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Full text of " Speeches and addresses of Warren G. Harding, President of the United States: C, to Alaska, and return to San Francisco, embracing the period from June 20 to August 2, , the date of his untimely and lamented death at San Francisco. The one at Hollywood was, at President Harding's direction, delivered for him by his secretary, Mr. It is a melancholy but striking coincidence that President Harding's death occurred almost simultaneously with the delivery of this address ivhich breathes so deep a religious spirit, so beautifully expresses reverence for the Creator, and makes an inspiring plea for brother- hood and fraternity among men.
This correspondence was referred to in the Presi- dent's Tacoma, Wash. Also, there is incorporated in this volume an uncompleted address concerning recla- mation problems, prepared for delivery at San Diego, Calif. IT IS very pleasing to me to greet you this evening.
We have been through various vicissitudes since then, but I think we have now entered upon more fortunate conditions. I hope they are more fortunate for you. Our political affilia- tions, after all, do not make so much difference. What we want is a country in which there are happiness and pros- perity for everybody. That bespeaks a wholesome condi- tion, and that is what I sincerely wish to bring about. We have had a very interesting but exceedingly warm day, and all are a little tired.
As you know, when one gets ready to go away he tries to clean up everything and leave matters in shipshape so that they may be readily taken up when he returns. We have had a pleasant day and have enjoyed riding through your wonderfully beau- tiful State. No one will ever be insincere when he tells you that West Virginia is not only a wonderful State in its resources but is beautiful to the eye and gives every manifestation of God's infinite touch in its mountains, its streams, its fertile valleys, and its ripening fields.
You live in a favored part of the Republic, and I congratulate you upon being citizens of the great State of West Virginia. Harding' We have started on a long period of travel. We hope to increase our knowledge of some portions of the United States that at present neither you nor I know very much about. I think it would be well for us all to know more about our country. It is so big and so wonderful that we have never come to a full realization of its greatness.
I am going to Alaska so that the Government may know better, and may be helpful in revealing to you, this treasure land of ours which is nearly as large as one-third of the mainland of the United States and whose boundless re- sources are as yet undeveloped. We are still an unde- veloped Republic. We want you in West Virginia to do your part, as we want every other community throughout the United States to do its part, toward making our common country even greater than it is.
I know you will do it. Good-bye; good luck; and much happiness to you all. I AM happy to see you this morning and to say a word to you. Nothing is more pleasing to those who are temporarily charged with authority than to meet and come in contact with the people whom they are trying to serve.
I want you all to believe, because it is everlast- ingly true, that your Government is just as much interested in your welfare as you are yourselves, because, unless you are a fortunate and happy people, your Government cannot reach that height of efficiency, power, and helpfulness to which we aim to bring it. I thank you for this greeting. Good-bye and good luck. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Boys and Girls: I find just as much pleasure in the closer contact as you do, but there are so many of you and it comes so near breaking one's back to lean over the rail that I know you will excuse me if I am unable to shake hands with you all.
I will take the opportunity, however, of saying for both Mrs.
Harding and myself that we are grateful for your cordial greeting. It is heartening to those who are charged with the affairs of Government to go out over the land and see the reflexes of sentiment and the measurable contentment and hopefulness that come from the enjoyment of fairly fortunate conditions. After the tumult of the World War, when everything was put out of regular order, humanity had to set about the task of restoration.
We are doing pretty well in the United States ; we are doing better than any other people in the world. The burdens of war and the penalties of the great conflict have weighed upon other peoples more heavily than upon us. We were so well grounded in our institutions, we were so blessed by nature, and we had so much of resolute purpose to go on, that we are getting on the right track in this country.
I should like to say to these boys and girls, who are always a joy, that we are hoping to insure for them a better Republic in the United States than you older people have ever enjoyed. We must be a land of law enforcement; we must 19 Last Speeches of President. Harding be a land that reveres American institutions; we must be a land where everybody has a chance and an equal oppor- tunity to make good in life. Furthermore, we must be a land where every boy and girl is made ready to embrace their opportunities.
It is a joy to see you amid the ripening harvests and the prospects of greater fortunes to come.
Hopeful American Childhood As I look out upon these wonderful boys and girls, I do not know which is the child of a working man, which is the child of a captain of industry, or which is the child of a financier. The right to own slaves is not mentioned on the plaque. Not Proposing Nationalization No, my countrymen, I am not proposing nationaliza- tion, nor a renewed experiment in government operation, the cost of which we have not yet settled. Relationships between supplies and demand for some staples were badly disrupted and could not be instantly restored when peace came. If the spectacle of a railroad literally starved to death in such a community is alarming, it is yet less a calamity in some ways than it would be in a region possessing fewer lines capable of taking over the public service.
