The Washington herald., 1921-10-23
COX And KADOO
FACTIONS STILL AT
ODDS OVER WHITE
Success in 1922 Campaign
Menaced by Chair
manship Row.
ROPER SUGGESTED
Party Needs Leaders to Win
Victory, Says Mark
Sullivan.
ROPER SUGGESTED
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

ror year one group has been
pulling and hauling to GUST the
present chairman, George White,
or Ohio. and another group has
been insisting that he stay in. At
various times Chairman White
seems to have given the impression
mat he would be willing to get
out under certain conditions. At
present 1t would seem that Mr..
White doesn't regard these condi-
lions as fulfilled. and IT seems like
~ that the fight will come to a
mead at the November meeting.
BIames MeAdOO Men.
Mr.. Whites friends assert that
those who are trying to get him
out are partisans of William g.
McAdoo, and that their purpose Is
to MI the office with some one who
Will help Mr.. McAdoo towards get
ting the Democratic nomination in
1924. This allegation is denied by
those who demand a change. They
declare that all they want is a new
deal and active men in the offices
OF chairman and treasurer. They
say they merely want the energy
and organizing vitality that would
come with a new group of officers.
carefully selected with these quail
ties in mind. They assert that
their movement is not primarily a
McAdoo movement, and does not
look to his nomination in 1924.
They charge. too, that those who
are trying to keep Mr.. White in
are friends OF James NJ Cox. and
that their interest lies in keeping
the organization within the control
Of Mr. Cox and his friends.
II \ difficult to arrive at a just
judgnent as to how much merit there
is In these charges and counter
charges. Undoubtedly, Mr.. White
was originally put in the chairman
ship as the direct choice of Mr.. Cox.
Undoubtedly. also, most OF those who
want to keep Mr.. White in are par
tisans OF Mr.. Cox. 1t is equally
certain that most OF those who are
most active in the effort to supplant
White with a new chairman are per-
sons who in the past have been
closely Identified with Mr.. McAdoo's
ambitions for the Presidency. So to
what extent the issue is merely a
factionaI one of Cox's friends versus
McAdoo's friends, and to what eX-
tent it is inspired by a real desire
on the part Of disinterested and loyal
Democrats to achieve harmony and
energy. is not easy to determine.
Result VIII BE DemOraIIzInE.
About the net result of 1t there
can be no doubt. The result will
be like the result OF all factionalism
in any oTganization-a degree Of in
ertness and a lack of forward move
ment in the organization which is
most unpromising for future results.
The organization has wobbled along
IN this state for n year past. At
one time former Representative Scott
Ferris, of Oklahoma. was informally
more or less agreed upon as a COM
promise choice. Then il occurred
70 somebody that Mr.. Ferris had
been identified with one of the most
unfortunate episodes. from a Demo-
cratic point of view, of recent years.
namely. the letter in which former
President Wilson. in the fall of 1918,
asked the country to give him a par
tisan Democratic Congress. This cpl
sOde appears to have ruled Mr.. Fer
ris out.
At present the man whom the
advocates Of a change are putting
forward strongly is Daniel S.
Roper, of North Carolina. who was
Commissioner of Internal Revenue
was Secretary Of the Treasury.
The effort to put Mr.. Roper in con-
troll will undoubtedly come to
head at the November meeting.
Everybody admits that Mr.. Roper
is A man of high quality. with much
organizing ability. But everybody
also admits that Mr.. White is a
man Of high character. whose per-
sonal quality is an asset to the
Democratic organization.
Need Live Wire.
. The whole muddle is a great pity
from the Democratic point of view.
what the Democrats most need, in
anticipation Of next year, is a live
wire chairman, whose past af1lia-
tIons 10 not subject him to any
rbarRe of partisanship either to-
Yards Cox or McAdoo: who has
the energy and Willingness to jump
into a hard job of countrywide or
rsnization with zeal and effective
ness. In short, what the party
needs 3 a Democratic equivalent Of
win Hays. 1t ought to be easy to
find such a man. and such a man
ought to be glad to take the job.
II he turns out to be as good a
man as Will Hays, he can make
the opportunity yield him as at
.~active fruits in the shape Of
..arper as VIII Hays has.
TIE thing is really very urgent
from a Democratic point of view,
and II ought to be approached with
a willing submerging OF every fac
tIonaI point OF view. But the
DemocratIc rift between those who
nominated Cox and hate Wilson
and McAdoo, and. on the other
hand. those whose primary loyalty
{, to Wilson and McAdoo, Is very
broad.
Restricted by Rules.
one detail that makes the choice
Of a new man difficult is the claim
that, according to party rules, the
chairman must be a national COM
mItteeman from one of the States.
II that rule Is binding. it limits
the choice to some fifty men. The
group that wants a change de-
cIares that this rule is not binding,
or that. IL it is binding, 1t can be
changed. This aspect of the sit
nation is too complex and techni-
cal to interest the public. But
there are q good many million
voters who are interested In de-
handing that the members of the
national committee get above their
factional squabbling and equip
themselves for effective manage
ment of the Congressional cam
paign next year.
In entering. the campaign next
wear for the election OF a whole
Lower House Of Congress and a
third of the Senate there are two
suggestions which are offered by
the writer as q voluntary contri-