Evening star., 1924-06-26
CONVENTION OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

NEW YORK. June eff some
the next Democratic national conven-
ton at the north pole it will go
through with whoop. The heat
played havoc with many calculations,
especially those of Senator Pheian,
Mr. McAdoo's rather inept nomina-
tor. In any set of atmospheric con-
ditions Phelan's speech would have
been about as thrilling as a weather
report, but with Madison Square Gar
den a furnace. it seemed interminably
| long and insufferably dull. On the
merits of anything Senator Phelan
did or said. the McAdoo demonstra-
ton would not have lasted five min
| utes. 1T was only the staged, organ
| lied and prepared enthusiasm that
dragged the demonstration out to the
| hour it lasted. A little knowledge of
crowd psychology in hot weather
| would have stood Phelan and McAdoo
| in good stead. A wise man would
have thrown away his set Grafton:
outstanding facts; raped them out
crisply and quickly, and let it go at
| that. Phelan preferred to inf1ict a
long-winded harangue on a tired,
perSplllnS moo. Ihdt was tne nrst
| misstep in the McAdoo convention
| campaign.
II the PheIan- McAdoo demonstra-
| ton was perfunctory, the Underwood
anti-Klan hullabaloo was spontaneous
and fervid to the last degree. The
| "Al" Smith demonstration heralded
| when New York's idol is placed in
nomination may go a longer way
| than the anti-Klan outburst, but it
| cannot possibly have more vim and
vigor in it. If real noise, which sput-
tered like firecrackers and breathed
| fight. means anything, this conven-
ton is anti-Klan four to one. That
may not turn out to be the ratio
when a Klan plank is up for adop-
| ton, yet while the rafters Of the
Garden rang with plaudits for Oscar
| Underwood's challenge to the klea-
giles it seemed as if a klansman
| parading, flag-waving mob at peril
| to life and limb. No convention scene
in history outmatched in impressive
ness the chanting Of America" while
the Khan tornadoes rang.
| Henry Ford has a representative on
the committee that has drawn up the
Democratic platform. He is Alfred
Lucking of Detroit, the motor kings
longtime personal attorney, whose
| retainer is said to be $550.0e0 a year.
Lucking is the type of family lawyer
familiar on the stage-white-haired
sleek, soft of speech and Transparent
ly wise. While the committee on
| resolutions was milling over the con-
| tentious planks on the league of ma
tions. prohibition and the Khan, Luck
ing usually had q seat alongside Will
liam Jennings Bryan. They compared
| notes from time to time, and mutual
head-waggings seemed to indicate
that Ford's legal adviser and the
peerless one were frequently in agree
ment.
keep away from a national conven-
ton than sailor could boycott a
ship. He is in New York in. the same
role he enacted at the Cleveland con-
vention-that Of q disfnterested by
stander. The former Postmaster Gem
eral and G. O. p. national chairman ia
almost the only truly professional
politician in the United States. He
| understands tho ins and outs of q
convention. Republican or Demo
probably could give as shrewd a guess
about the outcome of this New York
mix-up as Taggart, Brennan, Moore
Hague and all the other bosses put
together.
X X
Here's a bit Of news that isn't ex-
actly convention stun. but it has
"broken" here and needs to be told to
the world. Tho Democratic high
command has discovered why an un-
known western man, William v.
Hodges. Denver lawyer. was appoint
ed treasurer OF the Republican ma
tional COMMITTEES. He IL said to be
the personal selection of Dwight Nor