Americus times-recorder., 1920-06-06
BY gibson GARDNER,
N. E. A. Staff Correspondent,

CHICAGO, June Sits really a
dear old-fashioned convention-the
kind the professional politician
dreams he'll go to when he dies.
If not golden streets there are
golden promises, and great flock of
candidates with golden purses bulg-
ing from their pockets, and a cloud
vista of political jobs-jobs for every
body, and everybody's friends and
nothing to do but draw the pay.
Like all good conventions, no.
body knows what will happen. 1t has
all the fascination of the grab-bag,
the faro-wheel and horse race. There
are chances to pull "a little some
thing out. You can place bet at
good odds. You can get a real Gin
side tip" maybe. And you can see
real run for your money.
Professionals in Control.
Like all real-old- conven-
tions, it is entirely in the hands of
professionals. The public has not
had any chance to mess things up.
That notion that there would soon be
popular primaries" at which the vot-
ers of the party would decide what
candidate they wanted-that fool no
ton has "gone fuzzy"
Take 1t from me, boy" says the
stout party without shifting his chair.
There's nothin' in that primary stuff
its just an added expense-Ieave
it to us-the expense is less and the
money is better placed
The idea of selecting presidential
candidates by primaries got it's knock
out blow in Chicago in 1912 wien the
famous ''steam-roller" convention
rode down the primary candidate, T.
R., and substituted the G. o. p. ma
chine candidate, William Howard
Taft. That was grand and glorious
victory for machine politics and to-
days convention is the fruit of that
blossom.
1t is really thoroughly old-fash
ioned convention. There isn't an up
litter, reformer, high-brow, pro-
gressive, an insurgent or forward
locker on the ground. When the late
! lamented Progressive party was or
ganized all that element was purged
out of the G. 0. P. and only the stall
warts, the cold guard" the ''regu-
/ lars" remained. The vacancies of
the departed were filled with the les
ser Tobe Herts and jim Heminways.
And when, in 1916, the Progress
ives who wanted to come back, came
/ back, they were welcomed to seats in
the back row of the gallery.
100 Per Cent Republican.
So the organization is a hundred
per cent Republican.
The same names will figure in the
| back-room conferences where the
| deals will be made. There was to
have begun with, Bois, Penrose, of
PENNSYLVANIA, the master-mind of ma
chine politics. Penrose was expect
ed to be the dominant figure of this
convention But the last word is that
he is not coming.
Others who were mechanics of the
''steam roller" convention in 1912
who will again be in evidence, are
W. Murray Crane of Massachusetts,
that shrewed little ex-senator mil
| lionaire paper manufacturer, who
comes as a promoter of the Wood
candidacy; his political colleague,
Henry Cabot Lodge, senator and au-
thor of treaty reservations" James
A. Heminway of Indiana, survival
of the Fairbanks machine; Herbert
Parsons of New York; VIM. H. Crock
er of California, millionaire voice of
the San Francisco Chamber of Com
merce; John T. King of Connecticut,
aide-de-camp to Penrose; Coleman
/ du Pont of Delaware, who has made
few honest dollars in powder-the
kind that exulodes: A. Tobe Hert of
Louisville, KY, a hard-working and
powerful member of the old guard;
S. A. Perkins of Tacoma, editor
politician, a graduate of Mark Han
mas political kindergarten; Rud
Hynicka of Cincinnati, who knows
Ohio politics; Franklin Murphy OF
New Jersey, who has always repre-
sented G.. o. P. New Jersey; Reed
Smoot of the Republican wing OF the
Utah Mormon church-al tried and
true and competent to deliver.
They'll Name Candidate.
When these political satraps have
got together and matched ideas as to
candidates and decided what, in their
opinion, the voters will "stand for
in the wav of a nominee, the choice
will be determined.
Whether the lavish spending of
money which has marked the pre-
convention campaign will cease with
the arrival of delegates and "bosses"
remains to be seen. Mr.. Lowden
has denounced the direct purchase
Continued on Page Four)