Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-06-28
WILSON LEADERSHIP
| HANGS IN BALANCE
| AT SAN FRANCISCO
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


candidates are worrying the leaders Of
the democratic national convention as
they approach their tasks of the week.
For the leadership of President Wilson
hangs in the balance. With character
istic SKILL William Jennings Bryan has
Unanswered himself into position Of
strength in the all-important resolu-
tons committee which drafts the plat
| form. The old fight between the demo-
cratic senators who supported Senator
Lodges reservations and those who
supported Senator Hitchcock and Pres-
dent Wilson in their stand for inter-
| pretive reservations to the peace treaty
has broken out anew. Mr.. Bryan has
! cleverly gotten behind Senator Walsh
of Montana. who voted for the Lodge
! reservations, and who is popular with
| the western senators and is their cand-
date for chairman of the platform com
| mittee.
Revolt Comes Suddenly.
Everybody thought the Wilson people
were in such splendid control of things
here that when it was announced that
Senator Glass of Virginia had conferred
with President Wilson and had secured
his ideas on platform planks no diff
Guilty was anticipated in selecting Mr..
Glass to be chairman of the resolutions
denly and has given the Wilson leaders
much to worry about. They are con-
fident of electing Glass, but it will be
close shave.
The people behind Senator Walsh
of Montana have expressed fears that
Senator Glass might put something in
the platform condemning the repub-
l1can senators who voted for the
Lodge reservations and thus place in
an embarrassing position the twenty
democratic senators who lined up
| with Mr.. Lodge.
For dead issue, this league of
nations business manages to create
more live trouble in the two political
parties than anything else this year
But the surprising thing is that in
democratic convention there should
be difficulty, for President Wilson has
declared the league the principal is
sue of the campaign.
| Mr.. Bryan, however, has been in
sisting that the reservations adopted
by the republican majority of the
Senate should have been accepted by
the President. Senator Walsh of
| Montana took the position when he
voted for the Lodge reservations that
it was the only way to get the treaty
ratified.
Struggle Will Be Protrncted.
No matter what is the outcome of
the fight for the Craftsmanship of the
resolutions committee, the struggle
will not be ended till the platform
plank is written. The Bryan Walsh
elements favor adoption of the peace
treaty with whatever reservations are
necessary to insure prompt ratifica-
ton. They want nothing said about
the Lodge reservations. Senator
Glass of Virginia wants the treaty
ratified without reservations which
impair its essential integrity" In the
Virginia platform which he wrote he
who voted for the Lodge reservations
II he wants harmony here he will
have to eliminate the denunciation
and limit himself to an affirmative
statement of what the democrats pro-
pose to do with the peace treaty
| The aspirants for the presidential
nomination are wisely keeping out
of the fight. though if any danger
Looms a'ision it d is quite ntaoe certain that
forces will be made for purposes of
organization and platform, if for
nothing else. The McAdoo and Pal
mer men are very friendly, so far
as their feeling for President Wilson
is concerned. 1t is about the only
point in common which they have,
but enough to keep Brother Bryan
and others from throwing the con-
vention into the hands of anti-ad-
ministration elements.
Strategy Of Wilson Supporters.
! The Wilson forces solidified their
ranks when they agreed to eliminate
cambridge Colby as permanent chair
men and accept Senator Joseph Rob-
inson of Arkansas. The latter, by
the way, did not vote for the Lodge
! reservations, but stood by the Presi-
dent throughout the treaty fight
CODY was too new a democrat to
get the important job of permanent
chairman, though the Wilson leaders
who suggested it thought it was
good way to catch the eye of such
progressives as may have been dis
l 2nnninfad @
convention at Chicago
There Is. however. a noticeable
undercurrent here to go back to
the good old-fashioned democracy"
Whicn is analogous to the conspicuous
tendency in Chicago to return to
good old republicanisn1"
rms convention probably will yield
liberal platform, but only after a
hard night. because the conservatives
are significantly numerous Whether
it was the war or reaction against
experiments in government measures
and proposals. there are reactionaries
here as there were in Chicago and
they will make their fight against
anything approaching government
| ownership or similar doctrines of the
| so-called radicals. The candidates of
! the .-old- fashioned democrats are
Vice President Marshall and Champ
! Cox, because, while he has a pro-
gressive record in Ohio. he might be
able to acknowledge mistakes of the
| Wilson administration, since he was
| not part of it.
Wilson Men i'm Cox Camp.
On the other hand. there are plenty
of Wilson men in the camp of Gov.
Cox. He il being urged as compro-
mise betG cen the old and the new
democracy. Behind him are many or
ganization democrats from Indiana.
Illinois. New York and Ohio The
Palmer delegates are friendly to him
as a second choice if their own man
| appears to have no chance. In a nut
shell, unless the fight on the platform
draws the Palmer and McAdoo forces
together in a coalition, the chances
OF the Ohio governor would seem to
be excellent to win the nomination.
It is between McAdoo and Cox. The
big question is whether the Palmer
| men will go to the former Secretary
of the Treasury or the Ohio governor
after the first few ballots. If the
Palmer men are embittered in the
platform fight, they will throw their
strength to McAdoo and insure nomi-
nation the moment it is apparent
that the Attorney General cannot win.