It is a joy to get out and breathe the wholesome atmosphere of the expanding West. You in Indiana are ''out West" to those who live in the East, but not to me, for my home is in Ohio; and Ohio has a very great pride in Indiana because so many people from Ohio came to Indiana to take the places of your forebears who moved westward with the Star of Empire in order to make a greater country.
Ours is a fortunate Republic. I am glad to bring to you a word of cheer, a word of confidence, a word of reassured hope that we are going to make the great recovery and we are going to go on to the fulfillment of the fine destiny which is set for this Republic of ours. I am very glad indeed to have seen you. IT IS a little bit difficult to shake hands with you all. I should like very much to do so, but, instead, I will tell you something I have been thinking about. As one rides across the country on a modern railway train, he is in- voluntarily and very delightedly absorbed in the panorama 20 Last Speeches of President Warren G.
Harding' which everywhere meets his gaze. It is a very sweet and gratifying experience to travel through the golden wheat fields, the waving timothy, the developing corn, and the fruiting orchards, and feel that there is in prospect that abundance which is essential to the happiness of a people. As I was contemplating this wonderful picture this morning, with some recollection of the farm myself, I found myself wondering how, from the political viewpoint, we ought to apply the farming practices of the ages to our human affairs of today.
We till the soil ; we plant the seed, and we look forward to the harvest with confidence. If the soil has been abused and made unproductive we try to help nature by adding artificially to its richness, and if we find that the growing crop is interfered with by insect life, we attack the grub or the cut worm or the boll weevil, or whatever it may happen to be, and give our energies to the destruction of the evils which impair the development and the realization of a bountiful harvest.
We do not, however, quit raising wheat or corn or other products because we encounter diffi- culties in production, but apply our energies to the cure of the evil, to the removal of those things which interfere with ultimate satisfactory fulfillment. In the arid regions we try to help nature by means of irrigation. In some years there are surpassing disappointments and in other years there are abundant harvests. His Ideal Democracy Did any of you ever apply that thought to human affairs? Because at times something goes wrong, because at times there are periods when untoward conditions pre- vail, because sometimes we are discouraged, we do not put aside, and must not put aside, the institutions of this Republic.
It is the duty of Americans in their govern- mental affairs to do precisely what they do in their pro- ductive affairs. We must diligently, conscientiously, and patriotically try to cure the evils which afflict us, and then go ahead. Harding The Government cannot make fortunes for its people; that is your business; but the Government can help and does seek to help.
It is always endeavoring to strike at and destroy the evils which become apparent, and to bring about such conditions for the people that they may acquire and achieve for themselves. To my mind that is the ideal democracy. So I hope that you will help your government, as I know your government means to help you, in striking at, and if possible eliminating, the evils that some- times menace our representative democracy.
That is the thought that I wish to bring to you. I am not on a speaking tour, although it has become a habit when the President travels to expect him to speak. I envy you your freedom from the cares that come to those in high position. You think it is a wonderful privilege to be President, and it is, my countrymen, though the man who occupies that office cannot escape having at times a somewhat different feeling, one which he will never know in any other capacity, when he comes to realize his responsibility for the welfare of this marvelous land of ours; but you are care-free; you are confident of the morrow.
I know you believe in your government. We have our different theories about government, but we are all concerned about the wel- fare of our common country. I know that the parents in this assemblage, like all others in America, wish for their boys and girls a little better Republic than has been their boast. It is the habit of American life — perhaps it may be a fault — to want our children to start where we left off; we want better things for them than we have had ourselves.
So far as I may speak, I, too, want them to have even a better government than their fathers have had, and I want them to live under even more inspiring and encouraging conditions than we of the present generation have known. The human tide is always flowing onward in America, and a conscientious citizenship will not only keep up with but will be in the van- guard, as it is today, in the procession of human affairs.
It is good to see you all, and I thank you for this greeting. IT IS a very great pleasure to greet you. I like that spirit in America which, even without an engagement or promise to stop and make an address, shows such reverence for our institutions as you have indicated by the display of "Old Glory" on the occasion of the visit of the President.
He is just an ordinary citizen of our common country until you clothe him with authority to speak for you in government. When you bring out the flag it is a suggestion of your reverence for 23 Last Speeches of President. Harding authority in America. I pray to God that we shall always have a Republic reverent of the law and ready to maintain its authority. It is not some fancied, unreal institution; it is merely the authority which you have set up for the adjustment of your relationships one to another.
