The Washington times., 1920-06-14
SENATE RING
| OUT NOTHING
Capitol 0Iigarchy, Without Ex-
pense, Put Harding Over,
Says Blythe.
PENROSE GAVE THE ORDERS
Ito Nominate Conservative and
| Beat Wood, Lowden and
Harding Were Entered.
PENR0SE GAVE THE ORDERS
BY SAMUEL G. BLYTHE.
Copyright, 1920, by the Central Press
Association.

Vs
Copyright, 1920. by the Central Press
Association.
CHICAGO, June 14.-More than
| $4,000, 900 of their own and other
peoples money were spent by the
various Republican candidates In the
attempt to get the nomination for the
Presidency, and they all lost.
The Republican Senate oligarchy
did not spend 80 cents Of their
money, and they won.
THE INSIDE STUFF.
TIE political strategy of this con
ventfpn, the inside stun. was based
on two, simple, but concrete proposi
tions. The first was this: Nominate
a conservative. The second was this;
Beat Wood.
That waS all there was to 1t, and
that expIain.s every move that was
made. To make clear what happened
let il be understood that the candi-
dacy of Wood never met with favor
among the real Operating members of
the Senatorial autoS Sracy.
PENRosE PRyS M0vEk. s \
] They did not like &eod and they
did not want him The cihef exponent
of this dislike and the prime movoS
against Wood was Senator renross
of Pennsylvania, the leader or the Ne
publicans in the Senate
strongest man in the party nat
the acknowledged Boss.
A dozen reasons might be given rVI
this opposition to Wood by the SEMI " s
autocracy, but one Is sufficient, a
that one is the campaign OF 1e1
Wood was a sort of a residuary legs.
tee of Roosevelt. and Roosevelt split
the Republican party. made the cleo
tion Of a Democrat inevitable. threw
the Republican party out OF power
for eight years, and no one resented
this more than the Senate Republic
ans who had waxed fat and powerful
in the sixteen years they had been in
control.
WASN'T ROOSEVELT. BUT
Wood wasn't Roosevelt. Indeed,
they looked on Wood n beating sh
1o-cent Roosevelt drun, but he was
representative enough, lyrical enough,
symbelicaI enough, and heir-apparent
enough to make the opposttisn - HIM
conclusive and inclusive.
johnson. of course, was sort OF
Roosevelt echo, but they never held
Johnson serious, and the results
showed they were right. Wood was
the man they had to beat.
1t would take a page OF news
paper to tell the story OF all the
maneuvering and manipulating, all
the conjuring. contriving and shuf-
fling and dealing of the cards pre-
liminary to the nnal stage Of the
fight. That f1nal stage began when
O. p
idaa few weeks ago. and made his
gesture with Knox.
HAD DOUBLE PURPOSE.
That gesture had a double pur-
pose. irst to give notice to the
powerful financial hackers of Wood
that Wood was not in favor with the
big boss, and, second, to give the
great Pennsylvania delegation, with
it's seventy votes, something to
tie to.
That also defined the night in Chi
cago. 1t set against one another the
two sets of politicians who were
proposing and fighting for Wood on
the one hand and nghting against
Wood on the other. And so Tar as
the men against Wood were con-
cerncd tho battle cry of these men
was the implacable command from
the sick boss in Philadelphia:
Beat Wood"
PLANS MADE MONTHS AGO.
Months ago the Senate oligarchy
set up it's plans. They told Lovden
to make the fight and see what he
could do. They told Harding to 80
in and try conclusions.
Harding hesitated. He went In and
backed out. He could not see much
of a chance, but the Senatorial CLIQUE
showed him back. They told him he
must perform and take his chances.
So Harding returned to the campaign.
They forced Lowden and Harding to
make fights in States where they had
no chance. holding to their strategy
that the way to beat Wood was to
multiply candidates against him and
thus decrease his chance OF getting a
substantial control of the convention
by any one man.
sLUsH FUND BEAT LowDrN.
That was the way IL stood when
the closeup campaign previous to the
convention began In Chicago. When
the lines were drawn II was found
that Wood and Lowden were the
leaders. and Lowden was taken as
the nrrt hand instrument to use In
the defeat of Wood. TIE Situation
900. ciartaes inte this si.vae vveps-
sat,s~i TIE nam wh~ was - ~
ss~issteA was the snna wAe ssue1