The Washington herald., 1920-07-07
By pW1G

out to be as adept at repartee as
he was at jazz. He struck up The
Star-Spangled Banner" nobody. not
even McAdoo's most frenzied palad-
ins. could or did object to that.
1t was now a duel to the death
between McAdoo and Cox. For
| only two ballots. however. was 1t
an even fight TIE Palmer strtngth.
as Mr.. Carlin predicted. was dis
integ-ating on approximately the
| fifty-fifty basis as far as his two
late rivals were concerned. They
were breaking about even on the
inhritanc, but on the forty-second
ballot the Kaleidoscope turned defi-
nitely, irrevocably in Cox's favor.
He emerged with $40. or from a
majority of the convention. to Nc
Adoo's 427.
The McAdoo sled was on the slope
fast and surely. Valiently but
vainly the lieutenants attempted to
hold on, but the toboggan was
creased and down IL slid. beyond all
hop eof rescue, the once proud
hopes of the man who hesitated.
and like most hesitators was
doomed to lose
Ballot No. 43 put Cox over the
majority top with SOS votes. Vic
tory was all but within his actual
grasp. McAdoo was still on the
down grade with, 412 votes. The
44th ballot was announced. "Ohio.
Ohio" give US Cox" We want
| Cox" were the yells that now
| pierced the air. They no longer
! were confined to the convention
floor. The galleries shifted victory,
a.
of it. They had memorized the Ohio
war cry and were chanting 1t mer-
rily and Justify to the accompani-
metn of the tireless brass band and
instrumentalists from Piqua. A Nc
| Adoo chieftain strode to the plat
form to crave the conventions at
the multitude. He was Samuel
Amidon. of Kansas. the McAdoo
| field generalissimo.
| Hand Writing on Wall.
He had come to tell the conven-
ton that the McAdooites saw the
hand writing on the wall. His OBJ
| ject was to move that the rules be
suspended to permit the nomination
! of Gov. James NJ. Cox, of Ohio, 10
| be made unanimous. The conven-
tion did nto wait for Chairman
Robinson to put the question. 1t
voted then and there. The ques-
ton was put after all. The results
was a cyclonic vote of yeas. Then
bedlam, and Ohio had given birth in
! 1920 to her second Presidential can
didate.
! Only so much remains to be said
McAdoo's collapse was precipitated
primarily by growing resentme nj
among the delegates against the
presence of so many Federal Office
holders at San Francisco working in
and out of the convention for the
nomination of the former Secretary
of the Treasury. They were con-
WINGED. enthusiastic friends of Nc
Adoo, but the convention thought il
unethical that they should have de-
serted Pennsylvania avenue en- bloc
to accomplish his triumph in the
Democratic convention. That, plus
the indomitable perseverance OF
Jimmie" Cox's cohort, never for a
moment forgetting the interchangeable
work of his Piqua band, spells the
great story that was written while
| the stars twinkled above the Golden
Gate this immortal morn.
A word in farewell from the
greatest convention city on earth
Prophecy is safer now, and one car
be risked with safety. Had the
convention remained in an insoluble
deadlock between Cox and McAdoo
the compromise candidate would un-
doubtably have been John w. Davis
of West Virginia, American Ambas-
sador to the court of st. James
Mr.. Davis, like Herbert Hoover is
I young and can wait.