And the law is merely a code for the adjustment of our mutual relationships. You would not want a government under which one community could thrive at the expense of another; you would not wish a Repubhc under which one group of citizens could prosper while another group could be enslaved. So, as we go along, seeking to provide the ideal government under which to live, we are constantly making adjustments in accordance with our conscience, our perceptions, and our better under- standing of the legal relationships which make for the com- mon good in this great Republic of ours.
Do not those of you in overalls ever think the government is not concerned about you, for there are so many of you that we want you to be as fortunate and prosperous and happy as anyone else in America. Williams, asked me to stop at Flora and enjoy the very pleasing ex- perience of knowing you better, of shaking hands for a few moments, and of saying a word of greeting to you; and I am happy to do so. I understand yours is a railroad community; but rail- road communities are not any different from other com- 24 Last Speeches of President.
Warren G Harding' munities in the United States. The service of communica- tion is an essential American service; and we are all inter- ested in the affairs which are necessary for our common happiness. I like to talk with the railroad employees. I have been confronted with some trying problems. An un- fortunate railway dispute occurred last year. I tried to bring about an adjustment of it, for we cannot have com- munication in the United States suspended at the dictum of either the railway managers or the railway workers, because — always remember this — the first interest of Amer- ica is the interest of all the people and not of any par- ticular portion of the people.
Good Wages for Railroad Men I want the railroad men well compensated. When I ride on a train I want to know that the man who keeps the track in repair, though his is the humblest job of all, will insure the safety of those who ride over it ; and I want the man in the cab to have a clear brain and a satisfied outlook upon life.
I want everybody who is concerned with the safety of the American public to be satisfied in his employment and to give the best that is in him to an ideal service to the people of the United States. Beyond that I want, everywhere, community happiness. Life is not in any sense one-sided, and should have no set bounds. Men should aspire always to reach an improved condition; to attain something of luxury, much of enjoyment, and all of happiness. K I may speak my heart to you today, I want to tell you with all the sin- cerity I can put in my words that the Federal government and those who speak for it want the citizens of the Repubhc to be blessed with the fullest measure of happiness.
I am really trying to get to Alaska, which is a long way off, and in the course of the journey it is good to have your cordial 25 Last Speeches of President Warren G. Harding' greetings ; it is good to know of your interest , and hearten- ing to know of your friendship. I should like you to believe that we reciprocate your very cordial greeting; we share your every hope, and we trust to have your support in every- thing worth while for the benefit and advantage of the United States of America.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: IT IS fine to see you; it is good to have you come out and greet us, and it is just as much pleasure for the President and Mrs. Harding to see you as it is for you to see them. I have been told that this is Mr. Yes, sir, it is. You have given a fine, lovable, worth while American to his country. Mayor, and Ladies and Gentlemen: IT IS very good of you to think of us and be so con- siderate of us as we are passing through your city. It would be a joy to shake hands with each and every one of you, but our time is so short that that is not possible.
I can do no more than thank you for coming out to greet 26 Last Speeches of President. Harding us and giving us the opportunity of seeing you as examples of splendid Americans. He discovered America, and though he saw only some of the islands on the coast, yet he thought he saw a wonderland. Then we be- gan to develop, and the tide of development moved westward until we conquered a continent; but there is nobody in the United States, the President not excepted, who understands the incomparable material wealth and possibilities of this great land of ours.
Our travels so far have brought us only to Illinois, not yet to the Mississippi, but it seems as though we have journeyed for a day through unending possibilities in ma- terial resources and among countless citizens of the Re- public who, if they are not proud and happy under Amer- ican conditions, have been pretending to be all along the way. We are young in America; but we have done so well that I believe God Himself must have intended that this great Republic of ours, this wonderful land, should be an inspiration to the world.
Let us make sure of it for ourselves, and then give of our influence and sympathy to help all the world. Chairman and Fellow Rotarians: IF I ever make another application for Rotarian member- ship and a special class cannot be found in which to place me, I am going to propose that they admit me as the chief consumer of films in the United States. Harding' It is a joy to come and greet you.
You are not pre- cisely on my schedule; but let me say that if I could plant the spirit of Rotary in every community throughout the world I would do so, and then I would guarantee the tran- quility and the forward march of the world. Story of the Blacksmith I can understand how you have grown and how you have come to exercise a great influence.
It is because, fellow Rotarians, no matter whence you come, service is the greatest thing in the world [Applause], and you are always performing some service, and doing so conscien- tiously. You are saving America from a sordid existence and putting a little more of soul in the life of this Republic.
