Evening star., 1923-08-03

on President Harding, like DtheF
Presidents, decided he wanted "a secE
ond term. Early in 1928 there was
great deal of speculation as te
| whether he would be contender,
There was also some momentary
speculation among some political
| leaders as to whether the party
| would not be making valuable
strategic move il it selected another
| candidate.
But mature deliberation among the
old heads in the regular wing of the
| party developed unaniuous decision
that If the republican party were to- ask
| the American people to continue II in
power for another four years it must
do so on the record of the Harding ad-
ministration and. therefore, necessarily.
ask for the reelection of Harding, be-
| cause. they reasoned, to fail to re-
| nominate Mr.. Harding would be a fail
ure to indorse the works Of the par
| Mr. Harding up to that time had per-
mitted TO authoritative word of his in
tentions to get out and a delegation Of
! the leaders went to the White House to
| hnd out about them.
| Ask for Decision.
! Warren" said the spokesman, who
was friend and colleague of many
years standing. you've got to make
some announcement of your intentions
! These fellows who are opposing your
nomination are grooming this one and
that one. and before we know il our
wing of the party won't have anybody as
a candidate and we'll lose political ad-
! vantage"
Boys" said the President. II have
not made up my mind. | expect 10
make some speeches in the west and
,elseWhere some time soon. and IL the
| reaction is favorable I'll carry on"
But that assurance failed to satisfy
| the committee of friends and advisers
and they continued their arguments
. that Mr.. Harding should make an
announcement. A refusal to run for
a second term. they argued. was a
| confession of failure. The matte. of
his nomination they considered Sc
cure by the processes of party ma
chinery. Blaine. idol of the country
I at his time. they pointed out. could
i not wrest the nomination from Har-
] rison.
! Recall Roosevelt Failure.
! Theodore Roosevelt himself. with
all his hold on popular favor. was
unable to take the regular nomina-
tion away from President Taft in a
! republican convention because of the
! processes of party machinery. Mr..
Harding's denomination they consid-
cred certain IL he wanted it: election
! they told him. would. OF course, be
! affected by the events of the inter
vening time.
! "All right fellows" responded Mr
! Harding. with a characteristic wave
| of the hand and the intimate ex-
! pressions Of friendship that he al
ways used in speaking with old as
| sociates. TN carry on. that's set
tied; I'll carry on. Tell our fellows
| that"
A few days later Senator James
| administration spokesmen and party
I whips. made the announcement in
| the Senate that if Warren Harding
! wanted denomination he was going
! to have il and that it was idle to
| discuss a prospective contest
| Expected REELECTION.
| Following that declaration the
| President was open and avowed
, candidate for denomination and cleo
ton, and within few days OF his
| departure from Washington he told
| a friend in conversation in his
barring some unexpected develop
ments. he expected to be renomi-
mated and reelected.
Unless something unforeseen comes
up" he told this friend. such as a
disastrous business panic. a period of
great depression or something of that I
sort, / don't see anything that will
prevent my denomination and re-elec-
ton"
Word had come to him that one of
the men who was looked upon as a
principal contender had said he found
himself without an issue upon which
to run. and close friend of the same
prospective contender declared that
he would undertake to guarantee that
| the former would not go into single
, state on the stump as candidate
seeking delegates to the convention.
The men who had been the principal
| financial hackers of the contender re-
fcrred to had become devoted friends,
and in fact. parts of the Harding ad-
ministration machinery, and the
clouds all appeared to be out of the
sky.
Other Support Found.
! At the same time another western
senator. a power in republican af-
fairs. not because of his party regu-
| larity nor his adherence to the Hard
ing program. was using all his per-
sonal influence to keep the foremost
prospective contender against Mr.
Harding out of the field and was tell
ing all his friends, much to their sur
prise. that he was for Harding
There must be no repeatal of
1912" this leader said. NO demo-
crat must be elected because the re-
publican party cannot agree We
must take Harding for another term"
! Then just as everything seemed to
be smooth sailing for the nomination
Mr.. Harding made his declaration for
entry of the United States into the
world court, and that swept over a
stage which everybody thought was
finally set and tumbled everything
into confusion.
Some Saw Big Mistake.
The friends among the stalwarts
who had urged Mr.. Harding to de-
clare himself for another term told
! him he had made a great mistake
| those who had won for themselves
the soubriquet of "irreconcilables'
| because of their opposition to any
participation by the United States in
the affairs of Europe sent to Mr..
Harding a declaration of war
The contender who had once told
Mr.. Harding's friends and supporters
! that he feared he found himself with
out an issue on which to fight the