The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-14
HULL IS LAYING FOUNDATION FOR
 1924 ELECTIONS
Presidential Rooms All De- pendent Upon Outcome of Fall Races-WatchfuI
 Waiting Policy

Washington. 13-(Special.) )- Cordell Hull. chairman of the demo- cratic national committee, Is assidu- ously engaged in constructing the foundation for a successful presi- dental campaign in 1924.
 At the present he Is giving no att tention to the question of the pros pective nominee. Factions are de- veloping and are whispering. but Hull Is ignoring all of them.
 That the above Is true, comes di- rect. The chairman will not be a party to any clique attempting at this advanced hour to engage sin selfish scheming for any particular individual.
 Harding Hns Cinch
 There is. of course. outside discus sion relative to prospective candi- dates for the nomination.
 President Harding will be the nominee of the republican party. If, in the forthcoming congressional elections, democrats display such strength as to encourage the Harding opposition, that opposition will likely form an independent party with Senator Borah or former Senator Kenyon at it's head.
 As to the democratic nominee, there is nothing even bordering on certainty The congressional cleo tions and developments in Congress will tell the story. If the demo- ss,,I. i., ,As,t4 cCi isAf al elections, it seems to be the con census of opinion in Washington that former heroes will be swept into the discard
 The New Richmonds
 If Senator Pomerene should be re- elected from Ohio, should remove the Presidents state from the repubh- can column, should transform re- publican majority of 100000 into a democratic majority, all in the course of two years, where would be the star of James M. Cox?
 And should Senator Hitchcock be reelected in Nebraska, and thus transforming a 10o.0 GOO majority into a democratic majority, would he not be the most conspicuous democratic figure in the west? There would be no reason, it is pointed out for the democrats to cling to William G. McAdoo, A. Mitchell Palmer, or Will liam J. Bryan.
 And should democratic congress sional successes be attributed to the unpopularity of the Fordney- McCum- Der tariff-and it was following tariff year that Woodrow Wilson was e1ected-would not the country give consideration to Senator Under wood, the democratic leader9
 All On Elections
 And there is Al Smith. Should he, after a retirement of two years, come to Congress as substitute for Senator Calder, would not the con vention recall the advisability or nominating man capable or carry ing New York? "
 Everything is dependent, it seems, on the outcome of the congressionai campaigns. If democratic hopes fall to snaateriaIize. both conventions will be hippodromes. Harding will have no opposition; and there will be no scramble for a democratic nomina- ton which would mean nothing.
 Nobody with the exception of Harding, Is a candidate. But should the democrats make good the com ing fall in the congressional cleo tions, both camps would yield to an unwonted activity. Republicans would be confronted with the ne cessity of moderating animosity in party presidential primaries.
 Bornh Is Watching
 Every element Is engaged Tn "watchful waiting" Especially IS this true of the progressive wing or the republican party.
 The republicans in Congress have made a mess of things. They have failed in 1egislatiohi they have not restored full prosperity; they have not eliminated unemployment, they have not composed dissatisfaction and unrest: they have become taint- ed with Newberryism.
 If democrats display real strength this fall. Borah and Johnson ana Kenyon and Norris will strike oe- yond all peradventure. It IS oDSious that they do not appreciate the company they are forced to Keep.