The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-05-06
JOHNSON NOW
c. OPP. PUZZLE
Sweeping Victory In California
Makes Rejection Hazardous
For Big Leaders.


for the week has had just one de-
'eisive result. 1t has eliminated Her
bert Hoover from Republican reckon
ing.
Since he deliberately eliminated
himself from Democratic calculations
IL safely may be assumed that MS
candidacy for the Presidency is now
in a state OF collapse, SAYS j. FRED
Essary in a Washington dispatch to
the Baltimore Sun.
Hoover Boom Crushed.
The smashing victory OF Senator
Hiram johnson in California put the
2 finishing touch upon the Hoover can
didacy, which began to decline in
popular favor the day the former food
administrator abandoned his non
partisan attitude and became an
svowed candidate for the Republican
nomination.
There are politicians a-plenty In
Washington today who insist that
| Mr.. Hoovers name will not even be
placed before the Republican conven-
ton. They are decidedly of the
opinion that Mr.. Hoover himself, fore
seeing inevitable and humiliating de-
feat will refuse to allow his friends
to put him up merely to be knocked
' oOwn as the DdllOtlHB
/ II California had not repudiated Mr..
Hoover the situation easily might
have been different. Had he swept
tho State instead of Johnson, the
Hoover stock would have resumed his
place as a powerful factor. But there
| will not be a Hoover man In the Cali
fornia delegation, and there probably
| will be few to vote for him in the
nfty-odd other delegations.
johnson the Problem.
The problem the Republican party
now faces is not Herbert Hoover. 1t
is Hiram Johnson. What 70 do with
that cycionic individual Is a bewilder.
ing. question. The one thing that
most party leaders are sure Of in that
1 connection Is that he must not be
nominated. They are convinced that
it would be suicidal to place him in
the Presidency. He would either
+, make over the Republican party &C
cording to his own patterns, they
realize, or he would wreck it. And
the old.line leaders have no taste for
either experience. .-
But something must be done with
him. He has a powerful popular fol-
lowing. He has proven this both
East and West. He will not have
enough votes to make him dangerous
I on the first ballot, to be sure, nor will
! anybody else, but he will have
enough to make himself troublesome
and some means must be devised to
placate him. A former republican
Senator from Massachusetts,, who has
intimate political connections in
Maryland, made the statement even
before the California primary that
, johnson had to be taken into serious
consideration. His plan was to make
the Californian the Vice Presidential
candidate. @.
Won't Second Fiddle.
When such a thing as that. is -sug-
,sested to a johnson man. however. he
dismisses the notion with a scornful
laugh. Impossible, is his answer. 1t
lis the Presidential nomination or
nothing, the Johnsonites assert. They
add significantly that if the repub-
Ilicans wish to assume the risk of de-
feating the Senator for the nomina-
ton of that party it Is their privilege
to do so, but the price. for such .
move may be a heavy one.
In other words, there is wide-open
l&alk in Washington today of John
son as head of third ticket. That
such a thing was being anticipated
IN many quarters was stated in these
dispatches Monday morning. Up to
that time, however, the discussion
was carried on IN a stage whisper.
Today it is being renewed without
the whisper.
Nor does this sort of thing proceed
from the Johnson camp. Most John
son people discount the third-party
idea as a set program. They do this,
! of course, to keep their candidate
regular until it can be determined
for certainty whether the republic
cans will nominate him. For them to
walk third party now, even for pur-
poses of bluff, would weaken their
man at Chicago. The talk is coming
from the other side, or rather from
those who are not necessarily we'd
ded to any candidate, but who know
che johnson psychology and who also
know enough of the Old Guard psy-