The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-25
SAY (. Q. P. HAS
 NEW PROPOSAL ]. TOSCOTCH BRYAN
Would Give Davis Enough In House To Win And
 Beat La Toilette
By CHARLES MICHELsON


 WASHINGTON, Aug 24.--It is pretty definitely understood now that if the presidential election is thrown into Congress, the La Toilette Senators, after holding out long enouS,, to demon strate their ability to prevent an cleo tion will vote for Governor Bryan as against General Dawes to be vice presi- dent, and therefore to become President by reason of the failure of the House of Represent, lives to elect President.
 The death of Senator Colt and the probability that his successor will be democrat removes the last faint hope of the republicans that they might be able to prevent this by weaning away from the La Toilette allegiance such senators as Norris of Nebraska and Brookhart of Iowa, both of whom are running for reelection as republicans. With Colt gone it only requires that La Toilette and the two unalienable North Dakota senators, Ladd and Frazier, should vote for Bryan to give him majority, for with them and the democrats and the two farmer-labo- senators, Shipstead and Magnus Johnson, there would be 49 out of the 96 in the Senate.
 Out of this situation springs the story that the republicans will not per- init this outcome. !. In other words, ac- cording to a tale that has reached La Toilette headquarters, if it appears that Bryan's choice in the Senate is in- evitable the republicans will supply the five states the democrats lack in the House for a majority and elect Davis. The House votes by states. The demo- crats control twenty in the House, the republicans can count twenty-three, but in this are included Wisconsin and South Dakota, where La Toilette domi- mates. The other five-Maryland. Mon tana, Nebraska, New Hampshire and New Jersey-are equally divided in rep resentation and therefore are can. celled. The democrats, with the pros pect of having a democrat in the presi- dency anyhow, would have no compell- ing incentive to prevent Bryan getting to the White House, so the only way to stop Bryan, assuming that there is no majority in the electoral college, would be for the republicans to come over.
 Blame The Bankers
 The La Toilette crowd have it all fig ured out that this would be done under instructions from the International Bankers who, according to the Wiscon- sin crowd, hold both the old parties on 8 leash. Actually, if there is anything in the story we need look no further for al motive than the republican determina- tion that nothing is as important as that the La Toilette crowd should gain nothing in this election.
 There is republican precedent on minor scale for such action. In 1878, when the Greenback party upset politics in Maine, no gubernatorial candidate received majority of the votes, so the election went to the state legislature, IE the lower House the Greenback can didate and the democrat tied and it went to the state senate, where the sen. ate which was two to one republican voted tn ede:.4ocrat into she governor ship. A
 The republican theory would be that La Toilette would fextort from Bryan patronage ana support for radical legis- latioll as the price of the lecisiye votes which would enabI La Toilette tfy build up a more formidable party to bedevil them in future elections. If they have to have a democratic presi- dent they would take Davis and trust to the insurgent movement starving to death, particularly if, as now seems probable, the democrats will have a clear majority in Congress next time.
 Republicans here say the conundrum is purely academica as they refuse to admit the possibility of La Toilette getting enough electoral votes to bring the election to Congfess. They are bank ing on his carrying no other than the states of WisconsiM and North Dako- ta.
 On the other hand, the third-party fellows say they lare bound to get everything from Iowa north and west to the Pacific-eight states. Moreover, they dispute the prophecy of a demo- cratic congressional majority, which would leave them high and dry-an un- popular fragment of a minority. They allow the democrats a gain of a couple of seats but say the La Toilette group vii have more after March 4 than it has now and vii have the balance of power no matter how the presidential election goes.
 They begin their real work ten days from now when Senator Wheeler under takes the conquest of New England. A fortnight later La Toilette himself takes the stump. The thesis of both will be the depravity of the republi- can party. with Mir. Coolidge as the bullseye of the target. The question forces itself if under these broadsides the republicans can persist in their theory that Coolidge victory can be won by vicariOus' effort.
 It has been the ideal of many presi- dential years and came near of demo- stration when Mckinley ran the sec Ond time. The circumstances were very different in 1901 from what they are in 1924. Mckinley had had long national. career, moreover he had gone through one out-in-the-open campaign, so there was no mystery about him and he could afford front-pOrch experiz ment.
 The tilting of General Dawes at the La Toilette mOyement and his identi- fication of the independent campaign with the Red menace, while Mir. Cool idge remains silent on that subject the campaing is part of this general pur- pose of letting Dawes and others take over the controversial questions while the President confines himself to safe political beatitudes. MT. Coolidge's enemies have another explanation for his plan to remain at the White House with occasional excursion into quiet sectors of the trenches. They attribute the adoption of this program to the fear of the Presidents managers to expose him to the comparison of audiences with the dynamic La Toilette and the magnetic Davis.
 Mir. Davis's pleasant dream of con- centrated campaign, with nothing more exhausting than shuttle trips in and out of Chicago, except for big speeches