The Washington times., 1920-06-30
PARTY BLINDED
TO BIG ISSUES
While Labor and Women Make
Appeal, Democratic Conven-
ton Merely Drones Along. :,
ny CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL.


other peoples habits and some other
things. and a gentleman hired by the
grape growing interest had a fooiish
dull, stupid row before the committee
on resolutions this morning-about as
enlightening as two school boys quar-
reling over magbles. The point Was.
or seemed to be, whether the reVered
and Peerless One does or does not
take money for his anxious super
vision OF other peoples anairs'
There is under the Heavens nothing
of less Importance to mankind but IL
was something in the nature OF q
scrap and we went wild about H.
We'd break our 'necks at any time TO
see a scrap IL 1t was about anything
but toothpicks.
Before the same committee. rev
minutes earlier, thing had nap
pened a thousand times more sisnih-
cant to every one Of us and we ara
not give hang. A man seveh'y
years old, with a face all scanned anu
scored in forty years OF bitter ana
incessant conflict, came in and offered
a suggestion Of some OF the things
the ave millions of organized workers
of the United States would ike 10
see in the Democratic platform.
What was there Significant ABOUT II.
It happens at every national ponticaI
convention. 1t happened three weeks
ago at the Republican national CON
Vention and the Republican platform
committee took the same man ana
his suggestions and kicked them into
fhe street. splitting on them as they
went along, Yes, but the signin-
cance, you see, lay in the nature OF
the things that labor so quietly sug-
gested.
Repeats Ancient Theme.
II Is asked that the statutory law
In regard to injunctions be enforced
q that revolutionary judges shouid
take into their own hanos
the functions of government-that
men accused of crime should be trieo
before juries as our basic law plain
ly intends-that little children shoula
T not be murdered in factories anu
lmines-that labor should nave 'ne
right to organize. to bargain coIiee
lively and to choose it's own repre-
sentatives in such bargaining-that
labor should not, in defiance OF the
Constitution, be subjected to involun-
tary seryitude-that a few simple
steps be taken to reduce the cost Oh
liying-that the workers should not
be always the bound and helpless VIC
Tins of the profiteers.
That was ali the real significance
and all of these things. proposed as
worthy to be placed in this platform
and some day to be adopted by tho
country, as in every other civilfza-
tion, are old trite, accepted doctrines
and have been for years and years
They are still to be achieved here
elsewhere they are so old there are
few men now who remember when
they did not exist.
The members Of the committee lis
tened to Mr.. Gompers with every sign
that they were well satisfied with
themselves. They were pleased TO
think that they assented to these
p mild, ancient, innocuous and be-
whiskered axioms. 1 thought / could
see each of them swelling the chest
Of philanthropy with the breath OF
appreciation. I wonder what they
would do IL they were confronted
with the program of the British la
Dor party, or of the c. G.. T. OF
France. Faint. / suppose, or drop
dead. You can put in the rest OF
the day trying to explain why In
it's attitude toward, labor, the Unit
ed States Of America is twenty years
behind every nation on earth and
when you get the explanation done,
IL won't cover the case by any way,
three fathoms.
WOMEN BIG FEATURE.
The women continue to be the big
feature of this convention and the
way they are casting into the discard.
the circumlocutions and useless flum-
meries of conventions is grand and
glorious to behold. Every night you
can hear a rising to loud lamentation
from gentlemen of the organization,
big bosses and cut and dried poll
ticians that begin to grasp the fact
that the old order is gone and will
never return. One of the best things
about the totally new order the wom-
en- are bringing is that they are alb
soIutely unawed and don't care a
hoot for tradition or anything like
that When Homer Cummings An
Nished his great speech yesterday, Mrs.
Abby Baker, one OF the ablest of the
able women here, went at him like
a shot, trans-fixed him with a cold
unwavering stare and said icily:
"Mr. Cummings, you spoke for an
hour and half and did notfsay a
word about women. How about it?"
Cummings, who had left out the
subject inadvertently, tried to ex-
plain, but no explanation went with
that lady. SO he scurried after Car
ter Glass and the two got up a first
class telegram to the governor and
legislature of Tennessee, urging rati-
fication of the suffrage amendment.
"You see, Mrs. Baker," said Mr..
Cummings, "how anxious we are to
oblige you"
''Say," observed Mrs. Baker with
the same chill, "where do you get that
stun about obliging?
you're not obliging me. you arc
saving the neck OF your party"
There was no overlooking the thing
today. Senator Robinson lugged II
into the accompaniment OF the brass
band and the chastened Cummings
staged with great eclat his telegram
to Tennessee.
Oh, yes, they'll learn. they'll learn
all right but, gosh! the sufferings of
rome of them in the tuition process.