnia on the run north.
 The confusion which reigned for | some little time immediately after news of the Presidents death be- came known, died down as the capa- ble hands of the Presidents advisers land associates took over the reigns and decisions that had to be made began to be considered
 Two hours after the end came, the c1 rridors were gutter: the crowds had diminished to little knots; the groups of curious idlers in the cor ridor ends had vanished.
 outside the hotel policemen pre- vented hundreds of persons from en tering the building. Only guests and InoWspaper men were being admitted.
 warren G. Harding brought to the presidency an infinite patience and kindness in dealing with public ques- lions and men which enabled him to handle the problems of government without the stress and worry which had handicapped many of his prede- cessors.
 Whatever else historians may say of him there probably will be little dispute that few chief executives came to office in peace time facing problems more complex in their na- ture or greater in number. All inter- national affairs were unbalanced as never before, with many principal settlements of the great war still to be effectuated. At home the work of reconstruction had only just begun, with business depressed, agriculture prostrate and unemployment general. | How MT Harding measured up to the task before him must be left to the historian, but his friends said that coming to the presidency as he did, with an open mind, desire for counsel and an intimate knowledge of the processes of government acquired in his services in the Senate, he was the type of man needed for the job at such a time. Preaching upon every occasion the doctrine of Americanism, he set his face resolutely against "eutangling alliances while thus ad- herring to what he was pleased to term the principles of the founding fathers, he nevertheless lent the moral assistance of the government in the efforts to bind up the wounds of the world.
 Washington Aims Farley.
 That influence was once declared by him to be not inconsiderable, and so America under his guidance had part, silent though it was in the main, effecting the settlements of many
 
 tribution was the Washington arms conference, at which the principal powers covenanteu to limit the size of their naVies and thus lift from taX-weary peoples the burden of maintaining the race for naval su- premacy.
 Along with the proffer of counsel in effecting world settlement went an insistence that American rights be recognized. In polished phrase, but with directness of expression that was not to be misconstrued, the world was given to understand from the very first of the Harding admin istration that the United States, freely respecting the rights of other nations, asked for herself only that to which she was entitled in simple justice. and that she could accept nothing less
 Counsellor. Not Dictator.
 While in his dealings with Con- gress MT. Harding preferred the role of counsellor rather than dictator, he speedily removed any doubt that his gift of patience denoted any lack of purpose once he had charted course. Thus he told Congress that soldiers bonus legislation either should carry the means of financing or be. postponed, and when the legis- lators put aside his advice he promptly vetoed the bill they sent him.
 His tenacity of purpose was fur ther eXemplified in his continual bounding for economy in public ex- pendltures, and again in his insist ence that Congress pass the mer- chant marine aid bill with a view to curtailing the continual drain which the operation of the war-built com mercial fleet had become upon the treasury. His greatest single effort in the field of domestic legislation was in behalf of this measure.
 O O o
 Role of PcacemaISer..
 Not infrequehtly MT. Harding was called upon to play the role of peace maker in goVernmentai affairs He intervened in a dispute between Con gress and the treasury as to the form general tax revision was to take, and the program he approved was car ried out in the main with reduction or more than half a billion in the nations tax burden.
 Likewise, his counsel settled the long controversy between the House and Senate on the question of Amer jean valuation in the tariff law. He proposed in it's place a flexible tar if arrangement under which the tar if commission was given authority with his approval to increase or lower rates within prescribed limi- tations. Upon signing the bill, the President declared it constituted the greatest tariff reform in American history.
 MT. Harding c"me of hardy pioneer stock. He was born at Blooming Grove, Morrow county, Ohio. Novem- Der 2, 1865. the son of a country doc tor, George T. Harding Like most country boys. he went to country schools between -lorning and night chores. and later attended college at