I do not want our America to be without some practical conception of service, and then I want that conception put into practice. Nor do I come to recommend a service that shall be wholly free from compensation. Every service in life worth while has its compensation. Some of you, perhaps, have seen what I consider one of the greatest plays, if not the greatest, that was ever written. He taught the dissatisfied house servant that after all there was a dignity to the humblest service in the world, and that honesty ought to attend it; he taught the dishonest gambler how honesty would elevate his life; he put an end to the snob, and everywhere, by the preaching of the dignity of and the compensation in service he transformed an unhappy household into one of the happiest and most harmonious.
Harding' My convictions came from the atmosphere of the small town in which I began my life. In that little town where I ran a newspaper for so many years — I will not recount their number — one day there came a modest little black- smith, who had nothing in the world but genius in his head and courage in his heart. He did not have a dollar of money, but with his genius and his courage he convinced some other men that he could be of service in the upbuilding of that community by the establishment of an industry.
He succeeded in establishing it, and it grew until the modest little blacksmith became the outstanding captain of industry in that community. As he served he profited in serving; he aided working men to acquire homes; he relieved the distressed; he offered sympathy. He was the outstanding figure in a community of twenty or twenty-five thousand people, and one day when, all too soon, his career of service came to an end, every activity in that community was stopped, and everybody halted to do reverence to the memory of a man who had come to the village to serve and to make it and his fellows better.
Put Ideals Into Practice I can give you a more striking example than that, how- ever. In a town in Ohio some years ago, there lived a veteran of the Civil War, whose heroism and whose capacity combined to make him a brigadier general in the war for the Union; but he, unfortunately, had his public career marred prior to the war without any fault on his part, and so he was obliged to forego public life for which he was emi- nently fitted. However, he gave of his eloquent tongue, unmatched in America, to service, and he gave of his great big heart to service, and he gave of his practical mind to service, so that he became the greatest contributor to the community in which he resided.
One day when he came to his end, after ripened years, not only did the whole community stop to mourn him, but every tear that was dropped upon the bier of General W. Gibson reflected the rainbow that spanned the arch between reverence and affection. There was paid to this humble man of service the greatest tribute that community life may pay.
Harding' Oh, fellow Rotarians, your service is not alone in developing your ideals; it is in putting your ideals into practice. If we can all get down to service, ample service, honest service, helpful service, and appreciate the things that humanity must do to insure recovery, then there will come out of the great despondency and discouragement and dis- tress of the world a new order; and some day I fancy I shall see the emblem of Rotary in the foreground, because you of Rotary, representative of the best we have in America, have played your big part in making service one of the appraised worth while offerings of humankind.
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YOU little realize how much satisfaction there comes to the Chief Executive of the Nation in being able to participate in this civic function in your great city. It is a very genuine pleasure to me because we can only have a great Nation as we build up cities and communities.
So those who are charged with the affairs of the National government have just as deep concern for the welfare of the city as those who reside therein. We can only make of America the reflex of the communities which in the aggregate constitute it, and, therefore, this manifestation of civic interest and civic conscience and the civic soul of St. Louis is of concern to all America, not for what you do among yourselves alone, but for what you inspire throughout the country. Harding As your president has stated, it has been my fortune to appear as the guest of the City Club in the past, and I confess with a httle more pleasure, and a little less of anxiety than I have today, for then it did not so much m.
Knowing as I do the soul of the City Club, knowing as I do what it brings to your citizenship and to your virile, vigorous city-making force, and knowing that it brings into your councils and your discussions much of the best thought of the day, I ask you, what the value of it is, unless you translate thought into conviction, and then put the con- viction into performance?
Teachings of Conscience I like people in the cities, in the States and in the Nation to ask themselves now and then: I know you mean in this new edifice to center the various civic activities of the community; and Rotary teaches the lesson of service. In connection with that, I want to bring to your minds the teaching of conscience, for if you will give me service and conscience and patriotism in this Republic of ours, I promise you, my countrymen, we will make it better from day to day, and keep it the finest place under God's footstool in which to live.
NO ONE could be insensible to the hospitality of your welcome. If I were not disposed to speak for myself of my gratitude, I could not resist speaking my apprecia- tion of the kind references to and friendly interest in Mrs. I know it is not unseemly for me to say that she takes quite as much interest in seeing you as you do in seeing her or the President. In an official journey from Washington to our great Territory of Alaska, our first stop halts us in your hos- pitable city, and affords an opportunity for renewed acquaintance and better understanding.
