The sun., 1912-07-04
WILSON'S MANAGER IS
A BELASCO OF POLITICS
VIM. T. McCoDibs Started and
Carried Governors Boom
\long for Two Years.
CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION
Young Lawyer Has a Persuasive
Way--Spread Literature
Broadcast.

gathered and those VINO don't Werc de-
.lairriur yesterday a suspicion which
,cr,eln ohseryant persons have bccn
,ntc-,aoining Tor several months. that
vll,isin L Mc' 'omhs. Princeton. '?S In
,is Nrst attempt at campaign managing
H., prc, II himself very Bclasco of
roitic-
NcCoinhs. SO years old, Is the lawyer
rho hogan more than a year ago 10
md Woodrow Wilson's speeches aud
r-,n.ed record to every corner Of tho
,our,rv and who has since been direct
,ng the campaign that brought the nom
nation. He has spun the web from
tis oHce az 96 Broadway and from the
wilson headquarters Mt ~ Broadway.
except when he has gone scouting. Of
,ciallv he has been chairman or the
woodrow Wilson National Committee.
McComhs and Gov. Wilson have
beon friends for seventeen years. The
ono studied Jurisprudence at Princeton
and the other was his teacher. Eoth
are Scuthcrncrs. McCombs was born
IN Hamburg. Ashley county. Ark. His
fatler came from Kentucky and his
mother from Alabama. lie entered
Princeton from Webb School in Ten
7e.sec IN Princeton he was an active
younS editor-in- chief of the Daily
i%inco tonton for ono thing.
With All \. y. from the college Of
which Woodrow Wilson was formerly
president McCombs went TO Harvard,
studied law and luggcd thence an LIB,
which did him little good when he
started practising in this city. For two
cars he was clerk in a law office.
then he became the partner of Gilbert
g. Roc. once Senator La I'o,cttc's law
5sr,ner IN Wisconsin. In 1910 Nc
combs hi, out for himself He has
.peclaliscd on the work OF building con-
.tuct!on companies and has prospered.
y i90l he was n candidate for the .\s-
,embly in the Twcnty-fif,h district. lie
I'D not win in that Republican district.
.ut he did better than the rest Of his
ticket. That was his only venture into
politics until the fight for Woodrow
Nilscn was started. although he has
made some campaign speeches for his
PARTY.
The campaign FOR Woodrow Wilson
r.gan even before DR.. Wilson became
'FQN 'EHbl vi .NtN .i'' 'Ii''N
was in 1t; His friends say he IS tho
,riginal Wilson man. When the time
-inr to carry tho boom into the open
was found that Gov. Wilson had
',onorful friends. one Of them Has
William q. McAdco. the tunnel
.uilder Others we're Walter ~. Ids",
hc publisher and at that timr the
'wo Coloncls, Harvey and Wa,torson.
The, agreed that GOV. Wilson was
nc man for the Democratic nouind-
ION y Is said that tic Governor wasn't
10 suro--that IT took long argument
20 persuade him to make the fight.
When he gave in the happicst of all
men was the enthusiast, Mccomhs.
OF course McCombs became cam
raen manager-nobody knows just
low. but one morning Headquarters
were opened in this city and there
vas Mccombs in charge. The rest Of
lie Campaign--that Is up - the Balti-
noro convention--was simple. Nc
'ombs darted about the country
reaching tho message OF Gov. Wilsor..
Where he didn't go literature" pene-
rated. Groups of Democrats every
where began writing to McCombs and
. the Governor that the seed had
ALLEN on fertile soil and that the peo-
pie wanted to hear Wilson and see II
10 measured up to the written word.
The Governor went and was heard with
abstraction. McCombss lieutenants did
he rest with tho nelghborhood organi-
alton. Five hundred Wilson clubs
were formed.
other men of weight joined the Viii
son circle. Among them was Senator
DGorman, who was for Wilson for a
ong time. but did not care to declare
himself until he got to Baltimore az a
delegate. The Senator's son-in-law,
Dudl"r Field Malone, was one OF tho
younger enthusiasts who worked and
spoke for the Governor Of New Jersey.
~ course. most Princeton men did all
hey could. There at the start was a
splendid leavcn scattered throughout
he United States. And all the time
.awyer McCombs was reaching out and
pltl'ng in men who knew practical poll
Ties such men as Congressman J.
Mitchell Palmer, National Committee
man John T, McGraw OF West Virginia.
1e"s and methods confOrmed to the
,ampaiGn Of practical ideallsm that
Me- ,,ornbs was directing: Willard
salisbury of Delaware, Senator Gore OF
,Nlahoma, Joe Davies, the acute Fred
lynch ot Minnesota and others.
And SO when the convention day ar
H'ed Mccombs had his stanch band
:" delegates obstinate for Wilson. and
us crew of good fighters and experts
a persuasion. And. by the way. Nc
omhs is that kind of an expert too.
anybody who watched him as he
'Hppcd from delegation to delegation in
~" last hours at Baltimore will testify
"a that
The workers in the national Wilson
headquarters have not been many. Only
'h"uGh were needed 10 see that no part
" IA" country failed To receive speeches
+hu summaries of Woodrow Wilson's
~ Hi'f'm MS as Governor OF New Jer-
IN these circulars emphasis WAS
tW on I'll" Progressive laws that the
M,o''rnor IN his single term had pressed
.AfpAEh the Legislature. McCombs
was saving all the time:
We ar" not seeking to form an or
Shn'Nt'ion. We are merely endeavor-
.hp 70 bring about in some intelligent
NaF proper dissemination OF facts
r@mnul @ woodrow Wilson. his accomplish
h'S ~ the past and just what he
vvas ""h" and Is doing as Governor Of
"N Jersey, We are acting In the same
"p",I'Y AZ other intimate friends Of
~" '"F"rnnr's, simply answering the
.,'nl 'mnl Questions that are being put from
'ja PaI's "f III" country as to his poll
W. ana achievements. Gov. Wilson
mNS "l our "tforta. ! assume that he
npln",rS hocausc If he did not approve
W,'Nld hear from him"
- -"'hb7 also said that not u cent
fats f..... uf,l1