South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-06-09
WOOD BOOM IS
SADLY CRIPPLED
BY INITIATION
Most of Gas Intended to Soar
This Presidential Dirig-
IDLE Gone.
BY LOUIS LUDLOW.


by premature imitation.
10 IS the Leonard Wood boom
The wood boom is not exact1v On
stae OF collapse at the present mo-
ment but 10 IS sadly debated Most
% the gas. which made 10 for awhile
"a fair. round object beautiful 20 be-
hold. has escaped from q. leaving it
"a nattened affair that IS whipped
s}out 81 the political winds like "A
dereIct
Presidential prospecting unlike al
most any other endeavor. does not
operate on the principle that the
early bird catches the worm ON
the contrary. the early presidential
boom is very likely 60 encounter an
early frost. That Is exactly what has
happened 20 the Wood bonn. accord
ing TO the meteorological observers
on the political weather towers
Has Pctcred Out.
Common gossip around Washing
ton these days is 20 the effect that
the Wood boom already has "petered
out and tie common diagnosis as
10 the cause is premature activity"
70 was going strong for a time. Con-
fcreuces to boost Wood were held
and political leaders travelled thou
sands Of miles 10 attend them Con-
certs OF effort were arranged for on
the widest scale. Territory was even
apportioned out 20 various boosters.
Wood was Co be put forward as Col.
Rosevelts political heir but an even
greater appeal was supposed 10 lie
in the fact that ne is the idol of
the army. the man VINO would pre-
sumably fall heir TO the support of
the millions who were enlisted in
the cause OF making the world safe
for democracy
The first awakening came when it
developed that "a great many of these
men have had enough Of war and
are not nearly as keen to miiitarize
the presidency as had been predict
ed While il is true that Wood ap-
peals 10 them much more than any
other military hero. Pershing for in
stance, the fact remains that hun
dreds Of thousands of the civilian
soldiers would rather see a civilian
elected president next time than a
soldier. especially "a soldier whose
mand and heart is centered in the
creation and maintenance of a large
standing army
Has Reached Cro..t.
So from one cause and another.
the Wood boom. which reached its
crest some four or five months ago,
has been steadily receding OF late
until now t is pointed out by the po-
ltica sharps as a frlghtful exhibi-
tion of what premature publicity viii
do The leading comment i'm regard
90 the Wood boom is that it was born
"a year too SOON n its advent had
been made year later it would
have had "A career Of sustained prom
ise.
The fate that has befallen this
boom has called for soft-pedal or
derS from the managers Of all the
other em bryonic presidential candi-
dacies You could not extract with
a corkscUew from the managers of
any other longing candidate an ad-
mission that their favorite has any
designs. whatever on the presidency
The Aattening out of the Wood col
Iupsiblc balloon has given them all
the cold shivers.
The main endeavOr of an the
presidential wet nurses these days isl
10 keep the bOomlcts entrusted to.
their care from being hit by an early
frost so nobody is talking and, by
m, same token. everybody is keep
ing his ativties very much under
cover.
No Harding Boom.
II you ask George Christian. Sen.
Harding's right hand man. how the
Harding boom is getting along ne
will look surprised and reply I'm his
frank and open faced way that you
must hc mistaken, as there Is no
Harding boom. II similar question
is put 10 John Hayes. Sen. Watson $
secretary. he will reply that Wash
inston always did have punk sum-
mer climate and that the coming
summer promise sto be hotter than
ever. II you inquire of Howard Rice,
Sen. PoindeNter's secretary. how
many delegates PoindeNter has got
,ewed up at the present writing. he
viii answer that the league of ma
tinns h frost and "A fizzle and that
tr4t the danger Of 10 Is that III the
United states enters the league En-
Gland and other dominating powers
viii be eternally kicking Uncle
Sans hound dawg arouno.
In other words. you can't get any
thing out OF any OF them. They are
4. tight bunch. but IL YOU press them
real hard YOU may be referred sig
niHcantly TO the deflation Of the
Wood boon as an object lesson that
telling isrt now In order.
Meanwhile all Of Washington is
on lis ear over developments point
ing 90 the possibility that Pres't VII
son may be candidate for q third
term. Nobody knows whether he
Will be or not. but IL Is the possibility
that has unlosed the flood Of gossip.
Judging from the very best informa-
ton ohtalnable PRIEST Wilson himself
could not at this time tell whether
ne viii be a candidate or not Frank
k The, situation. as IL Is diagnosed
Mere. is that the president is deter
mined 10 secure the ratification OF
the league OF nations u he has 90
make a personal appeal 90 the coun-
a f- order In mike sugh an