I suppose it is perfectly natural to expect the President, when he travels, to stop and make report to the community he is seeking to serve. It has seemed to me that nearly every city and village from the Potomac to the Pacific has bestowed an invitation and a tender of hospitality. I like to say to you, because in saying it to you I am speaking to many others in this marvelous age of communication, that I very genuinely regret the impossibility of accepting all of them.
Quite apart from the personal satisfaction and renewed assurance in direct contact with our people, I think there is vast benefit in bringing the government a little closer to the people, and the people a little closer to govern- ment and closer to those temporarily charged with official responsibility. Harding- You view government from afar, and I am not sur- prised that you wonder now and then, because you receive occasional reflexes which are so erroneous that official Wash- ington itself cannot understand them.
And those of us who are in Washington live in an atmosphere of officialdom which often hinders our knowledge of the thoughts around the American fireside, and the activities which daily make the essential life of the Nation. These are conditions not easily to be avoided. Our government is the biggest busi- ness in the world, and like any other business it requires the management to be more or less diligently at work. Congress has been more or less continually in session for eight years, and under our coordinated form of govern- ment the President must be more or less "in session" at the same time.
I am rejoiced to speak to you as your President, reporting on the state of affairs to the stockholders of this Republic. After Effects of War I do not come, my countrymen, with a partisan report, though I am politically a partisan and believe in the utter necessity of political parties.
One only serves his party by first serving his country well, and good service to his country ought to be the aspiration of every citizen of our land. The present national administration came into responsi- bility at a very difficult time. Our country found itself in a bad way in the aftermath of World War. We had ex- pended in heedlessness; we had inflated in madness; we had rushed into the abnormal, and found ten thousand difficulties in resuming our normal stride. There was the inevitable business slump. It follows every war. It applies to business in every line — finance, industry, agriculture.
And business reflexes are felt by every citizen, no matter how humble or how great. We found in the inevitable reflux of the war tide threatened financial ability, agricul- tural distress, and vast unemployment. A survey of unem- 33 Last Speeches of President. Harding ployment revealed four and a half to five millions of workers without jobs. I leave the appraisal of all relief efforts, legislative, executive, or administrative, to your own judg- ment. There is complaint about that, too, but, since we cannot always preserve the actual balance, I prefer a land which is seeking workmen to a country where discouraged men are hunting for jobs.
I like to believe we have recovered because we avoid the paths of destructive experi- mentation, ignore mad theories, and cling tenaciously to the foundations of business and property rights and human rights, which have made ours the most rapidly and most safely developed representative democracy in all the world. We have done more than banish unemployment; we have made our way to financial stability, without which there is little permanent employment.
And we halted the extremists who caught their inspiration in European mad- ness, and proposed to destroy our social order because of temporary ills, rather than cure the ills. I believe America tonight, with confidence in herself, is a fine example to the world of a people capable of laying aside their arms, grappling a reconstruction problem, and digging down to hard work to effect the needed restoration, rather than to fling aside all they had wrought in a century of hopeful progress, and thereby subscribe to destruction in the name of social democracy.
We gave business a chance to resume, and assured it that honest success is no crime in the United States. Then, to prove that we meant to have more business in government, we struck at the extrava- gance which grew in war's fevered activities, we pruned government expenditures, and reduced the government per- 34 Last Speeches of President Warren G. Harding sonnel, not by thousands but by tens of thousands, and went a long way in reducing government outlay. We sought to substitute for the exactions of war the convictions of peace.
We inaugurated the budget system of government financ- ing, and thereby effected reductions in government outlay amounting to billions. Of course, this enormous reduction was made possible mainly because we suspended war activ- ities and ended war commitments, but we drove at the ordinary expenditures in the peace-time business of govern- ment, and lopped aff hundreds of millions at a time, and we have proven to the world, in spite of a gigantic debt and its interest burdens, that here is a government resolved to live within its income.
We were always keeping in mind the people who pay in lifting our country out of the slough of depression and despondency. In the simplest expression possible, we were trying to get this great country of ours on the right track again. The anxiety was in behalf of no one interest, but for all interests.
We were anxious alike for the great captain of industry and his working army. We had concern for him whom we sometimes call the little chap, who makes up the great industrial procession, who is little noted because he walks in the ranks, but whose good fortune is a foremost essential to national happiness and content- ment. We safeguarded against our own destruction being 35 Lo. Harding effected by the world's demoralization, but we never hin- dered the world's honest efforts at recovery. On the whole, we contemplate fortunate conditions today, and I believe they are going to abide.
