The Washington times., 1912-06-29

thick over the camp OF Clark all
through the morning. Since the con-
vention adjourned to meet again at
1 o'clock, there has been no real rift
in a situation that is discouraging to
the Speakers following.
The Indications are strong that the
Clark boom has reached its height,
and that II will be impossible for the
Speaker to get the wo-thirds needed
to nominate. The most desperate and
herculean efforts Of the Clark man
ayers have failed to bring them with
in sight of the goal.
Twelve ballots in all have been
taken in the convention. In the
tenth ballot the ninety votes of New
York were thrown to Clark by
Charles e. Murphy, boss OF Tam
many and political lieutenant of
Thomas Fortune Ryan. These votes
went to Clark for three ballots.
But even with these ballots and
with frantic efforts OF the Clark men
to force a stampede, the highest fig
IRE the Clark forces could reach was
556 votes. This is 40 votes short Of
the necessary two-thirds. That figure
was reached on the tenth ballot. On
the twelfth ballot, the Clark strength
had dropped back to 547 Before
Clz>k got the Murphy vote, he had a
maximum of ASP votes. In other
words, the swinging of the vote of
| Murphy to him did not bring him
additional votes worth the mention
ing. ''
How He Could Win.
II the votes OF Underwood, Marshall,
and Harmon all were to be thrown to
Clark. he would he nominated. On the
| last ballot, Underwood had 123, Harmon
%, and Marshall 90 This is a total of
| 1S2. Should this go in a group to Clark
he would get the nomination. The
trouble Is that the Underwood vote Is
honeycombed with Wilson second choice
strength. No indication has yet ap-
peared that Underwood can shift 1t bod
fly to Clark II he wants to. Once that
is attempted then the strength of Will
son will mount up to more than one
third Of the convention, and here again
Clark will be blocked. Many Of the
Clark delegations contain men who pre-
| fer Wilson to Clark. and they, are not
poing to permit Clark to be named un-
| less driven into II.
large obstacle to the nomination
| Of Mr.. Clark at this critical juncture in
an intensely exciting situation is cool,
calm suave, self-contained gentleman
who sits over his office in WASHINGTON
surveying the scene from a distance,
quiet and unperturbed He has not been
! excited at any stage of these proceed
| ings. While leaders and delegates have
| been spending sleeplesS nights and get
| ting themselves worn, bedraggled and
weary, with their brains tagged and
feverish. he has been getting his usual
rest and is entirely serene. This gentle
man is Oscar Underwood. of Alabama.
leader of the House Democrats and
chairman of the Ways and Means Com
mittee.
In No Hurry.
Underwood is in no hurry to let go
of his delegates. He sees the possibility
Of winning by sitting tight and holdin g
fast He has no ambition to make
himself a stepping stone fer tie use
either of Speaker Clark or Governor
! Wilson.
1t has been dangled before him that
II he will but give way to Clark he
will be the next Speaker. But he has
so far refused to jump at the bait. He
knows, in his clear-headed fashion.
that the next speakership will not be
Mr. Clark's to deliver, providing Mr..
Clark retires from this contest beaten.
and in that event he would probably be
able to win 1t anyhow.
In other words the Clark trading
stock. when scrutinized by Underwood
does not seem highly valuable. The
astute Underwood cannot fail to un-
derstand that with Roosevelt certain to
take the field II Clark is nominated
Clark as the Democratic candidate
would be in danger of defeat. And II
defeated 1t is pertinent to ask what
would be the deliverable goods which
the Speaker would control.
Therefore Mr.. Underwood Is playine
his own game and playing 1t we'll. He
is practically his own campaign man
ager While he Is under the suspicion
of the progressives of the convention
who look on him as a conservative, HI
is strong favorite personally, and h,
has not been accused, like Clark. of at
tempting deal with the Ryan-Bel
mont -Murphy-Sullivan Taggart crowd
He is in a position Of great power
even though he does not look like 9
winner of a nomination.
Clark is fighting against thickeninl
and multiplying difficulties. More ant
more plainly 1t appears Bryan is fght
ing him. The Clark leaders in the bot
tom OF their hearts are sore at the com
moner. They understand that while
; Bryan has not said a word openly anc
directly against Clark he has been war
ring on him all the week. AS the tim,
for nomination has drawn nearer anc
the earmarkS OF the alliances or Clarl
: have stood out more and more distinct
J Bryan has been sticking the knife deep
er and deeper into the Clark boom. H,
, has succeeded in giving It a Wall stree
taint that 1t cannot-recover from.
.. Weakened BY Bryan.
It has gone out over the country tha
1t Is blackened by the sought for al
lance with Murphy and every politician
: in Baltimore understands that Bryan
has weakened Clark by hundreds o
thousands of votes at the polls.
Bryan has all along said Clark is
progressive. but last night about tn,
time Murphy threw his strength 4
Clark Bryan declared no progressiv,
! could afford to accept the nomination
if dependent on the Tammany strength
l for success.
2 1t has also gone out over the countr,
l from the commoner that "a candidat
big enough to be President would no
be guilty of obtaining the support O
the New York delegation under falls
: pretense, and he could not get the sup
! port without. promises, express or i'm
piled"
That such language is a direct slap a
Clark is well understood.
The figure of Bryan looms larger owe
r H..