The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-20
WILSON'S DEBT TO
 ROGER SI1LLIVAN

Washington. April 19.-(SpeciaL) Roger Sullivan, for many years po- | litical boss of Chicago democracy is dead. and like immortal Caesar | will soon serve in chinking crack | to keep the wind away
 1 The President of the United States wired Mrs. Sullivan a message of l coincidence of which the striking phrase was He was certainly good to me" Furthermore, the secretary of the President, Joseph P. Tumulty, journeyed to Chicago for the purpose of attending the funeral of the dead politician.
 Washington is all agog with the repetition of the story of how Sul- livan was good to. the President
 and how the President. despite knowl- edge of the fact-the adminstra tion of which he made in his telegram of condolence-was all else than good to Sullivan.
 The act of Sullivan which caused the President to wire, He certainly was good to me" occurred in the bal gation was instructed for Champ Clark. After balloting for Clark a sufficient number of times to satis- fy the people 'back home" Sullivan. after promising to throw the delega tion to oscar w Underwood. threw it. instead, to Woodrow Wilson. As a direct consequence, Woodrow Wilson was nominated.
 Sometime thereafter, Roger Sullivan became a candidate for the United States Senate. The man he had nomi mated for the presidency in time when a nomina tion was equivalent to an election. did not support him. On the other hand, he supported the re- publican nominee, Lawrence Y. Sher- man.
 sherman was elected He came to Washington and imm ediately developed Wilsonphobia. He has been and is the bitterest critic of the President in the Senate. for he criticizes without pretensions to reason. and in his criticisms he makes no effort to con ceal his hatred. He regards the Pres ident as one overcome by dreams of grandeur as one who imagines him self better than all other men. and who holds that he should move up- ward from the presidency to the post of chief magistrate of the world. He
 believes that the President desires
 to make himself dictator--that in ef-
 feet. he has already made himself dic-
 tator--and that he wishes to estab-
 fish the rule of primeogeniture to
 the end that he may be succeeded in
 power by his elder son-in-law, Will
 liam Gibbs McAdoo.
 Senator Sherman regards a democrat
 as the devil regards holy water and
 the south as a territory still in re-
 bellion which should forever squirm
 under the heel of military oppres-
 sion. So partisan is he that quite
 recently when it was evident that Senator Newberry was in danger of conviction for attempting to bribe the
 electorate of Michigan. he publicly announced on the floor of the Senate
 that unless other republicans stood by the stricken brother" he would
 transform the democratic minority into democratic majority--a remark which prompted Senator Beckham Of Kentucky to exclaim: God grant that the democratic minority may never be- come majority through such an ac- quisition"
 It was for Sherman that the Presi- dent stood and against the man who had contributed vitally-more than any other man, it is said. to his first nomination. So generally was 1t un- derstood that the President, in his idealistic procedure, would oppose any man (even though he be a democrat and his opponent republican. even though he be one who had saved his life). who had acquired a reputation
 for playing the political game ac- cording to conventional political rules that there was surprise when he sent the telegram of coincidence to Mrs Sullivan The additional fact that he dispatched his secretary to attend the funeral has caused republicans, with an eye to political trend and develop ments to raise their eyebrows and give expression to positive convic- ton that the President is to all prac- tical purposes a candidate for the pres idency. and that nothing short of physical infirmities can prevent his active participation in the San Fran cisco convention.
 In the meantime. there is consid- erable speculation as to who will prove himself strong enough to succeed Sul- livan as boss of Chicago democracy. Ex-Senator James Hamilton Lewis as- pires to the honor. And he is a can 'didate. an avowed candidate. for the vice presidency
 It is questionable. it Is said, whether or not he will be able to win the suit for Sullivan's shoes. Little doubt as to his vice presidential aspirations are entertained.