Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-10
PRESIDENTIAL POSSIBILITIES
TOLD OF BY HASKIN

WASHINGTON, Mar. 10--lt took
a Democrat to say of Oscar w. Ua-
| derwood that he is the best Re-
publican in the Democratic party"
and make a political bon mot that
will be quoted as long as Senator
Underwood is a presidential posi-
bility. In vaudeville they would class
that as a dirty dig and it Is that
and more. It's clever and it is just
enough of a near truth almost to
accomplish its two fold purpose
to make the Alabama statesman
writhe and to eliminate him from
consideration in connection with the
| Presidency,
It happens however, that Senator
! Underwood is not one of the writh-
| ing kind. Cool, deliberate, imper-
| turable. as he always is, there is
! about as much chance of getting a
rise out of him with that sort of
thing as there is of annoying old
King Tut with present day Egyp"
tian problems.
1t happens, also, that it would
take more than gibes at his censer
Yatism to eliminate the senator
from the list of Democratic presi-
Dental possibilities. He must be
reckoned with because he is one CT
the really big men in his party and
because of the record he has made
during his long service in the House
and senate. When he is out of the
running it will be because he has
taken himself out or because an
other candidate has received the
votes necessary 20 nominate the
1924 standard bearer of the embat-
tied hosts of Democracy,
Senator Underwood is net coy nor
| flirtatious about tho idea of seeking
! the presidential nomination. When
| the subject was broached to him on
! the eve of his sailing for three
months soiourn abroad he said
| frankly that he had the matter un-
| der consideration. He did not at
| tempt to be evasive or ponderous'y
| humorous. nor did he convey the
| impression that he wanted to be
| coaXed into getting into the race.
His course will be determined upon
after mature deliberation and his
decision will be made known ~
ample time tor his friends and sup
porters TO set busy in an effective
way. That he will be an active, sS-
gressive candidate is rather taken
/
} cal observers in Washington.
Handicapped as Southerner
Like Republicans who hail from
states west OF the Mississippi river
! Senator Underwood enters the con-
! test for the Presidency with a gao
graphical handicap. Precedents are
against his party's going to the
south for a man to head It's nationa
! ticket. The electoral votes OF the
| states below the Mason and Dixon
| line will go to the Democratic
candidate no matter where he
| comes from, and the party must
have nominee who will be strong
| in the debatable states Of the North
and East. Hence the practice ot
! giving the nomination to a man
from one of those states.
Had Underwood but picked 9
uorthen city as the place to hang
! out his shingle when he began the
! practice Of law it is a fair assump-
| ton that he would have been Pres
! ident, or at least his party's noml-
nee for the Presidency, before this
year of grace. The same ability
| the same personality and the same
application and hard work that
bav. carried him to erninence n
Birmingham would have taken hin
to the top anywhere and the North
has produced comparatively fe"
Democrats in his time who could
have really contested the party lead
ership with him, matters Of geogra'
ply being equal.
But the senator is southern, alb
solutely and positively as Gallagher
and Shean would say. He was borr
in Kentucky and educated in Vir'
ginia, and Alabama is the state o.
his adoption. In the circumstances;
he might very well have developed
into the kind OF southerner o
whom it has been so often told tina
he was old enough to vote before
he knew that dam Yankee" wa
more than one word, That he il
not that kind is one Of the reason;
why he has so many admirers and
supporters outside the South an'
why his friends maintain 80 stout:
that he is the man to knock prece
dents into a cooked hat and carr,
off the Democratic presidentia
prize.
Just now they are saying that be
, ing from Alabama will be more thai
ever a handicap to Underwood be
/ cause Of the K1 Klux klan assuA