The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1920-06-07
WOOD MEN MIGHT
TURN TO Gov. ALLEN
Three Others Considered As
Having Better
Chance
Butler Stronger Than Many Realize
Wood ana Knox Not To
Be Overlooked.
Nv MARX SULLIVAN


strong to justify u survey OF this field
! 10 see wha; the. material Is.
| Dark horse" Is a vague term. 10 the
generous elasticity of which good
many public men are under obligations
Frequently the fact that Il man Is
prominently mentioned among the dark
horses" merely means that he Is an
! agreeable fellow. that he has never COM
! mttted any odious crime and that the
| newspaper men like him and are glad
to give him a hand On other oCCa-
| s!ons. 10 he mentioned as dark horse
merely means that the delegates from a
certain state are happy TO give one OF
their number little favora bic publicity.
In the present article the term is re-
strlcted 10 men who have some degree
Of serious possibility OF such. aside
from the four major candidates VINO
were in the primaries--Wood. Lowd"n
johnson and Harding-thCre are ten who
have in some degree such relation 70
the situation as Il whole that they could
| he said 10 be in one degree or another
real possibilities.
Allen az Residuary Lsgatee
Among these ten. Gov. Allen Of Kan
sas ~ not only first alphabetically. but,
in addition has one element OF strength
that non" OF the others have: Gov. Al
len IL 4 rcSduary legatCc. Those or uS
who have watched the Wood movement
! closely. have all along had the feeling
that GOV. Allen is the second choice OF
many Of the Wood enthusiasts. Always
J In the back OF tho heads OF the WOOD
workers has seemed TO be the thought
that If they should fail with Wood they
WOULD then preserve their front anu
| compactly as they could and deliver a.
large a block Of their delegates nS pos
sible TO Governor Allen. This belief
on the part OF observers has nov been
confirmed By General Moods choice OF
Governor Allen to make his nominating
speech To Governor Allcn-aSsuminH.
| repeat. that It becomes matter 81
dark horses at all-this opportunity In
get himself before the convention In 4
Favorable way il great asset. And
Governor Allen has far too much mag
inatinn 10 fail 10 he aware OF 1t. This
is precisely the situation which resulted
in the nomination Of James 4. Garfield
in 1850 Garfield came TO that conven-
ton not as Il candidate himself. but
for the purpose of advancing the claims
Of hts friend. Senator John sherman.
Garfield made the nominating speech:
Both the speech and the man impressed
tho convention in q strongly friendly
way. and later on. after thirty-thr"e
ballots had been taken with no change
among the leaders, Garfield came TO
the front. Governor Allen knows po-
litical history as we'll as any OF us and
he cannot fail TO be impressed BY the
analogy.
In the working out OF the present
convention. assuming that II comes
, TO 4 case OF dark horses" this fact
that he Is 10 make the nominating
speech for one Of the principal can.
d!dates. ought to give Gov. Allen
more momentum in the beginning
than any of the othe dark hourscs. In
addition, Gov. Allen would naturally
be expected 10 be the beneficiary OF n
certain amount of Senator Johnsnn's
strength. Allen was an orgintal Pro
gressive. and presumably whatever ale
ments OF Roosevelt strength there are
in tho coming convention would have
the most friendly feeling for him. Your
! correspondent believes that there ar. at
least three other dark horse po 'sib!litiSs
who have rather better chances than
| Gov. Allen. Hut II II comes to a case
Of dark horses at all. your correspon-
dent expects to see considerable dem
onstration over the Kansas governor.
President Buffers Chances.
Considering the dark horses alpha
| betically. the next is Nicholas Murray
Butler OF New York. When you reflect
upon Mr.. Buffers position. you are i'm.
pressed with how very narrow Is tho
, distance between Butler as an impos.
sibility and Butler as AN extremely
strong possl bilty. To think of Butler
as having no chance at all has b.
! come a habit and. like many habits o:
! mind. IL has laster beyond the time
when the facts justified 1t. Mr.. Butte:
has hung around the outer edges or
Republican politics, acting as a newer
Of wood in writing platforms and the
like, so long that he does not look a.
big as ne would IL he were coming on
! the scene today as Il new figure. Butler
was Tatt's running mate IN the most
!n2lorious race the Republican party
ever made--the one in 1912. when the
party carried only two states. ny rea-
son OF that fact the public. and espec-
tally the minor politicians, came to look
upon Butler as sharing TartS weakness.
The truth is Butler has talents and cX-
perIence OF a sort to make him bet
ter Presidential candidate and bet
ter President than Taft was.
Another Of Mr.. Buffers hand!caps is
one OF those utterly minor and whm-
steal analogies which frequently have
weight until we examine them closely
Butler is q college president; Wilson
was the head Of college. and the Re-
publicans think that Wilson made n
very poor President. That Is a course
OF reasoning which only needs SEC
und look 10 disappear in mist. If Dr.
! convention ono resolute friend with
the ability and the will TO make n
forceful speech in his behalf. these
quite immaterial handicaps OF his
would evaporate.
Butler will come close 10 having as
many friends among the delegates on
the floor an any other one man. For
years it has been his hobby to know
IN" Republican leaders In most Of the
states and many OF the cities and
counties. Largely as device tyr bal
ancing his preoccupation with academic
AFFAIRS he has kept In touch with the
realities OF public life by this means.
Many Republicans in positions OF power
throughout the country write 10 him
for information and advice and when
they come TO New York, call upon him.
One strong man. believing IN Butler
and making speech that rejected his
faith might very readily transform the
convention from one which regards But
Ter as an accepted impossibilty 10 one
that would regard him as an ideal can
dldate under present conditions.
Coolidge Among FIRST Three.
The next in alphabetical order IL Gov.
the Judgment Of your correspondent
Gov Coolidge is one Of the first three
possibilities among the dark horses
And II the Presidency does not 70 10
Gov. Coolidge. il can be said with almost
complete confidence that Gov. Coolidge
has the best chance for the Vicc-Presi-
dcnCy. always assuming. or course. that
III" Presidency itself does not go TO a
quarter which makes Gov. Coolidge In
eligible geographically.
Next alphabetically comes VIII HAYS
tho national chairman. Every few
weeks during the campaign n wave Of
friendly gossip about Hays az II posi-
hility has gone from Gne end Of the
country to the other. Whenever this
gossip came to tho attention Of Hays
himself he was quick TO frown upon IT.
Hays mus way VI
in phrases. and his phras" for this was.
AN administrator never buys Mt his
own sale" ny that legal axiom Mr.
Hays meant that for him IN permit
himself to be nominated would cast
doubt on his personal good faith In the
management Of the National Commit
tee; that Il would hc assumed that h"
had not meant what he said when ne
declared that II WAS his business TO be
: absolutely neutral ~ among the the
| ,.a
tho convention gets into an acrimonious
snarl there IS always the possibility OF
some one person arising and bringing
peace by mentioning the name OF ono