The Wanganui Chronicĺe. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1920. PRESIDENT HARDING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18018, 5 November 1920, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicĺe. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1920. PRESIDENT HARDING.

To a people accustomed to the exercise of the popular franchise on the Jirst-past-the-post principle, as we have It in New Zealand, the method by which the people of the United States chose their President and Vice-President doubtless appears somewhat cumbrous and undemocratic. Briefly stated, the people elect electors, and these electors are chosen by ballot by the qualified votes of the State on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The constitution of the United States prescribes that each State shall “appoint” in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress, but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be an elector. The constitution requires that the day when the electors are chosen shall be the same throughout the United States. In this instance the primary votes, which have just been cast, have evidently resulted in such an overwhelming majority for the Republican candidate, Mr. Harding, as to make his ultimate election by the presidential electors absol- , utely assured. In pre-war times the outside -world was but little concerned in the selection of the American President. When the war came, however, America’s policy in relation to the issues involved became a matter of grave international concern, and occasioned world-wide interest in the Presidential contest of 1916. *-On this occasion the.onlooking nations are equally interested, because they realise that it will rest with the new regime to finally determine America’s attitude towards the League of Nations. Mr. Harding’s election leaves this important issue still in the realms of doubt. Mr. Cox, the defeated Democrat, stood for the Covenant practically without reservation; but the position of the President-elect is by no means so clear. In his speech of acceptance he pronounced against the League, and in favour of peace with Germany and a new Treaty. In later speeches he modified this extreme view. On August 28th he advocated an International Court of Law, and declared against a separate peace with Germany. A week later he was advocating an indefinite “League of Free Nations,” and by the middle of September he had filled all minds with doubt as to what really might be expected of him if he were sent to the White House. Mr. Taft, who is a friend of the League, and a Republican like Senator Harding, declared that he was convinced, after conferring with the Senator, that the League was safe in his hands. But Mr. Hiram Johnson, the most prominent of the West Republicans, and gn extreme opponent of the League, appealed for support for Senator Harding, on the ground that he was a trustworthy enemy of the ■ League. We may not have to wait long for some more clear and de-

finite indication of the lead the new President will give in this matter, and in the meantime the election has virtually no other interest for the world at large.