We are the most prosperous people in the world. I do not share the belief that we have effected only temporary relief. I never did share the convictions of many men that our permanent recovery could only come after complete collapse, which we have so happily avoided. International Obligations It is too early now safely to appraise the competition of the world restored, but the world must take cognizance of the new order as well as we. War wrought an emancipa- tion of men and changed conditions of production which the Old World must recognize before a stable order is restored to it.
Our recovery is based on a prompt recogni- tion of the new order, socially just and economically sound, and I am sure we will "carry on. I share your gratification, and have full confidence for the morrow. These things, briefly related, with great satisfaction in progress made, are meant to serve as a foundation for a wholly frank statement to you of St.
Louis and Missouri, and to all the United States, concerning my convictions about the attitude of this Republic toward other nations of the world. The President's impressions concerning inter- national relationships are necessarily founded upon official experience which can come, because of the duties of office, to none other except the Secretary of State. The endless problems of foreign relations are relatively little revealed to the world. Most frequently they are more readily adjusted because they are not revealed, though it is fair to assure you that nothing of vital importance is unduly hidden from the people for whom the government speaks.
Week by week, day by day, often hour by hour, there are problems in our international relations which are 36 Last Speeches of President. Harding no more to be avoided than the vital questions of our own relationships at home. The citizen who believes in aloof- ness is blind to inescapable obligations, insensible to the twentieth century world order, and unmindful of our com- mercial interdependence about which the modern business fabric has come to be woven. In his never-to-be-forgotten Farewell Address, in which the first President compressed the gospel of our mutual interests at home and our proper relations abroad, he said: Cultivate peace and harmony with all.
Re- ligion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? Alas, is it rendered impossible by its vices? That it has been heeded scru- pulously we are proud to assume the world believes. That we have, indeed, observed good faith and have exalted jus- tice above all other agencies of civilization, barring only Christianity, surely none can deny with truth.
Opposes League of Nations And we have cultivated peace, not academically and passively merely, but in practical ways and by active endeavors. Even as Washington appended his signature to his most memorable and far-reaching declaration, a new principle had been written into the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, had been sustained by the Congress, at his resolute insistence, and was in full force and effect.
That principle was arbitration, which was not only employed successfully at the time, but became from that moment an established policy of the Republic, from which, to this day, there has been no departure. Thus, clearly, by the method already operative in sub- stituting reason for prejudice, law for obduracy, and jus- tice for passion, the Father of his Country bade us, no 37 Last Speeches of President Warren G.
It is with that high purpose in mind and at heart, men and women of America, that I advocate participation by the United States in the Permanent Court of International Justice. Two conditions may be considered indispensable: First, that the tribunal be so constituted as to appear and to be, in theory and in practice, in form and in sub- stance, beyond the shadow of doubt, a world court and not a league court. Second, that the United States shall occupy a plane of perfect equality with every other power.
There is no consequential dispute among us concern- ing the League of Nations. There are yet its earnest advo- cates, but the present administration has said, repeatedly and decisively, that the league is not for us. We can not hope to get anywhere except in the frankest understanding of facts.
The authors of the court protocol, cooperating with a brilliant American leadership, turned to the league organization for the court electorate to solve a problem in choosing judges heretofore unsolv- able. Though I firmly believe we could adhere to the court protocol, with becoming reservation, and be free from every possible obligation to the league, I would frankly prefer the court's complete independence of the league. Argument for World Court Just as frankly, let me say that I have not held it seemly, in view of oft-repeated declaration favorable to the world court establishment, to say to the nations which have established very much what we have wished that they must put aside their very commendable creation because we do not subscribe to its every detail, or fashion it all anew and to our liking, in every specific detail, before we offer our assistance in making it a permanent agency of improved international relationship.
Harding Government can never successfully undertake the solu- tion of a great problem unless it can frankly submit it to the people. It is for these reasons that I confess these objections. I recognize the constitutional requirement of Senate ratification, and I believe that the tide of public sentiment will be reflected in the Senate. I am so eager for the ultimate accomplishment that I am interested in harmonizing opposing elements, and am more anxious to effect our helpful commitment to the court, than I am to score a victory for executive insistence.
Let us, there- fore, appraise some of the determining factors which must be considered in hopefully mapping our course.
The Hague Tribunal Nearly three years ago, by an overwhelming majority, the people rejected the proposal of the administration then in power to incorporate the United States in the League of Nations. To assert that those 16,, voters did not know what they were doing is to insult their intelligence, and to deny the facts. Whatever other considerations may have influenced their judgment were purely incidental. The paramount issue, boldly, defiantly advanced in unmistakable terms by the Democratic Party and espoused by the Demo- cratic candidate for President, was indorsement of the demand of the then Democratic President.
