Arizona republican., 1919-06-15
Cummings, the Great


 Unless the democratic party, sometime before the opening of the 1920 campaign displaces its na- tonal chairman. believe it will have decided to let the presidential contest year go by default H cannot hope to win under the direction Of Mr. Cummings. He has given abundant proof Of inefficiency political director than any man who has ever been placed at the head of a political organization. His incompetensy to cope with such Chairman Hays is forcibly illustrated in the proposal to make the League of Nations the party issue next year.
 If lIr. Cummings had stopped to think. that is ir he is at all capable of thinking he would have rerceived the mpossblity well the ridiculous of two party chairmen deciding what party is sues shall be- If he and Mir Hays could determine that the parties should divide the League of Ma uons, they could as easily decide that some other should be the controlling issue They could get to- gether and decide that the issue should be the position of the moon-that party should hold the moon to be made of green cheese, and the other should take opposing view.
 If party chairmen could commit their parties as to one issue they could commit them as to all is sues; they could make up party platforms by the simple process of the determination by each of the blanks of his party platform. There would be in that nothing national party conventions do but To nominate candidates for the presidency and the vice presidency.
 Indeed if the powers which Mr. Cummings seems think inheres in national chairmen, really
 st, they could go still farther do without party Organizations and conventions.
 A1r Cummings could say to 3lr. Hays "I will nominate and for the presidency ] challenge you, l dare you to nominate so and so against him" The whole thing would thus be reduced to the sim plicity of poker game between the two chairmen
 It is that many party issues are more or less artificial and arbitrary. There good reason why citizens should divide on them along party lines But such issues created by simple agreement They are built up gradually They have never been founded by the decision one man or two men, or small group of men.
 It happens that people refuse to divide by party on the League of Nations and will not so divide It is true that a majority the republican members Of the senate opposed not to the league but to the manner in which it has been presented It hap pens that a majority, but not all democratic mem bers in favor of that manner The party press of the country is divided in about the same ratio t cannot be said though that the people are divided a5 all party lines and probably they could not be divided if the issue were presented di- rectly to them. It cannot be presented even by party convntion, though a convention might make an issue of it. The people would still vote for can ddates for other reasons than their attitude toward the League of Nations.
 It is true the matter is political, but it is of such a character that it could hardly be made partisan any more than religious doctrine might be- and generally, the people, when it came to voting would disregard it, just they disregard the effort of political conventions to divide parties on religious tines