The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-06-21
Enough Political Threats
Were Cut in Convention
City to Make Congress Ho-
tel a Shambles.
DOUBLE AND TRIPLE
CROSSES WERE USED
There Were Strategists Ga
lore, but in Saner Times
They Would Be Bluntly
Called Lunatics.
BY SAMUEL G. BLYTHE.

BY SAMUEL G. BLYTHE.
Copyright; 1912: By Saml G. Blythe)
CHICAGO, June 21.-Half the poll
ticians in Chicago for the convention
carried plots about with them yester-
day, and the other half toted counter
plots. Enough political throats were
cut to make the Congress hotel re-
semble a shambles, had anything but
hot air issued from the wounds. So
far from being content with the beau
were numerous experts who evolved
a fancy line of work and triple and
even quadruple crossed friends and
enemies with equal impartiality.
And strategy! One bumped into
strategists at every turn. That is, it
is potter to call them strategists. In
other than convention times they
would be called lunatics, and long be-
fore the day was done would have had
the net thrown over them. Here, how
ever, so great was the excltcment,
that any sort of lunacy passed for in
side information and most inside in
formation was lunatic. Every story
had believers, and there was a fresh
story every minute. The day began
with a political temperature of 104 and
worked up to 166 before the leaders
had had their coffee, and by nightfall
there was an immense accumulation of
ofc
ordinary corticular fools spouting mis-
information until they resembled a
collection of Old Faithful geysers, but
were of even less utilitarian value.
VoIley Of DeniaIs.
1t was great! Denials to absolute
air tight information came SO rapidly
that it became the custom to put out
the denial in advance of the story, like
this: "The Roosevelt headquarters, at
1927 p. m, herewith denies the story
that will be put out at o'clock by
some ardent partisan of the colonel"
New parties were born on the hour
and new politicians gasped and fell in
throes of depreciation and disgust
each fifteen minutes. Every man was
leader No man had followers. The
whole, reeking, roaring, raucous mass
resembled the Haitian army which
consists of 2,784 generals and one pri-
vate.
They had Roosevelt leading bolt
and bolting a lead. They had the Taft
men putting shot at the feet Of an
obese president and dropping him sill
emily in the lake. They had every
available man, and a dozen SO una
vainable they couldn't be elected
pound masters, as the sure solution of
the pressing problem, and when it
was all over the whole aggregation of
dopesters, tipsters, insiders, outsiders,
seers, and students Of political science
wiped their fevered brows and asked
each other what it was all about any
how.
Facts Were Worthless.
1t wasn't necessary for a story to
be true. A fact in a circumstantial
narrative deprecated the worth of it
about 80 per cent. All that was neces-
sary was that a story should be told.
and instantly it was flying up and
down the corridors and through the
lobbies and hither and yon on the
streets, embroidered and frilled by
each person who handled it, and i'm
parted each time as the real stuff.
The batting average of these players in
Flubdub league was thousand each.
They made hit every time they came
to bat, and they were constantly at
bat Meantime a thunder storm hap
pened along late in the afternoon, but
nobody noticed it. They thought the
thunder was the deep bass roar of the
California delegation, which makes the
terrifying threat if T. Roosevelt is not
nominated California will secede from
the union and take the fair out to some
beautiful isle of the sea just to get
even.
1t wasn't good day for Col Roose-
welt. Early in the morning. indeed. late
the night before, it had been announc-
ed he was about to bolt, and he occu-
pied that imminent and interesting po-
sition in the yarns told all day long.
The crowds seemed to think his bolt
ing would take the form of high dive
from his window on the corner of the
boulevard and Congress street into the
seething mass of people below, and
waited patiently and expectantly to OBJ
serve his daring descent. Others
thought it was his intention to go UP
i'm a balloon and do a parachute act,
defying the national committee as he
came down. but it was pointed out
that the Roosevelt folks were all up in
the air anyhow, and not more than
seven out of ten believed this.
There was no net results of the day
All results were gross, to say nothing
of Grass, and when the last highball
! was drunk and the last rumor waS
stiiled, the situation which had been
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