The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-26
IRWIN COBB DRAWS !. NEAR GOLDEN CATE
 WITH FASTENERS
Finds One Bryan Man on the Train and Not a Sin gle Specimen of
 Whiskers
By IRWIN s. COBB

By IRWIN S. COBB Aboard to San Francisco
 and Practically There, June
 25. - (Special.) - We have
 only one presidential candi.
 date on board with us.
 This is because the train had
 been broken up into two sec. tions and We travel on the first section. If the second section should run into us from behind
 and telescope us, we would then have three kinds in all, but barring a collision, we must
 struggle along to the journeys
 end with our one.
 ! Day before yesterday, on the first lap of the long transcontinental hike he met most of the passengers In the club car for sort of combination con- ference and boostfest. This happened just as we were pulling into Council I, Bluffs. In this coincidence some of us thought we saw meaning. The trouble was, though, that we could not
 decide after hearing the candidats
 whther the accent should be put in
 the council or the bluffs.
 l But If we are toting along with us | less of hardwood presidential timber | than the average westbound through 1 train has been carrying this week, we
 have a proportionate1y large contigent
 of delegates among us, including men
 and members of the sterner sex. as we'll.
 VERMONTS DEMOCRACY Half a dozen eastern states, north
 and south. are represented. The ad-
 joining car to ours contains the en- 1 tire Vermont delegation. When you
 snatch eight resident democrats out of Vermont at one fell swoop. so to speak. you make an awful hole in the em-
 battled democracy of the state. espe- 1 cially as the democrats in Vermont | have already suffered two severe party l losses this year. One died and the oth-
 CT got tired ot being regarded by his neighbors as an eccentric character and moved to Indiana. Another theory | advanced to aecopnt for his departurs | was that in the last local election in his county. the democratic ticket boiled | two votes and he was afraid he might | be arrested for repeating. However, l the Vermonters with us are most en- | thusiastic over the prospects for No- vember up their way. They have hired 1 two seven passenger cars and expect l to get about the full strength of the
 pcrty on election day. If all twelve of 1 them keep their health, spirited-cam- paign is predicted.
 STRONG FOR. IRELAND
 1 The Massachusetts crowd are equally | optimistic regarding the outlook One l and all they unite in declaring that If the convention next week will only 1 forget the League of Nations and come out strongly for home rule in Ireland, l the ticket will carry every county south of Boyne water
 | The Rhode Islanders on board are not so interested in candidates as they arc in principles They want personal liberty and clam ritter given free with every drink except a schooner. l just as it used to be ip the old. an- cient days. It took the eighteenth amendment to show that the smallest | state in the union had the largest l thirst.
 | WHISkE FRS ARE ABSENT | Mingling with my fellow travellers. | have been struck by one very signln- cant fact. We have upwards of 10 dele- l gates and alternates, in addition to many | political figures not formally accredited, and one candidate. Railing as they do | from practically all the states east Of the Mississippi there is not whisker, slde 1 or chin, on the train.
 Surely the old order changeth- Twenty ARtta ! America fully third of those present would be lurking in ambush, each behind | his own personal jungle. Here would De | a statesman made up as a bosky dei' there would be one needing only few 1 wooden decoys set out in front or nun | and q shotgun handy to be duck pima. l. Just now J. Ham Lewis looms above his /, half-masted pink oriflamme as the last 1 notable survivor of almost extinct species It's getting so that whiskers attract almost as much attention at a national convention as they do in mayon- naise dressing.
 GOLDEN GATE HOSPITALITY As we draw nigh and ever nigh to the Golden Gate, rumors multiply as the ex- tent and warmth of the hospitality awaiting us on wonder side of the Sierras. All inc same | fear hard feelings may lunintentionaliy be engendered should any eastern visitors be so ignorant as to cau San Francisco by the name Of Frisco or be so thoughtless as to refer to the seismic disturbances while in conversa- ton with native son.
 remember the first time came to san Francisco l was shaken out Of bed one night by slight fire alarm. and next day I careiessly mentioned the circum- stances to some residents of the city, and at once noticeable chill fell upon the company However the convention can heal any small breaches which occur or the thoughtessness in the part of the ca asterners by incorporating into the plat form a plank giving hearty and unquau- fled indorsement to the California cn- mate.
 BEGUILING THE TEDIUM We have beguiled the tedium of the journey by various expedients. For ex- iample. Jimmy Montague and Ring Lard ner and have been playing little game of my own invention. If one of us look ing from his car window sees a jackrao- bit alonside the right of way before the other sees it. he collects 5 from each loser Up to night I am s3S ahead. Going back home expect to spot them 1.-two jackrabbits apiece and give them prairie dog hole
 Also we have taken straw vote among the passengers as to presidential choices As all midwives know, every child is born with a soft spot in it's head a in a