The Washington times., 1916-06-17

tale OF practical politics. dealing with
the insides of a political scrap that
happened right In the midst OF the
convention. without much Of anybody
knowing II. .
The whole convention knew some-
thing was going on, and that It must
be edifying; but the whole truth OF
II. with an appreciation Of the big
issues Il involved, was not understood
by one person In q hundred.
II concerns the borning and the
busting OF the boom for Roger c. Sui
livan. Of Illinois. for Vice President,
and It's one OF those stories that must
be told from the beginning forward
despite the prediction Of news
papers to start stories at the back
end and then unravel them to the be-
ginnings.
Roger Sullivan 10 Democratic boss
Of Illinois; o power In public service,
general corporate, and financial at
fairs. Jim Ham Lewis. he OF the pink
and coruscating whiskers and the
equally coruscatfng and effulgent vo-
cabulary, 10 the Democratic Senator
from Illinois. Jim Ham and Roger
don't like each other; In fact, though
they are both seasoned politicians and
accustomed to overlook their political
differences In their personal relations,
they have recently omitted to speak as
they passed.
Their differences date back to the
incumbency OF Mr.. Lewis as corpora
ton counsel OF Chicago. One day the
mayor was away and Lewis was act
ing mayor. There were some big
doings afoot In the town. and the act
Ing mayor didn't like some things that
he thought were being put across. 30
he exuded some fantastic denuncia.
lions of the sort OF big business that
deals in aldermen's and legislators
made the remarks personal enough to
give offense In high quarters.
Lewis Beat Sullivan.
Time passed. and there was sena-
tor to be elected from Illinois. Lewis
and Sullivan both wanted II. and
Lewis got the primary Endorsement.
II came along at the time when the
amendment for popular
election Of Senators was pending.
Lewis proclaimed that he wanted
the substance of popular election,
and insisted that the people get q
chance to vote for Senator. with the
understanding that the legislature
should be regarded as instructed for
the candidate with the majority.
It was arranged. and In the general
election Lewis neatly defeated sher-
man, Republican. for the Endorsement.
The legislature. however, contained q
q majority of six Republicans; under
the old system II would have elected
Sherman. But most of the members
were willing to stand by the agree
ment to let the popular vote de-
eide
Not all Of them. however A little
group of a dozen or thcreabouts of
Cook county Democrats held out: they
didn't want to support Lewis. Their
detection was attributed to Sullivan
Lewis and his friends got busy. and
made a deal with the Republicans.
They would put In sixty-nine good
Democratic votes. II the Republicans
would produce eleven Republican
eieet i pact, and they would with
this controlling combination elect
Lewis for the long term and sherman
for the short term. leaving Sullivan
II was So ordered. and so the goods
were delivered.
All this didn't make Sullivan feel any
more kindly toward Lewis, especially
and Chesterneldian of manner. has
one of the meanest tongues In North
America, and way OF turning 1t
loose on a piece OF unkind characterize
ton and then going on and leaving II
to get in its deadly buzz-saw work. He
had conceived an especial fondness for
the amusement of turning 1t loose on
sullivan. and It had done a good deal
Of damage all around Illinois.
Armed Neutrality.
30 time went on. and q few weeks
ago the Democratic state convention
met at Springfield to select delegates
to the national convention. A deal was
framed up between the Lewis and Sui
iivan elements; a sort Of armed neu-
trality, by which the delegation was
TO be divided equally.
But the Sullivan people were in con-
troll. and while the delegation deal was
carried out. the temporary chairman
and everybody else concerned with the
management OF the convention utterly
forgot TO say q word expressive or the
party's pride in and affection for our