Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-26
Story of Democratic
Conventions to Date
By A. III.
The Convention of 1912

Inc VI I'VE
When the historic Democratic ma
tional convention of 1912 met in
Baltimore on June rs. Bryan (al-
though not himself a candidate)
was still the stormy petrol of party
affairs.
The national committee designat-
ed Judge Alton b. Parker of New
York as temporary chairman
against Mr.. Bryan's protest that
Judge Parker was not sufficiently
''progressive"-taking this action
by a vote of 81 for Parker, to 20 for
Ollie James of Kentucky, and two
for Senator O'Gorman of New York.
Mr.. Bryan promptly carried the
fight to the floor of the convention,
where he was defeated by a vote of
$40 to $40. In this preliminary
lineup delegates favorable to the
Wilson of New Jersey threw their
support solidly to Mr.. Bryan and
the coalition ultimately determined
convention destiny.
Senator James of Kentucky-one
of Mr.. Bryan's closest friends-be-
came permanent chairman of the
convention and Senator Kern of In
diana, who had been Mr.. Bryan's
choice for temporary chairman, be-
came head of the resolutions COM
mittee after Mr.. Bryan had declined
this honor.
The unit rule" was rejected-for
the first time in Democratic nation
al convention history-by a vote of
565h to 491 1-3. This was another
Wilson-Bryan victory because 1t
particularly involved eighteen dis
trict delegates from Ohio who had
been instructed by primaries to
vote for Wilson, but where the state
convention, controlled by the Har-
NOR forces, had invoked the unit
rule binding all Ohio delegates to
the Ohio governor.
It was apparent as the convention
progressed that the main p%residen-
tial contest would lie between
Speaker Champ Clark of Missouri
and Governor Wilson. On the fourth
day the first ballot gave Clark 440h,
Wilson 324, Underwood of Alabama
117H, Harmon Of Ohio 14S, Mar
shall of Indiana 81. Baldwin OF
Connecticut %, Sulzer of New York
2, and Bryan 1. Under the two
thirds rule 72S votes were necessary
to a choice.
Subsequent roll-calls UP to the
ninth showed few changes. Then
came the first big break when New
York swung 80 votes from Harmon
to Clark. On this ballot. the tenth,
Clark reached the hlgh-water mark
of 556-a clear majority, but 40
votes short of the necessary two
thirds to nominate. On thirteen
ballots the following day Wilson
gained ffty-one and Clark lost nine
ty. When the convention adjourned
over Sunday the Wilson forces were
confident and the Clark forces were
particularly bitter against Bryan for
his anti-Clark posture.
At the end of the forty-second
ballot on the following Monday the
convention was still deadlocked,
Clark. Or the forty-third ballot IL
linois and West Virginia swung 20
Wilson. On the forty-fourth, Col
orado followed suit. Before the
forty-sixth ballot was under way,
Senator Bankhead of Alabama took
the platform and released the I'm
derwood delegates, with the result
that Alabama, which had started
every roll-call with t~wenty-four
votes for Underwood, changed to
Wilson. Senator Stone of Missouri
took the stage and released all del
egates who had been pledged to
Clark. State after state then fol-
lowed Alabama's example, and Gov
ernor Wilson was nominated with
$50 votes to "a for Clark and IL for
Harmon.
A tired but finally united conven-
ton quickly completed the ticket by
nominating Governor Marshall OF
Indiana Cover Governor John f.
Burke of North Carolina) for vice
president on two ballots.