Evening star., 1920-07-15
RADICAL EFFORTS
DRAW MORE PITY
THAN SC0RN NOW
GIaring Proof Reforms Must
Be Sought in Two Big
Parties.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

lffltAdo. july 11.-More 10 pe
pitied than Scorned-that is perhaps
the best way to size up the third
party convention. Its crude methods.
its awkward and clumsy efforts to
give expression to every conceivable
phase of popular discomfort, its Sc
we're denunciation of the two old
parties. is natural in such a hodge
Dodge of minority elements, but the
entire lack of political sense in the
gathering or consciousness of team
make headway is a sad commentary
on the liberalism which is supposed
to be finding an outlet here.
Dozens of delegates talking at once,
respect neither for the gavel of the
chairman nor the fact that delegate
may have been accorded the privilege
of speaking. intolerance If the views
of a delegate seemed contrary to the
wish of the mass. all this may be de
Tended on the ground that the third
party is suffering the throes of in
fancy, but it impressed many an on
locker with the truiSm that The place
to fight for reform is inside the two
old parties after all, rather than out
side of them.
La Toilette Calls Halt.
Even Robert NJ La Toilette. senior
senator from Wisconsin, and the only
figure of prominence who stands in
the background as ready and anxious
to lead the third party movement, had
to call a halt by long distance tele-
phone as the various elements merged
into one convention and began to en-
body in their platform every species
of radicalism from Russia to the soap
box orators of America. Poor La Fol-
lette. He wants the nomination here
principally as vindication of the
position he has taken on public QueS
tions in the last four years of politi-
cal upheaval in the United States.
He is understood to have advised the
platform committee here that while
he was in sympathy with the planks
suggested he would rather that mucn
of it be omitted so that the candidate
could have something to say.
His yelled hint that he might not. after
all, accept the nomination had the de-
sired effect. 1t tended to make the
labor group, which had swallowed up
the committee of forty eight and other
elements here, realize that the platforms
must not be one sided, but must take
into consideration the prospect of gain
conservative. Indeed, the committee of
forty-eight might well be called the in
tellectuals here and the conservatives,
too Alongside the farmers and labor
organizations who are ultra radical. the
committee of forty-eight would appear
to be mere reactionaries. And the labor
group is in control The committee of
forty-eight had some respect for parla-
mentary rules and tried to run their
convention like the republican and demo-
cratic meetings. but evidently they had
never had much experience with labor
mass meetings, where the loudest voice
gets the floor and where the huskiest
form keeps it.
Some Unintentional HumOr.
AS was the case at the conventions
of the two big parties the platform
committee sat in secret and, of course,
kept the delegates chafing in the con-
yention hall. Meanwhile Dudley Field
Malone and other orators were called
Upon to make speeches. Mr.. Malone
was the author of a bit of unintended
humor. He was arguing something
like this: The republican nomina-
tion was dictated by man on a sick
bed in Philadelphia: the democratic
platform was dictated by a man on a
sick bed in Washington. Thank
heaven, we are all strong and we'll"
Little did Mr.. Malone know that
even as he spoke, a sick man in Wis
consin, just off the operating table
was communicating his wishes on the
platform for the third party. In fact,
another orator a few minutes later
saw fit to deny TO the assem- bled dele
gates that Senator La Toilette was
trying to dictate to the convention.
The whole proceeding was irregular
Business was injected at moments when
~l,.,
gle of would-be orators to get the floor
and hold it was as spectacular as the
evident determination of the patient
delegates to repress the Speechmaking.
Nevertheless, one man did make a mo-
ton. which was duly seconded, to the
effect that when the convention nomi-
mated standardbearers, a woman should
be selected for the vice presidential
nomination. There was an audible mur-
mur of diSapproval and woman
jumped to her feet with this outcry
I'VE are not making nominations nov
and the gentleman is out of order"
All Right, But Wrong.
That's right" declared the chairman
but in the rear of the hall a tall husky
with a vandyke beard, coatless and col
larless, yelled loud enough to get recog-
milton from the chair.
Il make a point of order" he said
that the motion is out of order, as we
are not making nominations now"
You're right, too" replied the
chairman, but the lady beat you to
it,"
Thus did the convention wander
from crag to crag. A high school de-
batting society would have conducted
itself in much better fashion, and the
sad thing about it all is that the or
k.AsliZer3 of tie third dparty movement
earnes: and well intentioned though
they may be in their efforts to get
possession of the government of the
United States, revealed striking in
eptitude in governing themselves. The
thirty-party movement will get ovtes
in the northwest and will be a thorn
in the side of the two parties in the
event that the contest between Hard
ing and Cox is close, but very few
citizens would have been tempted to vote
for the third party if they had wit
messed the scenes of the last twenty
four hours.
Copyright 1920