Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-06-21
HARDING HEARING
INSIDE STOR|ES'
Of NOMINATION
RecitaIs in Washington State
Conflict as to Who Had
"Lucky Thought"
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
TACOMA, Wash. June 21.-Poor War
rem Harding. Aside from the usual
campaign yarns to which a presidential
nominee is compelled to listen, he must
now submit for the rest of his life to
inside stories galore a how he was
nominated at Chicago
Even to this distance strange tales
nave been waited telling vividly the way
the presidential nomination was he.
stoWed on the Ohio senator. EVERYDAY
Is gwen credit for having had the lucky
tnought sometime between midnight and
me sunrise hours of June IL. which was
tne day on which the republican con-
Ventlon chose its candidate.
For seven years Woodrow william
mas Deen told how he was nominafed
al tne famous Baltimore convention
IN l9l2 And it is recorded to this
DAY IN the unwritten archives of the
democratic party that Roger Sullivan
turned the trick, that Bryan did if-
that Col. Harvey did it. that WiIiiam
McCombs did it, that Mitchell PAL
mer did it.
Work of No One Man.
But the fact is no one man non;.
mated Wilson and no one man noni-
mated Harding. No single boss nor
leader controlled the republican ma
tlonal convention at Chicago. A group
OF men influenced 1T. Somebody has
to do that with an unwieldy body Of
delegates. but the convention was 4
contest between two sets of men
Lowden and Wood managers-who
tried to manipulate the delegations
and thereby brought on the deadlock
which yielded Harding the nomina-
ton
But to take up seriatim the mon
who are being credited with having
won the nomination for Harding. Col
Harvey. editor extraordinary, is given
generous praise for his part. It in
true the conference was held in his
room, but in the same suite was
Thomas w. Lamont of J. Pierpont
Morgan & Co., and it is a fact that
neither Col. Harvey nor Mr.. Lamont
controlled any delegates at Chicago,
but were merely interested onlookers,
II indeed they were able now and
then to make a suggestion to their
numerous friends who did control
delegates.
Is Friend Of President Wilson.
Mr. Lamont, by the way, is a per-
Sonal friend Of President Wilson and
came back on the steamer George
Washington with him from the Paris
peace conference. Mr.. Lamont served
on the financial section of the Amer
lean peace mission and has been in
China and Japan helping to rehabili-
tate the finances of the far east. .
his dropping in at the Chicago con.
vention was merely incidental. And
he probably had no desire to influence
he did find comrnodfous quarters with
Col. Harvey at sumptuous ChioAgo
hostelry. :. 2
Now, Col. Harvey has been a power
in republican councils, but to nominate
him republican boss is little :exagger-
ated. The republican convention At
Chicago was bossed or Embossed, accord
ing as one regards the half dozen or
more leaders who control the big dele-
cations in any convention. be it republi-
can or democratic. Such a group will
always exist so long as Pennsylvania
has seventy-six votes. New York eighty
eight, and 50 on. Numerically, the big
delegations are leaders and they control
nominations when the situation becomes
deadlocked.
Credit for the nomination Of Harding
must repose on these men: Senator PEN
rose of Pennsylvania, and his repre-
sentative at Chicago; John +. King OF
Connecticut: Charles B. Warren, ma
tional committeeman from Michigan :
Senator Wadsworth of New York;
Nicholas Murray Butler and State
X,
Jim Watson Of Indiana; Senator Lodge
of Massachusetts, and former Senator
Murray Crane Of the same state, and
Tobias Hert OF Kentucky.
Delegates Play Their Part,
There are others-some 700 delegates
who played their part afirma lively,
too. but there is another list, COM
posed of Senator Hiram johnson and
Senator Borah, who put the veto on
Wood and Lowden by their fuss over
senata1 Fnsy to
Gov. Sproul of Pennsylvania, Frank
Willis and Myron Herrick of Ohio and
Gov. Allen of Kansas-all of whom
were persuaded to hold their delega-
tions intact SO that Leonard Wood
would not get their votes in a pinch
for creating the situation that gave
birth to the Harding candidacy.
Newspapers will contend that the
convention was bossed and Embossed
Leaders there were, and negotiations
a-plenty. There always are in con-
out steering committee would new
er nominate anybody. But erroneous
impressions about the Chicago conven-
tion will be exploited from now until
election.
Former President Taft. who was at
H.
evidently the victim of the mysterious
yarn that is being widely spread
namely. that Will Hays was the dark
horse candidate Of the bitter enders."
presumably. the Borah-
johnson group. This much is right
Will Hays was a dark horse candi-
date, but he was about as much be-
loved in the Johnson camp as Her
bert Hoover. Mr.. Hays was modestly
in the background. but there was
whisper that 1t was led
by Col. William Boyce Thompson of
New York and Raymond Robins-who
wanted Hays. The eminent national
chairman played no visible part in
these transactions. being present him.
self in the conferences which brought
forward.
Still Talking I'm the West.
In the far west they are stiI talking
about the Chicago convention, but
mostly the delegates who didn't vote for
Wood are being asked to explain. There
was a pronounced sentiment in the west
for the ma jor general. To the skeptics
it is being whispered that the United
States senators did the nominating and
said senators are expected to be power
full in Washington il a republican is
elected This is usually sufficient ex-
PLANTATION and. after all, the dissent over
the Harding nomination is rapidly dis
appearing.
is politically invunerable, con-
scientious and willing to take advice
and what more could republicans want?
At this writing it looks as IL the state
Of Washington were his.
Copyright, 1901
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