Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-08-14

means the least important. No mat
| ter how lofty the ideals or how pure
| the purposes of any party, the coun-
| try is not served unless it possesses
both the will and the power to carry
! these ideals and purposes into eff
! feet.
Leadership Lacking
| when it becomes a leaderless
and incoherent mob it must give
| way to some rival better fitted for
| the task of government.
! Need | dwell on the picture that
| the last twelve months presents:
"On one side the executive, on the
other the members of his party in
! both houses of congress, seeking diff
| ferent aims; entertaining different
views; advocatin different meas
| ures? The executive proposes adj
herence to the existing world court.
The request falls on dull ears until
finally the leader Of his party in
| the senate brings forward, mani
testify for obstructive purposes, an
! entirely different scheme. The eX-
ecutive demands the Mellon bill and
| members Of his party in both houses
| of congress, regular and insurgent.
| hasten to reject it. He disapproVes
j the adjusted COMPENSATION act, but
| congress re-enaCts it by the required
| two-thirds majority.
Congress passes a measure grant
| ing to postal employees an increase
| in their meager salaries; the presi-
! dent disapproves it. He protests
against the restriction on Japanese
immigration: congress adopts it.
Whenever before did a party in con-
! troll of the executive and Of a ma
| jority in both houses of congress
present so pitiable a spectacle of dis
cord and division? BY what right
can a political organization so led
and so disciplined appeal for a fur
Their lease of power? -Four years ago
the Republican party, in snarling
criticism of the great leader then in
office, promised to end executive
autOcracy.'
ut has fallen into the rit that 1t
dug, for its efforts in that direction
have succeeded beyond its widest
| dreams. An executive who can not
! or will not lead a congress that can
not and will not follow-how can
| good government exist under sucA
conditions?
American Tradition Ignored
Nor is it in domestic matters
alone that the symptoms of this,
| creeping paralysis have appeared.
| Not only have the executive recon-
mendations for adherence to the
| World Court, sanctioned as they are
| by long American tradition and ex.
ample, been flouted and ignored, but
no evidence is in sight that the Re-
publican party as now constituted
can frame and carry to its conclusion
any definite and consistent foreign
/ policy.
! -Four years ago we were prom
| ised a, new associa ton of nations to
be created in order to protect and
preserve the peace OF the world. No
single proposal of this sort has yet
appeared from any of those who so
/ loudly promised it.
with the reconstruction of Ell
rope weighing heavily on the world;
with American economic life dwarfed
and stunted by the interruption of
world commerce; with the agricul-
tural regions of the west sinking into
bankruptcy because of the loss OF
their freign markets; we have stood
by as powerless spectators. offering
| to the world nothing but private
/
1T is we'll enough to praise in ia,
measured terms the charity of the
American people, 1t is not an un.
worthy pride that makes us dwell
upon the efforts individual Ameri-
cans have made toward the solution
of great world problems. But the
| question which presses itself upon
the mind and conscience of the Amer
lean people and will not be denied is
what they, as a, nation, speaking
through their government, have done
or dared to do in this great field of
action.
The Washington conference alone
aside, and that of more than doubtful
value, what single contribution has
the United States of America, as an
organized nation among nations,
made to world peace in the last four
years?
Responsibility Shirked
individual Americans have gone
abroad but they went without the
blessing Of their government. I'm
official observers have appeared ut
international conferences where
America, if present at all, should
have been present as an equal among
equals.
when but yesterday three Ameri-
cans went to the conference on repa-
rations, whose fruitful outcome all
all the world desires, Washington
was prompt to disclaim all RESPONSE
bll1ty for their going though eager
to take credit for whatever they
might accomplish
I'VE achieved only what one OF
/ them has called a 'bootlegging par
| ticipation.'
Three weeks ago, in the city of
London, there came from the secre-
tary of state himself an amazing
confession of this impotence.
Said he:
L may give it as my conviction
| that had We attempted to make
Americas contribution to the re-
cent plan of adjustment a govern
mental matter, we should have been
involved in a hopeless debate anu
! there would have been no adequate
action. We should have been beset
with demands, objections, instruc-
tons This is not the way to make
an American contribution to eco
nomic revival
IF | can read these words Alright,
| they can mean only TINS; that ny
reason either of the inability of the
| executive to lead or the unwilling
ness OF his party to follow, the for
eign affairs of the United States, in
Guiding the great and vital question
of European settlement, must be
left in private hands. We must face
the humiliating fact that we have a
government that does not dare to
speak its mind beyond the three-mile
limit.
"A political party. which is at
best but human, may make honest
mistakes; they can be forgiven. 1t
may pass unwise laws; they can be
repealed. 1t may, through honest
error. set men to tasks beYond their