Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-02
WORLD COURT FOES
PROD COP. CHIEFS;
NO SLAP At HARDING
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
LEASED Wire Service TO The Journal.)
Copyright, 1921


WASHINGTON, May 31.-Pub-
lished reports assuming that the
statement issued by John T. Adams,
chairman of the national Republican
committee, on Tuesday, was intend
ed as an attack on President Har-
dings world court policies, are with
out foundation. This assurance was
given today by the man who wrote
the statement, Chairman Adams
himself, who knows what he IN
tended to convey and the object ne
had in mind.
The situation inside the national
Republican committee Is unusual.
There is no secret made of the fact
that differences of opinion exist as
to the wisdom of President Harding's
projection of the world court issue.
The Republican national committee
headquarters is the agency that tries
to preserve harmony In the party
without taking sides. Chairman Ad'
ans is a 100 per cent Harding man.
He is on such intimate terms with
the president that he would not
write a statement that could offend
him. On the other hand, he did not
consult the president about the
phraseology Of the statement because
he believes it is a matter entirely
within the political sphere of the
party and one that can be best ad-
iusted by the mediating influence OF
the Republican national committee
without drawing the president him
ic tV~I1o that Ia St week
statement criticizing the allied pow
ers gave offense to the department of
state and was withdrawn accordingly
but it was one out Of hundreds of
other statements issued by the Re-
publican national committee sup
porting the state department. S
policy.
Incident Brushed Aside
Mr.. Adams wasn't here when 1t
was issued and the incident has been
brushed aside as having no more
significance than the scores of in
discretions which subopdinates in
publicity committees OF the political
parties commit from time to time in
their page proofs Of publicity and
partisan clamorings.
The foes of the league court have
been provoked into extreme state
ments by the iterated statements OF
friends of the League Of Nations that
admission to the world court means
ultimate entry into the league itself.
The Republican national committee
has to keep on hammering the ideas
conveyed in Mr.. Hardjng'S New York
speech to the effect that he and his
party have turned their backs on
American membership nthe league.
Not a word in Mr.. Adams latest
statement was said about the world
court. The assertion was made on
the other hand that the foreign pol
icy presumably upheld in the election
of 1920 by the votes Of the people is
still being supported by the Repub-
lican national committee.
This can also be interpreted as
meaning that Mr.. Harding hasn't de-
parted from pledges made in the 1920
campaign. The president came out
then for a world court and feels he is
entirely consistent. And Chairman
Adams statement is an adroit effort
to emphasize that nothing more is
being done than was expressed by
Mr.. Harding in his 1920 speeches,
namely entrance into the world court.
Harmony Sought By Heads
Some critics inside the party may
not accept that view of it, some may
insist that the Republican national
campaign committee hasn't seen the
real obstacle, namely, the con-
nection of the world court with the
league, but there again it all de-
ponds upon individual viewpoint and
Interpretation. The Republican ma
tional committee is gon on the
assumption that harmony can be
maintained that the world court is
not the paramount issue and will
not becloud domestic problems-Mr.
Harding himself said SO in his New
York speech-and the upshot of it
all is that the Republican national
committee instead of setting out to
developing resistance to the world
court has really embarked on a
course of peacemaking within the
party-a reconciliation Of discordant
elements at a critical moment in the
affairs of the party, a few months
before a presidential election. That's
all Mr.. Adams statement meant.