I dislike the use of party names in dealing with a problem which has now passed far beyond party association, but I want the world court proposal utterly dissociated from any intention of entrance into the league, and I recite the history in order to paint the background. Moreover, I am so earnest in my desire to have the United States give support to the court that I would gladly wipe out factional difference to effect the great accomplishm.
If the country had desired to join the league, in it had its opportunity. It most emphatically refused. It would refuse again, no less decisively today. There has been no change in condition. It is the same league. Not a line in the rejected covenant has been altered, not a phrase modified, not a word omitted or added. Article 39 Last Speeches of President. Harding' X still stands as the heart of the compact. Article XI and all other stipulations objected to and condemned by the American people remain untouched, in full force in theory, however circumspectly they are being ignored in practice.
In the face of the overwhelming verdict of , there- fore, the issue of the League of Nations is as dead as slavery. But let there be no misunderstanding. I did not say three years ago, and I do not say now, that there is no element in the league organization which might be util- ized advantageously in striving to establish helpful, prac- tical cooperation among the nations of the earth.
On the contrary, I recognized generally then, and perceive more precisely now, rudiments of good in both the league and the Hague Tribunal. The abstract principle of a world court found its genesis in The Hague Tribunal. The concrete application of that prin- ciple has been made by the league. Sound theory and admirable practice have been joined successfully.
The court itself is not only firmly established but has clearly demon- strated its utility and efficiency. It is a true judicial tribunal. Its composition is of the highest order. None better, none freer, from selfish, partisan, national, or racial prejudices or influences could be obtained. That, to the best of my information and belief, is a fact universally admitted and acclaimed.
I insist only that its integrity, its independence, its complete and continuing freedom be safe- guarded absolutely. The Sole Question Involved The sole question is whether the requirements which I have enumerated as essential to adherence by the United States can be met. My answer is that where there is a unanimous will, a way can always be found. I am not wedded irrevocably to any particular method.
I would not assume for a moment that the readjustment of the existing arrangement which appears to my mind as feasible is the best, much less the only, one. But, such as it is, I submit it, without excess of detail, as a basis for consideration, discussion, and judgment. Granting the noteworthy excellence, of which I, for one, am fully convinced, of the court as now constituted, why not proceed in the belief that it may be made self- perpetuating?
This could be done in one of two ways; 1 by empowering the court itself to fill any vacancy arising from the death of a member or retirement for what- ever cause, without interposition from any other body; or 2 by continuing the existing authority of the Permanent Court of Arbitration to nominate and by transferring the power to elect from the council and assembly of the league to the remaining members of the court of justice. The fixing of compensation of the judges, the super- vision of expenditures, the apportionment of contributions, etc.
Thus, incidentally, would be averted the admitted unfairness of the present system, which imposes a tax upon members of the league who are not subscribers to the court. His Deference for the Senate The exclusive privilege now held by the league to seek advisory legal guidance from the court might either be abolished, or, more wisely perhaps, be extended to any member or group of member nations. Thus all would be served alike, subject as now to determination by the court 41 Last Speeches of President Warren G. Harding itself of the kind of questions upon which it would render judgment.
The disparity in voting as between a unit nation and an aggregated empire, which now maintains in the assembly of the league, to which many object because of apprehen- sions which I do not share, would, under this plan, disappear automatically. These observations are not to be construed as sug- gesting changes in the essential statute of the court, or the enlargement or diminution of its numerical strength, or modifying the proper provision that a nation having a cause before the court, which is not represented among the judges, may name one of its own nationals to sit in that particular case.
Such, in brief, is an outline of the basis upon which I shall hope, at the opening of Congress, for the consent of the Senate to initiate negotiations with the powers which have associated themselves with the Permanent Court of International Justice. I should like to say to you, in pass- ing, my countrymen, that the usual order has been reversed — I hope somewhat to your satisfaction — so that the Presi- dent, instead of negotiating arrangements abroad and then asking the assent of the Senate, has in this important matter gone first to the Senate for its assent before under- taking negotiations abroad.
We can not hope to attain perfection or to satisfy extreme demands.
The best and the most we can do is to appeal, let us hope success- fully, to reasonable minds and, with sturdy faith, be true to ourselves and ready for our duties as liberty-loving, duty- realizing Americans. Their number is not large, and they can not hope to prevail. There are those who, in fear and trembling, proclaim their opinion that this 42 Last Speeches of President.
