The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-11-22
Pressure to Be Brought to Bear
on Pinchot to Seek Nomip,
Him to Be Candidate, But His Running L
Hiram Johnson, Sullivan Says

|
they, friendly as they are to Pinehot
doubt whether. as things stand to-
| day, he could get all or even half the
delegates from Pennsylvania.
Unpopular Politically.
Within his own state Governor Pin
chot is at the moment in a weak
position, politically speaking. Pin
chot, acting in the interest of efficient
| administration and economy, forced
an unwilling legislature to grant him
such powers as perhaps no other
governor ever had.
For the purpose of reorganiZing
the administrative machinery of the
state, Governor Pinchot was given
power to consolidate bureaus, lop off
bureaus and rismiss unnecessary pub
lie servants or reduce the compensa-
ton of others. In the course of this
spent a lifetime as Job holders at
the state capital.
Each of these. me mis- in most cases
a political power in his own home
county. The result Is that IL Pinchot
should try for the delegates from
Pennsylvania, he would have the ag-
gregate opposition of a considerable
number of politicians who are power
full locally in their communities. Add.
ed to this Is the fact that If Pinchot
runs at all. he runs as an extreme
dry: and also the clear fact is that
some portions of Pennsylvania are
very wet. The result is that even
Pinchot's friends admit that he would
have difficulty in getting half Of
Pennsylvania 7s delegates.
Friends See Win.
His enemies claim that he would
not get more than a quarter of them.
A few of Pinchot's friends, as well
as some good judges of Pennsyl
vania politics. declare that in spite
of all this. If Pinchot should go into
the fight with his customary energy
as the spokesman of moral issues, he
would get the bulk of the delegates
from his state.
To sum up, Is tlngs stand, IL PIN
ehot does not become a candidate for
the presidential nomination. the bulk
OF Pennsylvania IS delegates will
go to Chicago uninstructed, but fay-
orable TO Coolidge. They will be
largely in the control OF Secretary OF
the Treasury Mellon, Senator Pepper
and Senator Reed, and they will be
prevailingly disposed to nominate
Coolidge. This is subject to the ex-
ception that II Hiram Johnson comes
into the sttae and makes vigorous
personal canvass he will take measur-
able number of the delegates away
from the local organization.
There are districts, especially about
Pittsburgh. where Johnson has made
speeches against the league OF ma
tions. which speeches have made him
a local favorite in these communities.
A vigorous personal canvass by john
son, and adequate organization in his
behalf, would get him a considerable
number of the Penps1 Ivania dele
gates.
Progressiyes VIII Act.
AT the same time. il Johnson enters
Pennsylvania. The pressure on Pin
chot to become a presidential candi-
date also will be such that he can
hardly avoid It, The old Roosevelt
and progressive following in Penn
sylvania will be determined to have
some one other than Johnson repre-
sent them In the race.
To your correspondent. it would
70 81.
things are at the moment, Pinclfot
has not as much chance to carry his
own state of Pennsylvania for the
presidential nomination as he had for
the governorship nomination two
years ago, and he won that only by
the narrowest of margins and by
virtue of a split in the organization
opposed TO him.
Nevertheless everybody knows
that Pinchot's temperament Is such
that his decision TO run or. not to
run will not he determined or even
affected by any cautious thought OF
his chances for success. Also, there
are two other factors pointing toward
Plnchot entering the race. One is
that the pressure on Plnchot from
outside Pennsylvania Is very strong.
The other is that there is among
the churches and church people of
Pennsylvania spirit OF crusadlng
zeal about prohibition and law en-
forcement which may grow To out
weigh all ordinary political consider
atfOng