Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-12
BOARDOF STRATEGY
MAPS ORDER Of
. EVENTSFOR C. 0. P.
If Three Leaders Fail to Win
After Fair Chance ozark
Horses" Will Be Brought
Into Convention
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

COLISEUM, Chicago, June Ii
Even if the public could be told all
that was said, all that was promised,
all that was planned in the confer
ences which lasted well into the
morning, the said public would only
know the Strategy-not the result.
For as the Republican national con-
vention enters into it's final stage
the actual naming of candidates
for president and vice president
the pledges and assurances exchanged
behind closed doors by the busy man.
ayers of individual aspirants for the
nomination mean only a concerted eff
fort to name a conservative accept
able to the regular Republican or
ganization. The order of events
based upon some knowledge of what
the board Of strategy is mapping
out on the inside of this convention
is this:
1. Let Wood show his maximum
strength on the first few ballots, and
let Johnson hold his delegates in
TACT
2. Let Lowden come up and pass
Wood in the totals. Make a final
drive inside the New York, Pennsyl-
vania and Massachusetts delegations
for Lowden.
8. If Lowden doesn't get the
"break" and merely holds his lines
intact, with no evident chance of taxi
ing delegates from Leonard Wood, a
ballot or two for Johnson's benefit
will be tried.
4. If all three leaders fail to get
a majority, the board of strategy will
offer Knox or Sproul or Harding, with
the certainty that Harding will al
least be given the vice presidency
if Johnson declines it.
5. If the convention refuses Knox
Or Sproul or Harding, then Senator
Penrose and the Old Guard who are
sitting on the board of managers
will be compelld to go to other COM
promise candidates, like Hughes
Hoover or Lenroot, but none of the
insiders believe the situation will
get that far.
Johnson on Inside
Now there is a shrewd gentleman
by the name of Hiram Johnson who
knows what is happening on the in.
side, and who knows what the effort
of the Old Guard is going to be. He
is being. assured that he will have
his chance as soon as Wood is elm
mated and Lowden's strength is
tested, and the hint is given him that
he had better hold his delegates until
each one of his rivals has finally got.
ten out of the race.
But the California senator has
played the poker of politics in his
own state and also in the United
States senate and he is not so easily
held in line. Indeed, Mr.. Johnson is
keeping the Lowden forces on edge
by continually limiting or gesturing in
the direction of Leonard Wood. If
Johnson threw his delegates to Wood,
the eminent major general would win
this nomination in a walk. So long,
however, as Johnson thinks there is
a remote chance for him to win, he
will not withdraw in anybody's
favor.
SO it is necessary for the managers
who oppose Wood to keep dangling
before Johnson the prospect of win
ming the nomination himself. It is
interesting to record in this connec-
ton that Senator Johnson has had
within the last twenty-four hours
conferences with Tobias Hert, man
ager Of the Lowden boom, and with
John T. King, who represents Sena-
tor Penrose. Both King and Hert
are vehemently opposed to Woods
candidacy and to Frank Hitchcock.
Johnson Holds Cards
Mr.. Hitchcock, by the way, is rep
resented as having told Massachu-
sets delegates that if he wins this
fight for Wood, Will Hays will be
displaced as national chairman and
the former postmaster general will
run the campaign.
SO the messages are carried back
and forth and the bluffs and feints
are made in the great nominating
game. Johnson is really out of it
ana is powerful only III LndC he can
name the presidential candidate by
releasing his delegates and with
drawing in favor of another con-
tender.
The belief persists that when he is
once convinced that he can't win,
he will go on the ticket with Phi
lander G. Knox, former secretary of
state, former attorney general, for
mer friend of Roosevelt and Taft
and JnOueStiOnablV the man who
would find favor not merely with the
all-important Pennsylvania deIega-
ton, which is one of three holding
the balance of power, but with the
New York and Massachusetts delega-
tons. Mr.. Knox, who was first
brought out by Penrose, would in
herit the Lowden strength in New
York and Massachusetts and togeth-
er with Pennsylvania this would be
enough to win.
1t may be necessary to make the
ticket Knox and Coolidge to catch
the fancy of Massachusetts, and if
that isn't possible there are some
Lowden delegates in populous Ohio
who might be brought into camp by
making the ticket Knox and Harding.
All these moves are under conSidera-
ton as the convention makes an eff
fort to finish it's business by Satur-
day night. A deadlock in the ballot
ing would upset all calculations and
keep the convention here to the mid
die of next week.