Warren G, Harding mighty Republic should live as a hermit Nation. They, too, are few and hold to an impossible position. In an endeavor to obtain actual results, both may be safely omitted from serious consideration. But two great groups, comprising a vast majority of our people, need to be considered, and between these there lies no difference in professed desire. I am striving for fulfillment of that expressed desire. Both urge participa- tion of the United States in a World Court of Justice, in fulfillment of our age-long aspiration and in conformity with our unbroken tradition.
The distinction between the two is not one of essential principle or of avowed intent, but one only of fact and opinion. Sentiment for World Court There are those who hold that the creation of the existing court under a distinct protocol, instead of directly under the covenant of the league, removes every tincture of subservience or obligation. For present purposes, grant- ing its correctness, there can be no real objection to clarify- ing the fact in plain, simple terms, to the end that all doubts shall be dispelled and that all minds shall be wholly convinced by ready understanding instead of being only partially persuaded by intricate exposition.
If, as we all believe, the corner stone of every judicial structure is un- questioning faith in its integrity, I am unwilling to deprive it of any particle of strength which would enhance popular respect for and confidence in its decisions. Surely no harm, but rather much good, might spring from simplification of an admitted condition. The other large group comprises those who, while equally earnest in advocacy of an international tribunal, regard the present court with suspicion because of its origin.
This objection, for reasons which I have noted, is unimportant. Indeed, from a practical viewpoint, I con- sider it a matter of distinct congratulation that there is 43 Last Speeches of President. Harding' in existence a body which already has justified itself, upon its merits, by demonstration of its character and capabilities.
A Test of Sincerity The whole question of support or opposition on the part of these two controlling groups clearly resolves into a test of sincerity. When once American citizens have comprehended that vital point, I shall have no doubt of their answer. I have taken very frank cognizance of the avowed objections, because we have come to this very test of sin- cerity.
Except for the very inconsiderable minority, which is hostile to any participation in world effort toward security, which our better impulses are ever urging, there is overwhelming sentiment favorable to our support of a world court. But I want the United States to give its influence to the world court already established. Since any adherence must be attended by reservations, I am willing to give consideration to our differences at home and thereby remove every threatening obstacle worth considering, so that we may go whole-heartedly to the world with an authorized tender of support.
So much for the domestic phases of this problem. But there is another phase. I hear the voice of the doubter: The forty nations which have signed the protocol will refuse to make these changes. They have formulated their plans, have arranged their procedure, have constructed their machin- ery, have established a going concern; they are not only themselves content, but they can see no reason why the few remaining powers should not be equafly satisfied with the result of their endeavors.
Harding attempt at dictation. It would be an act of discourtesy, if not indeed of unfriendliness, on the part of the American government to approach them along these lines. They will spurn the offer. They will not brook interference from an outsider. They will not consent to upset or modify their fait accompli. The whole project will fall to the ground. Pri- marily, at this time, it is to satisfy the acknowledged hope and to comply with the earnest wish of our sister States that we are striving to find a way to join and strengthen the one body created by them which bears promise of eliminating the need of war to regulate international rela- tions.
We wish no more of war. To submit terms which we consider essential to the preservation of our nationality is not an act of discourtesy ; it is the only fair, square, and honorable thing a great, self-respecting nation can do. So far from being unfriendly, it springs from a sincere desire, through frank and intimate association, to help to restore stability, and, in the words of Washington, to ''cultivate peace" throughout the world.
The United States Is Not a Suppliant Manifestations of resentment at our pursuing this natural and usual course would appear far less as evidences of indignation than would attend a course of aloofness, or an utter disregard for so notable an international endeavor. The United States is not a suppliant. Nor has it the slightest desire to become a master. It is and must be an equal, no more and no less, regardless of its relative material power or moral authority, ever conscious of its own rights, but never denying the like, in even proportion, to another.
And what is the crux of conditions which I have ven- tured to suggest as constituting a basis for negotiation? The making of the world court precisely what its name implies, and for which we have so earnestly spoken. Can it be possible that, despite their protestations to the contrary, this is not what some of our sister States at heart desire? Must there be a test of sincerity abroad 45 Last Speeches of President.
Then the more quickly it can be made, the better for them and the better for us. There is nothing to be accomplished in ambiguity. We want to know; and the only way to find out is to inquire. Very recently a striking message was flashed through the air from Rome to Washington. I wish Italy to be the same and shall try to make her so. And God grant that America shall never forfeit the high honor borne by that sentient tribute from Mussolini! It is crafted in a way to give you the feel of a real book.
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