Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-06-04
HUGHES OCCUPIES
STRATEGIC PLACE,
GAINING STRENGTH
Withstands 0nslaughts From All
Sides Without Damage From
the Concentrated Fire Of
His Opponents.
BIG NOISE IS FOR ROOSEVELT
Monster Preparedness Parade Fails
to Bring Stampede to
Him.
"0LD GUARD" THING OF PAST
By VICTOR RosEWATER.

Chicago, ILL.,, June 3.--(Special tel
egram)-With the convention week
right upon us, the relative strength Of
the different presidential possibilities
remains substantial unchanged The
reconnaissance shows Hughes occu-
pying the strategic position and more
strongly entrenched by reason Of hav-
ing withstood so far without dar,age
all the fire concentrated at him by The
opposition in concert or singly.
The big noise for Roosevelt, it must
be admitted, has had no let up, but its
effectiveness is decidedly open to
question.
Home Feeling Controls.
As the delegates arrive in greater
numbers they report the strong popu-
lar demand for Hughes back home
and look to satisfy the home feeling.
rather than the artificial clamor here
in Chicago As consequence while
the monster preparedness parade to-
day has crowded politics almost off
the boards, if it was expected to Gre
ate a furore for Roosevelt as the sole
embodyment Of Americanism, it GER
tainly failed TO satisfy the Roosevelt
boosters. And neither the dazzling
electric sign boards nor the full "1gc
advertisements in the Chicago papers
has served either 10 annihiliate the
Hughes boom or TO shove the favor
ite sons off the map.
Committeeman Changing.
! talked with a member of the ma
ilonal committee who has been hear
ing contests and mingling intimately
with the committeeman from the
other states and found that he had
swung almost around to Justice
Hughes, whom he had refused to CON
slider seriously on his arrival a few
days ago. He told me he found the
drift Of sentiment inside the commit
tee to be in the same direction.
"A majority Of the. national commit
teemen would see Hughes nomi-
mated" he said, though some Of them
cannot say so openly because they
are committed to favorite SON"
Ii is amusing 10 anyone familiar
with the real conditions to read the
press stories built up around the
awful Vaccinations Of the "Old
Guard.
"Old Guard" No More.
The fact is there is no "Old Guard" |
any more in the sense the term has
been used heretofore, and those who |
used to be included in that classifi- !
cation and are still on deck are far
from being in unison.
The most striking proof of this was
the greeting | had from Stevenson of
Colorado, Big Steve" as he took so
much pleasure in proclaiming.
Il don't know whether you will /
want TO associate with me- he said
You know | am down here as a dele (
gate to vote for Roosevelt"
And by way of offset. lot of the I
strongest Roosevelt fighters of four
years ago are not for him at all today,
but are giving preference to all of the |
other candidates before him.
That is what makes politics fascin-
atng and makes it interesting by the
hazard Of the game.
Newspaper Stars on Hand.
1t is worth mentioning in closing
that the convention is TO be memoir
able not only as a gathering OF polite
ians, but also for the presence Of
nearly all the newspaper men in the
cnuntry-the men who write the
stories and draw the pictures-who .
are already in evidence in full force.
II all who made a group in one hotel
lobby last night contributed to the
same page OF the same newspaper, it
would be illuminated by a galaxy OF
literary and pictorial stars never wit
messed in one combination any \
where,