The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-12

' his friends assure him that he will make
 a strong candidate If the assurance is
 to the contrary, MT. Clark will not at | tempt the race, for he would prefer to ] go down in history as. one of the few Americans to receive a majority vote
 in a convention, but failed to achieve
 the presidential nomination, than as one who attempting to make good a former
 threat, scored miserable failure.
 If MT. Clark cannot secure the nomina- ! tion he would prefer to remain mem ber of the House. He loves the House and the work of the House. Like so | many other dem ocrats who grew up'' in the House. Mir Clark observes the dila- ! tory maneuvers of the Senate-the de ! termination of the Senate to live up to it's claim of being the greatest delibera- tive body in the world"-with variety 1 of scorn But should the democrats \ prove to the satisfaction of MT Clark | that Mir. Clark would make the race provided he was made certain as result | of investigation, that he could not make
 creditable showing in the San Fran ] cisco convention.
 | There is belief in Missouri-throughout | the country, as a matter of fact-that Mir Clark very easily could defeat Senator
 Spencer. hat man was elected because | of the split in the democratic party, which is still in existence. But both fac | tions of democrats are fond of Mir Clark | Therefore, there is little question but | that the former speaker could win. hands down. As the republicans hold the Sen-
 ate simply because of the apparent trick cry practiced by friends of Senator New berry in Michigan. friends who are i1dict- I ed for having spent barrel of money the democrats will not overlook an oppor- | tunity to win every seat possible this year. There is no question but that gsset pressure will be brought to bear on Clark that he contest the claim of Spencer for | continued control of the state.
 l The democratic party, or rather the | titular leaders who are mapping out the campaign, would not sacrifice Mir. Clark as presidential candidate even to Win | the senatorial seat in Missouri if it was l thought MT. Clark could carry the coun- ! try as dem ocratic standard bearer. They l do regard MT. Clark's age, as well as l certain of his very plain speeches com | pairing ''conscript and convict" as handf~ caps. At the same time they admit that Il he has great strength, not only among the conservative or ''old-fashioned' demo- crats of the country but among those who think that MT. Clark should be re- waxded in the present for the act of w. | J. Bryan in 1912, which denied him the nomination of the Baltimore convention at time when his nomination would certainly have been followed by his cleo tion to the highest office in the gift of the l people, and the most important office in ] the world. Mir. Bryan in the present is understod to be friendly to Clark Four years ago. it is known that Bryan en- deavored to "make up with the Mis- sourian. The Nebraskan, regarding the | one-term plank in the Baltimore plat form seriously. devised the scheme of grcming Clark to undertake the hopeless ! of 51%1 %s,,xr For the 1916 nomination. These advances I Clark spurned, possibly through his con ten1tp for Bryan, and possibly becarse he knew that if any democrat could carry | the country that democrat was Woodrow Wilson.
 But on the whole the democratic lead CTS, aware that Clark is no stronger than other presidential candidates, and knowing that he could easily do that which is impossible by Joseph W. Folk
 via, defeat Senator Spencer for re-elec- tion-are inclined to persuade the vet
 eran democrat to enter the race for the tSenate.
 Now, Senator Spencer thinks that MT ,Clark should suffer his friends to elect
 him President of the United States. Sen l ator Spencer, in other words. thinks MT Clark would be scorning great oppor-
 unity should be condescend to run fol
 the Senate. Senator Spencer thinks Mir
 Clark too big a man to confine his ac- tivity to Congress. Tor Senator Spen.
 cer would much' prefer to run agains'
 Joseph W. Folk, whom he defeated eas Lily some years ago. than against MT
 Clark, before whose lance he would most
 certainly bite the dust.
 And the republican campaign leaders
 think as does Senator Spencer. If they succeed in removing Clark from Missouri
 as a political factor, they believe tha
 lthey can take care of him elsewhere.