Evening star., 1924-06-23
CANDIDATES SHARE
NOTICE WITH KLAN
All Other Questions Sub
merged for Present at New
York, Observer Finds.
BOTH LEADERS CONFIDENT
Action on Dry Law and Masked
Empire May Indicate Fate
Of Smith.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. NEW
YORK. June 23.-On the eve of the
Democratic battle. prospectively flu
rious beyond all precedent, only two
things are meaSurably certain. One
is that the ku klux Klan issue will
split the convention wide open The
other is that dark horse will be
nominated for President. One OBJ
servers definite conviction is that the
nominee will be John w. Davis Of
West Virginia. As to the klan. it
were far wiser To write history than
prophecy. The advocates Of an out
right. specific anti-klan plank are
Claiming enough votes for a frontal.
visible empire But in that calcula-
tion there is that brand of optimism
which makes the wish father to the
thought. This convention is crammed
with leaders and delegates who want
To swat the klan. But it is also
filled with wise men who believe it
eXpedient to follow the Republican
conventions example and lambast the
kleaEleS anonymously.
All else but klan and dark horse
speculation is in eclipse at New York.
Intimately wrappt up with those
major issues is the desperate fight
which William Gibbs MCAdoo is con-
Quoting against his maSSed enemies.
The California struggle. politically
speaking, is the battle of the century
1t Is marked on both sides by no.
quarter tactics. McAdoo knows that
his foes are out to destroy him. He
is striking back with the ferocity of
deSpe GRAFTON.
Make strong Charges.
His leaders make sensation charges
against the anti McAdoo bloc" said
TO be commando din chief by Gov. Al
Smith. MCAdooittS declare there is
nothing within or without the crimi-
nal code that his antagonists shrink
from invoking. in order to overthrow
the convention ma ajorities' choice"
Cdjolery, bribery and intimidation in
variegated forms are the weapons
alleEed to be in use to undermine
the loyalty of McAdoo delegates. 1t is
asserted that delegations are propa-
gandized from the moment of their
arrival on Tdmmany-town soil.
Liquor gay entertainment and even
more substantial inducements, the
are freely at the disposal of dele
gates ready to barter their loyalty
and their instructions to anti-McAdoo
candidates. While the charges and
and while shrewd politicians are
weighing the pros and cons of the
perpleNlng Khan proposition, thought
continues to be mainly conco ntrated
on the principal nomination.
See McAdoo Defeated.
There is a general consensus outside
of the laSt-ditch McAdoo camp that the
Californian can and will be stopped"
That belief persists despite the fact that
one powerful ant-McAdoo western lead
er comedies McAdoo maximum of 500
voteS-only 1872 short of the total neces-
Sary to nominate The same leader points
out that If McAdoo, with that impressive
strength. cannot scale the dizzy two
thirds heights by the sixth or seventh
ballot his froceS thenceforward are
bound to diSntegrate. Then will set in
the real tug g-of-war. 1t may end sud-
denly, if McAdoo is disposed to divert
all or any considerable portion of his
strength to some heir-apparent. No Nc
AdOO man or woman in New York at
this writing admits even the remote
possibility of defeat. They say they are
out to win, and not to deliver Nc
Adoo votes to anybody on earth except
William Gibbs McAdoo.
The invincible optimism of the
McAdoorers is cqualed only by the
confidence of al" Smith cohorts.
These seem TO include every other
man. woman and child on Manhattan
Island-except those who will of
ticially sit in Madison Square Garden
this week. But in the convention it
self Gov. Smith expects. before many
days are past. to be dominating the
situation. To what extent he will
prevail in the balloting will probably
be clearly determined before it be-
gins. What the convention does with
regard to the Klan and prohibition
is certain to affect Gov Smiths nom
ination fortunes. If after knock
down and drag-out fight against light
wines and beer, led by William Jen-
nings Bryan. and after no less vio-
lent combat over the Klan. the con-
vention decides to stand for prohibi
tion enforcement and nom klan
plank on religious freedom, Smiths
star will be in the descendant. He
wants a wet plank and an out-and-
out anti-klan plank. He could hard
ly stand on any other kind of
plank. The McAdoo people, who need
only majority. not two-thirds. to
impose their plank views on the con-
ton. would demand a clear-cut law
enforcement plank and a liberation
plank that excoriates klanism with
out identifying il by name.
VIII Block Each Other.
This yawning chasm between the
aspirations and views of the preSi-
Dental candidates now in the lead
McAdoo and Smith-means just one
thing. 1t means that they will in
late each other. 1t means that at
some stage of their mutually destruc-
tive clash, early or late, another man
Will walk off with the spoils. You
cannot turn anywhere in the mob
that swirls through the hotel lobbies,
where treaSonS and StrategiSmS are
under way, without hearing on nearly
every hand that John w. Davis is the
most likely beneficiary of the Nc
Adoo-Smith strife. You hear it from
q
leaders and from the hangers-on of
almost every other camp. The Nc
Adoo people for the moment fight shy
of the Davis compromise suggestion.
If you are able, by dint of mailed
fist persuasion. to convince a McAdoo
fanatic that the hour is approaching
when the MCAdoo vote will have to
detour and can coax the fanatic to
express himself, he will tell you that
Bryan is as likely a M6Adoo second
choice" as any one. If you ask il
Brother Charley" Bryan isn't meant,
you are promptly corrected and en-