The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-07

precipitated by a proposal that the unit rule be abrogated so that all the delegates could vote their personal con. victions. The suggestion was support. ed by the Smith forces and opposed by William J. Bryan, who attended as the representative of his brother, Governor Bryan.
 Repeated clashes occurred also be. tween MT. Bryan and Senator Caraway of Arkansas, representing the candi- dacy of Senator Robinson. The actiyi. ties of the Commoner in this and pre- vious conventions the subject of ire quent jibes passed across the conference table but he insisted on replying to all of them fully. i,
 George Brennan, the Illinois leader selected by Governor Smith as his chief representative ii. the conference, several times smoothed over difficult sit nations and restored the good nature of the weary and discouraged confer ence. Another stabilizing force was Thomas Taggart of Indiana, author of the motion under whic, the conference assembled. Without direct obligation to either the Smith or McAdoo t-ctions, he occupied a position enabling nlm at critical stages of the argument to re- store the conference to an even keel.
 No Dark Horse Move
 It was declared by the leaders that last nights session, as well as the ear Her stages of that held tonight, was so completely devoted to discussing questions of procedure and the pos sibility of withdrawals that the prob lem of selecting a compromise candi- date had not been apprC aehed. There still was much talk outside the con ference of Senator Robinson Senator Ralston, John W. Davis and Senator Glass, but there appeared to be no sub stantial move toward s.ny one of them.
 Concentrate Against McAdOO
 If, any one definite trend charac- terized the days activities, it was toward a closer union of the anti-Mc- Adoo clements of the convention-n6t in. the interest of any one candidate but to work out their theory that ii McAdoo, could be eliminated the con. vention would be able to find nom, inee.
 Whether the conference of officials and campaign managers would have a report ready to lay before the conven- tion when it reconvenes tomorrow morning also remained uncertain. Some suggested that a further delay might be asked for, and some privately ex- pressed the view that disagreement might have to be reported, leaving the delegates to seek some new recourse to free them from the grip of their 77-ballot deadlock.
 In still other quarters, the opinion was expressed that before morning the Smith and favorite son elements might unite on a report recommending that all the candidates release their delegates and expressing regret that the McAdoo managers had been un- willing to talk about compromise can. didates. a
 The meeting of the favorite son man. agers, which preceded the reassembline tonight of the full group of delegates, was first step toward a solution.
 IA Represented -.-
 Sitting in the favorite son confer. ence were spokesmen for IA candidates presided over by Senator Swanson oi Virginia, who spoke for Senator Glass The others represented were: Senator Underwood of Alabama, Senator Rob. inson of Arkansas, former Senator Salisbury of Delaware, David F. Hous ton, Senator Ralston of Indiana, Gov. ernor Davis of Kansas, Governor Ritchie of Marlyand, Senator Ferris oi Michigan, James NJ. Cox, Governor Bryan of Nebraska, Governor Brown of New Hampshire, Governor Silzer oi New Jersey and John W. Davis.
 The combined strength of these 14 candidates on the seventy-seventh bal. lot-the last taken before the over-Sun-