Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-13
Small Finds Surge Of Democ-
raCy All for Georgian,
While Foes Plot His Defeat
at Convention
BY ROBERT T. SMALL
Copyright. 1924, by the Consolidated Press
Associa tion-Special' Leased Wire
to The Atlanta JournaD.

NEW YORK, May 10.-The pre-
vailing surge in the Democracy the
past week has been all for William
Gibbs McAdoo, yet the opponents
OF the former secretary Of the treas
ury sit by apparently undisturbed-
They seem confident in their be-
lief that they can stop the McAdoo
tide on the convention floor. They
have shrugged their shoulders as
state after state has voted to send
McAdoo delegates to the big presi-
Dental conclave and say they don't
have to worry because Mr.. McAdoo
can not get enough.
Except in a few states where IA
vorite sons have been brought for
ward, the McAdoo forces have had
little opposition. Perhaps the great
est straight-out victory won by Mr..
McAdoo was in Georgia, where the
Underwood people made a deter
mined effort to win the delegation.
Mr.. McAdoo travelled all the way
from California to the Empire STATE
of the South to make hlaf dozen
speeches in the closing days of the
contact with the people, taken to-
born in Georgia, helped him win the
smashing victory when the voting
began.
Al Smith Dragged In
Mr.. McAdoo has made the only
nationally organized campaign for
the nomination. Senator Under
woods friends have confined their
efforts for him to a limited num-
Der of states. All of the other aspi-
rants for the Democratic nomination
have been in the shrinking violet
class-if violet with a huge light
ming rod held steady over its head
can be called shrinking.
This compels the assertion just
here, however, that Al Smith has
somewhat reluctantly permitted
himself to be dragged out of the
violet bed and made into a regular
bouquet which his friends hope to
pin to Miss Democracy's palpitating
bosom. His national chairman"
Franklin d. Roosevelt, is issuing al
most daily statements to the effect
that Smith sentiment is growing all
over the country.
Which brings up the old political
adage that sentiment may grow
wild but delegates do not. They
have to be cultivated. That is
where the McAdoo forces have been
well advised. Mr.. McAdoo has many
old hands at the wheel of his po-
litical fortunes. They know from
experience that delegates do not
dangle ripe from the trees on the
convention floor They have to be
coaxed and warmed in the sun.
The organization of the Smith
boom, along semi-national lines, has
come after most of the state pri-
maries have been held. Therefore
it is impossible for the governor
to bid for delegates in fields where
his cause might have won much
sympathy and support.
Thus Mr.. McAdoo is coming to the
New York convention with far more
pledged and accounted delegates
than any other aspirant can point
to with pride. His managers, whose
morale has picked up wonderfully
these last few days, go so far as
to say that Mr.. McAdoo may have
a majority on the first ballot.
AS result Of this claim there
has been much talk of a move by
the McAdoo forces to abrogate the
time-honored rule Of Democratic
conventions that nominations shall
be made only by a two,thirds vote.
1t was this rule which kept Champ
Clark out Of the nomination in 1912
and permitted the star of Woodrow
Wilson to rise to its day of interna-
toinal glory. There was talk at
that time of abrogating the rule, but
nothing could be done.
Mr.. McAdoo's friends thought at
one time they would make q fight
before the Democratic national COM
mittee to rescind the rule. They
claimed a majority Of the committee
was favorable to Mr.. McAdoo. But
when the committee met in Wash
ington in January, the subject was
not brought up. Parliamentarians
doubt if the question can be forced
on the floor of the convention.
Blow to Hiram johnson
Senator Hiram Johnson's loss of
the Republican delegation from his
home state of California was the
last stunning blow of what has been
to him an almost never-ending Sc
ries of political reverses in his ILL.,
starred attempt to turn the G.. o. P.
away from President Coolidge. He
will go to the Cleveland convention
with his little handful Of delegates
from South Dakota and a wander
ing maverick from one or two other
states. but it is doubtful now if he
will poll as many votes as his more
radical colleague, Senator LaFol
lette.
Yet the California result has but
borne out prophecy made by Sen
ator Johnson himself. Some six
months ago his enemies gave out
for publication a confidential let
ter he had written to an intimate
friend. In this epstle, the senator
said he had been maligned and be-
trayed to such an extent that he
doubted his ability to carry his own
state.
And what can one say of Cali
fOrnia that will thus turn down a
real true native son like Hiram
johnson on its Republican side and
take to its bosom on the Democratic
side an adopted son, born in Geor.
gia and reared in New York? Evil
IDENTIFY, it is not the yellow peril of
Orientalsm which has been the I'M
doing of Senator Johnson, but the
invasion of his beloved California
by the Outlanders Of the states to the
east. Most of these outlanders have
settled in the southern part Of the
state and that is where Senator
JohnsOn's greatest weakness has