Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-04

watching and obeying an Old Guard,
1t will watch and follow certain inn
provised leadership which will be Gre
aeted to meet the existing necessity. Per-
haps the plan will work. At any rate,
here is a third way Of filling the void
caused by the decease, resignation or
incapacity Of the Old Guard, the
other two being following the Senate,
which is drunk with power" or fol-
lowing the governors.
II the situation really tapers down
70 Mr.. King and rehearsed body Of
the uninstructed the first stages of the
the leading candidates. People differ
ns to the extent to which these men
have already been virtually eliminated.
Most. observers agree that Governor
Lowden has suffered seriously. His
domination Is regarded as most un-
likely.
Many think that Wood also is vir-
tually out of the running. But the dis
organized state Of the opposition leaves
him still a possible, X an unlikely,
nominee. johnson is also possible, but
unlikely. The real wish of the ma
jority here in Chicago is to wipe the
slate clean of all three Of these candi-
dates, and IL the uninstructed delegates
can be rehearsed in their parts and the
favorite son delegates understand and
play their roles, the slate will be washed
clean and fresh start made.
The favorite son supporters have al
ready got the tip to stick to their
candidates. It was sent to the Massa
chusetts delegates. who were told that
IL they stayed with Coolidge he would
have chance to be nominated. The
same word was passed to the Washing
4 IL 81.
dexter, but it was hardly necessary to
make this suggestion. Since the cam
paign fund revelations in Washington
| the stock of all the favorite sons has
gone up. There Is hardly one Of them
who does not figure that he has some
hope of being the convention choice.
Want to Pick Winning Horse
Moreover, the delegates want to wait
till they see the winner more clearly
than they do now. They do not wish
to lose their influence by voting for the
wrong man or by dissipating theil
strength among candidates. Usually
the course of a convention is to vot,
until the favorite sons and other can.
didates with small following ar,
eliminated and until concentration
on the leaders is effected. This is go.
ing to be topsy turvy convention
Voting will proceed, as it looks now
until the leaders are eliminated. Tha
may take long time.
When the convention meets Lowden
who a few days ago looked most prom
ising, will probably be disposed of il
the minds Of the majority. johnson
unless he can arrange to be nominated
ill probably 60 before Wood. Thi
is so because, while any danger o
Johnson's nomination remains, the con
vention will probably keep Wood il
the field against him. When johnson
and Lowden both 60, it will probabl,
be because some understanding ha
been reached as to who will be the nom
inee.
johnson After Uninstructed Men
johnson will make his effort now t
win over to himself the petty leader
here and the uninstructed delegates a
they arrive in the next few days. II
will try to reach his understanding
make his bargain. give his bond, o
whatever it is which will remove tn
objections to his nomination. He mad
his appearance in Chicago yesterday
but it is plain that he is not as pow
erful figure here as in the Senate a
Washington.
His entry into Chicago was an imi
tation of the Roosevelt entry in 191:
and 1915. He has the same headquar
tiers in the Auditorium Hotel whicl
Roosevelt had in 1916. A good crow,
waited for, him, listened to him an,
cheered him. but there was not the per
sonal devotion manifested to him tha
the crowd showed to Roosevelt. Afte
hearing him, the people melted ava
quickly. No one rushed his headquar
ters to touch the, hem of his garment
II johnson were bigger man tha
he is, more magnetic, with con
structive and inspiring program, b
could easily run away with the party
so confused and leaderless it is. Blu
Johnson seems likely to fail, for faults
like those of Brutus, in himself, not il
his stars.