The Washington times., 1912-06-23

Deliberate On Platform.
And with this new system in the
matter of nominations II may be con-
fidently expected there will come, also,
a new procedure in platform making.
The body Of delegates are entitled to
know something about the cooked UP
document that Is brought from a dark
room and submitted for their ap-
proval, which they almost invariably
give In a perfectly meaningless way.
No evil of the old convention system
| than this. D.
Even the control of the membership
of the convention by a dishonorable
and thieving national committee is
hardly worse than the gag which is
put upon the free expression of the
| conventions, the peoples sentiments
utter impossibillty Of satisfactory
consideration and discussion of the
| platform.
This is one of the evils that will end
close control that went down to de-
| struction in the tragic convention of
! the past six days. But that's another
| story. The present point Is that when
! the progressive delegates refused, in
! such numbers, to vote on the platform
/ at ALL 1t was recognized in an instant
that there was a real split in the
party.
Named In Flamboyant Speech.
| The division was emphasized yet fur
ther, when, as soon as the platform had
been adopted, the nomination of a can
didate for President became the order OF
business. President Taft was named In
! a famboyant speech, an old-fashioned
! political "oration," by Warren Harding,
of Ohio, late defeated candidate for
governor. Mr.: Harding talked a long
time to a convention that yawned even
as il pretended to demonstrate" In
| honor of the man II was certain to
name. When he had finished. the con-
venton rose to its feet with exactly the
air and mien of the baseball crowd at
the end of the fifth inning. It rose to
| stretch itself. to straighten the crtcks
out of its back after a long spell of sit
| ing, and to yawn.
Mr.. Harding wound up his Grafton in
approved fashion, with the name of his
: candidate. There was a pathetic enort
at cheering. The convention, as already
explained, rose lazilv Il its feet and
stretched; then having been silent for a
long time, 1t started to talk with itself.
| Everybody turned to his neighbor and
| wondered when the ballot would be
reached, whether any tther candidate
would be presented. and what the
chances We're for getting done In ane
| to catch the early evening train for
home. THE demonstration" consisted
of the hum of 10000 voices suddenly
| turned loose in conversation throughout
the great hall. That was all. There
was not a genuine. hearty, earnest
| cheer for the nominee.
Cummins Declines To Run.
La Toilette was nominated by Wiscon-
sin. while the name of Senator Cummins
| was not placed before the convention.
His followers, like those of Roosevelt,
were unwilling to give their countenance
to tire sort of a convention that had been
put together by the national committee
! porch climbers. They knew that they
were going to receive the votes or ldano.
and they had been under hopes to the
| very last that their man might have
good chance to be nominated II he were
| pressed; for the opposition to Taft even
! among delegates nominally for him, was
| active to the very end. But Climmins
| wired that his name must not be pre-
sented to a stolen convention. He want
ed no nomination secured through
theft. and his name did not go up.
! The roll call was marked oy one Oh
seen in a convention. 1t Illustrated the
temper of the opposing factions. The
! Roosevelt people did most of the cheer
| ing. They rose en-. masse when Cali
| fornia announced "Twenty-four present
| and not voting
California Gets Cheers.
This was the first Roosevelt State in
the alphabetical list, and 1t lived up to
the repute 1t had won for leadership in
| progressive fighting spirit The dele
gates cheered it wildly They made an
other demonstration when Illinois was
| called. and cast fifty-three votes for
| Roosevelt, two-those from Lorimers
district-for Taft. and recorded two as
not voting and one as absent. lndlana
stuck to its guns; the ten Roosevelt
voting for the colonel, while seven were
recorded as mot voting" Kansas got
an acclamation when its eighteen Roose-
welt delegates announced themselves as
So it went along down the list. Penn
| sylvania aroused a storm of enthusiasm
| when 1t announced sixty-two not voting;
| two for Roosevelt, nine for Tart. and
one absent Not real cheer came from
the Taft forces, even when their big
! gest delegations were plunked for the
candidate whom everybody recognized
as at once the victor and the van
1t was literally a case Of the defeated
force having all the enthusiasm and
taking it's beating with as much zest
and relish as a victory ordinarily dis
plays. And 1t was because the Roose-
Welt people knew that their magnificent
this ballot wa WAS fdZSs gSng sn
cerity. and purpose of their appeal for
a new political deal.
Roll Call Is Announced.
At the end of the call the President
was announced to have SOL votes, or
just twenty-one more than he must
have to put him over the line. With
nobody running against him, he had
just barely squeezed into the nom-
ination, l07 for Roosevelt, 344 re-
fused to vote. seventeen supported
Cummins-his faithful ten from Iowa
and seven of Idahos e!ght-while La
Toilette got t"-one-twenty-six from
Wisconsin, ten from North Dakota, and
five from South Dakota.
Once more a sorry effort at Demon
stration that died quickly. The throng
in the coliseum started for the doors
the call was made for nomination OF
candidates for Vice President; the con,
Vention tidgeted a few minutes. and
then sat down for the brief business oi
finishing its work.
1t was only one more demonstration
of the complete severance of relations
between the progressive and reaction
airy wings of the party that came when
the Vice Presidential nomination was
brought before the tired and disgusted
convention. Nobody had taken the least
interest in 1t. Borah. Cummins Kenyon,
Hadley, and Beveridge, all progress
sives, had been offered second place, on
the theory that a good Western pro-
gressive would help things somewhat.
But all of them rejected the offer with