Friday, August 27, 1920

Senator Harding, Mrs. Harding, and several friends travel by car to Galion, Ohio, this afternoon. The candidate gives a speech at an "athletic tournament of employees of the Erie Railway," which he describes as "a campaign speech about play":

This occasion of your athletic tournament furnishes me with an opportunity to present to you and later on, I hope, to as many Americans as I can reach, something for all of us to think about deeply. 

From time immemorial the nations and races which have been fit to assume leadership in the world were those whose people knew how to excel in athletic sports and had not forgotten how to play — and how to play hard. The great civilizations — those which have left a profound effect upon the development of mankind, those which have contributed not only to exploration, to the extension of orderly government, to supremacy of arms but even in greater measure to the thought and philosophy of the world have been the nations that developed athletic sports — who know how to play. There was Greece, famous for the original Olympic games; there was Rome, that for centuries kept alive the customs of athletic competition in her arenas; there is the United Kingdom, great extender of enlightenment to far comers of the earth. Japan, leader in the Orient, built her power and her alertness by a tradition of training in competitive games such as wrestling and sword play. And, thank God, there is America, the stronghold of liberty and the square deal, which still can take the honors in the world's competitions in healthy sports.

I am glad to make a campaign speech about play. I believe that play, not mere entertainment, not reading comic strips or "passing the time," as some say, but real play, play that gives a man or woman a chance to express himself or herself as an individual, is one of the finest assets in our national life and one of the best builders of character. 

However, he covers many topics, and the Star leads with the news that he "declared that some day railway workers will hail the Cummins-Esch law as the greatest forward step in the history of railway legislation." That law put the railroads back into private hands.

Let me tell you the things which are in my heart about railway employment. No matter what any one tells you, no matter what your own erroneous impressions are, no thoughtful man in business or private life, no earnest man in public life is without a deep concern for the good fortunes of every railway worker, in the shop, in the yards or office, on the track or on the trains — every man in the service. We may differ about the way to best conditions and the assurances of soul and contentment in your work, but we are agreed about the ends at which we aim. 

In the evening, the women in Marion celebrate the suffrage victory with a demonstration through the city and a visit to the Harding residence:

As reported in the Star, "Pauline Foreman, ten-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Foreman, dressed to represent 'Uncle Sam' and accompanied by Muriel McMurray, four-year-old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James Wilson McMurray, dressed in the suffrage color of yellow, preceded the women and attracted much attention all along the line of march. Little Miss Foreman carried the ballot for women, tied in the suffrage colors and her tiny companion, in her own sweet self, represented the womanhood of America."

Sources:

• "Cummins-Esch Law Is Praised." Marion Star. 27 August 1920.
• "Senator Called Regular Guy by Erie Workers." Marion Star. 28 August 1920.
• "Suffrage Victory Is Celebrated by Women." Marion Star. 28 August 1920.