Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-12-09
(. (), p #: ], ADE:nS
 NE:EI:: !: ! TO PLAN 1920 CONTEI: EI: q
Chicago or St. Louis as Place and June as Date of Con
 vention Certainty.
WOODS HACKER IS
 ON THE SCENE EARLY
Private Jockeying for Position for
 Candidates Is Bcgun--Repub- iican EditurS Also tO Gather.

Washington, Dec. S,-The 1920 political pot was started bolling melrily today as the leading fig ures of the republican party. gattl- ering here for the quadriennial meeting of the national .committ2a, took counsel with one another oyl candidates and issues of the con- i ing campaign.
 The ostensible purpose of the committee meeting is to select a time and place for next years na, i tional convention, but in their con l stantly multiplying conferences, , the committee members and their guests talked of almost everything l else relating to 1920. Choice of 1 the convention city will be made Wednesday, with indications point. ing to either Chicago or St. Louis and with early June apparently settled on by the leaders as the date.
 In addition to the national com mittee men from every state, the republican state chairman all have been invited to be here this week and a large numebr of editors of republican newspapers are expect ed to attend.
 Other party leaders also have drifted to Washington to ex- change views and get share in the preliminary maneuvering.
 Many of the most influential had not yet arrived tonight, but by the time the meeting opens for mally the party managers expect the gathering to be one of the most complete of it's kind in the history of republication. Discussion of a convention city did not get far today, the leaders apparently being too interested in other questions to give it great attention. The St. Louis delega- tion, which arrived yesterday, was active during the day, however, and the question is expected to take on more interest tomorrow with the arrival of the Chicago boosters, headed by Mayor Thomp- son.
 Woods Man on Scene.
 Chicago's chances were nelped during the day by an announce. ment by William H. Crocker, the national committeeman for Cali fornia, that San Francisco, men, toned as a contender for the convention, would throw it's influence for the Illinois city.
 Chairman Will H. Hays explain ed today that it was proposed to give the gathering here as much the air of a love feast as possible, and that to that end some of the meetings of the committee would be open to non-members. To fur ther add to the success or the occasion, he said, all of the former national chairmen had been invit- ca to be present and most of them had accepted.
 In his conference today, MT. Hays laid before some of the oth- CT party leaders the results of a convass he recently made by let ter of sentiment for national re- forms. Reports from republican members of congress and from state and county chairmen, he said, pointed to "Americanism, economy, better administration, lower taxes, solution of the labor problem" and other subjects as popular issues. It was not thought likely, however, that the committee would act formally in outlining any of the issues of the campaign.
 Although most of the jockeying in the interests of presidential candidates is being done quietly, virtually all of those whose names have been associated with the nomination, have friends busy here in tehir interest. John T.. King, committee man for Connec- ticut. and active in the movement for Major General Leonard Wood, arrived today and made plans 70 canvass the committee for his