The Washington herald., 1920-07-02
BRYAN AND FOES
OF WILSON tanned,
DECLARES WHITE
By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
this one-man convention. For the
purposes of this campaign - yes.
but historically no. The man will
son. so far as this convention goes,
is as dead as old John Brown, but
"his soul goes marching on"
A whole flock Of Cabinet officers
and Senators and bureau chiefs may
be seen In the hotel lobbies, and
more or less in the convention But
they make no phalanx. Their sup
port is scattered among various men
and measures. Colby Is wet; Bur
leson Is wet. Meredith and Daniels
are dry. and Palmer Is after votes.
They divide about the same upon
the question of the mild reserva-
tions to the league. The Senator'S
here are also divided upon Issues
and candidates. So are the bureau
chiefs. Clearly the man Wilson who
may be supposed to have seen these
men and directed their activities Is
made IL he scattered them to the
four winds of public policy as they
are scattered.
Wilson Ideal Dominates.
The political hand of Wilson is
either weary or paralyzed. The thing
which dominates this convention is
the wilsonian ideal. Eight years
hypnosis under a masterful will
make actual orders unnecessary.
The wilsonian ideal today is as in
grained in the Democratic party OF
today as the Jefferson ideal. WILL
son in his grave would still boss
this convention. 1t will no more go
back to Bryan than to Cleveland.
Today Wilsonian Democracy is the
only kind which his party knws.
Tomorrow IL may be different; !;
Wilson and his ideals may not stand
the test of time. But in this cam
paign, the spiritual timber of this
convention proves just one big
thing: the Republicans have before
them, not Woodrow Wilson with, his
many obvious personal faults, with
his obstinacy, with his inability
to do team work with men: with his
incapacity for friendship of virile
men, not Woodrow Wilson of the
wrangle with the Senate. but Wood
row Wilson of 191S-the voice of
Democracy in the great world war.
Him the Republicans must whip il
they win this election. And IL will
do little good to abuse the man. His
ideals mus. be met. And they must
be met either by acceptance or by
some better ideals. The domination
Ct the Wilsonian spirit in this con-
vention brought out a certain spon-
taneity of action that was lacking
at Chicago.
The gay maneuver Of the con-
vention playing with Gov. Smith
when his name was presented for
the Presidency is a case in point.
Smith had no show. everyone knew
il. He is a Catholic and therefore
politically in this generation is as
barred from the Presidency as an
Englishman by all the probabilities.
Also he is of Tammany, which would
curse him. But he had done a fine
job as governor, and the delegates
all rose with a fine chivalric spirit
to do him honor.
Clamor Paid For.
There was ciaque and sordid
clamor paid for by the minute in the
convention - lots of 1t. Palmer
seemed to have 1t. The Cox demon
stratlon was wooden. So was much
of the other demonstration for can
didates. But McAdoo's was real. It
was as spontaneous as the Hoover
demonstration or the Johnson
demonstration in the Republican
convention To the writer the Cum
mtngs speech as temporary chair
man seemed sad and spiritless. But
the writer Of these lines is Repub-