Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-30
,STANOPATTERS
PLEASED WITH VOTE
See Their Plan Furthered to Have
Wood and Johnson Put Each
Other Out.
rsrpndence Baltimore sun.

Washington, April 2S.-There ls just
one certain thing about the primary re-
suits of Yesterday rs political observers
here regard the matter. That is, that
the Old Guard scheme of pitting Genera
Wood and Senator Hiram Johnson
against each other with the view OF fore
ing them 10 sink together, is working
out with signal success.
All of which means that the standpat
leaders of. the party will be III stronger
position to do the nominating at Chi-
cago than would be the case II either
of these two radicals arrived at the
convention with powerful vote pleogau
10 his support. What the older heads
want and all that they now hope for is
an open field which may be dominated
hv the ,,ncommitted delegations.
Wood and Johnson at the moment are
standing very decidedly in each other
wav. Each is making it impossible tor
the other to capture anything ike
enough votes to make of him a danger
ous factor on the first ballot. II all the
States which have not yet acted should
90 TO either of these candidates soiidiy,
that candidate would not have majority
of the delegates.
In other words, the first important
stage of the preconventlon fght mas
been passed, likewise the danger point.
Nobody can now get majority ot the
delegates. There will be n scramble Tor
those that remain open to suasion, out
the chances are that they will be .gener-
ally split up with Wood and Johnson,
taking the bigger blocks:
II there were anything III common
between Wood and Johnson, beyond the
mutual desire to see the hepubhcan
party win, the possibility OF coomoi-
nation of their forces might prove alarm
ing. Between them they will doubt
less have enough votes TO nominate the
candidate but as everybody knows who
has watched the course of this cam
paign. there is more genuine hostility
and bitterness between the two heirs
of the late Theodore Roosevelt than be-
tween either of them and any other cam
didate.
AZ this moment there does not appear
TO be the slightest hope that Leonard
Wood and Hiram Johnson could toe IN
sl,iced to unite their forces in an effort to
take the convention out of the hands OF
the reactionaries. They insist that they
hate reaction, but it is obvious that they
hate each other more. Johnson is NOR
allv certain in his heart that Wood is a
fake progressive and is willing TO mort
pnge himself TO the Interests In order
to be President. and Wood is equally
certain that johnson is in this fight for
the primary purpose of killing of Wood,
not to vindicate any set OF principles or
policies.
For a time the growing strength of
johnson, which seemed to be sweeping
everything before it, caused the old
!, ard - leaders to consider the advisa-
+ ilitv of uniting behind Wood. who /
ID be infinitely more acceptable to
1 en- than the Californian, if choice
I ad to be made between the two. And il
can be stated with assurance that plans
! ad been discussed to that end. BY n
single strike, it was argued, Senator
johnson might be beaten at Chicago and /
nm possible excuse for another bolt on |
his part removed
But this plan is now out Of mind. it |
WAS stated today. General Wood seems |
To have blocked Johnson IN New Jersey |
and the hope is that he will do the same |
thing in MARYLAND next week and pos !
sihlv I'm Indiana, TO the extent of divld- |
iae these delegations with the Senator |
If nothing more. With that sort of
hing going on from now until the con- !
vention meets, the Old Guard figures |
that it will be In position TO take pos |
session of the works at Chicago.
Senator Harding has been saved from
reputation by his own State by feeble |
ma aiority. but he has been saved never |
iheless. His prestige has suffered ma
terially as a result of the primary, but he !
remains a compromise possibility, even /
though remote one. The Republican /
candidate who has gained most in party |
as result of the Wood |
Johnson tug-of-war aud as result of the
general scrambling of the. eggs is Gov
ernor Lowden, of Illinois. He has gone
along serenely making no passionate
enemies and making many strong friends.
He has a very considerable following 10
,tart with in the matter of pledged dele
yates and he has a record of ''progrcs-
,iveism' which appeals to many of the
eaders who for the time being are
taking both Wood and Johnson.
II is manifestly unsafe TO make cocksure
orccasts at this stage, but the prediction
5 here ventured that Lowden will figure
more and more conspicuously In the sit
iation as the convention date draws
lcarer. There are folks here in Wash
ngton who go even further and insist
hat I.owden's nomination is about as
.ertain as anything in such campaign
IS this can be. That, of course, can be
IL l.,trt vel 1