Nov. 5.
Is spite of eleventh hour "'sensations,"' mystery letters' and the like, the earlier forecasts have proved true and Senator Harding is elected to the great position of President of the United States by a majority as overwhelm" ing as that which carried the late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman to power in 1905. In_actual working, these. vast majorities are not always an unmissed blessing. Apart from the top-heaviness of the political machinery they involve, they mean that the country expects a great deal more than it is always convenient to grant—in this case, no doubt, lower taxation and cheaper cost of living, neither of which can a Government guarantee with any assurance. Nevertheless we congratulate Senator Harding and wish him all prosperity.
Those who have been in a hurry to hail his election as defeat for the League of Nations' do not, perhaps, enough allow for the enormous difference between being ''in'' and ''out'' of power. We do not, by that, imply any inconsistency in Sena-for Harding, or that, as President, he will instantly be converted to the League; but merely that, in office, he is bound to see matters differently from what he did when in opposition: for one thing, he is open to the representations of foreign Ambassadors as never before.
Whatever the fate of the League, we sincerely hope that his term of office will see the strengthening of those new ties of friendship and mutual understanding between America and Britain which, forged in war, should never be relaxed. We have this to thank Senator Harding for, that, notwithstanding the tremendous strength of the Irish machine, he courageously refused to have anything to do with the Irish Republic." That is good augury for the future, and so, again, we wish him well.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.