The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-27
PRESS ON NATIONAL POLITICS

PRESS ON NATIONAL POLITICS
 Eoltorlal attention this past week has peen particularly directed to the forma- IIoh or the third-party ticket and the seiectlon of Burton K. Wheeler as La- Ioiiettes running mate. There was per- maps not so much of stir created by tnis oetection of a prominent Democrat as the Adherents of the new party would nave liked to see. Unless the irreguIars S@n get themselves talked about, their frreguIarlty loses it's political value. It IS admitted by both Republicans and Democrats that the LaFollette ticket will Prooaply carry five or six states; but there IS little disposition to accord them tne further states to which they lay claim. There is some uncertainty as to Che attitude the Gompers wing of labor will take towards the third ticket, but there is little belief that labor will vote the way It IS told to vote. Labor, being American, is apt to be independent in Its individual political reactions.
 Tn the view of the Washington Star
 This IS evidently going to be year of some surprises and many changes. The Wheeler bolt is the first on the card. Will 1t be the signal for other defec- tlons?" Apparently not, as far as the Democratic side is concerned. There are dozen or more prominent Republican names mentioned, however, as likely soon to be enrolled under the LaFolIette ban ner. Among these are Borah, Brookhart, Norris, Ladd and Frazier, with the occa- slonal mention of others. With true par tlsan lnaccuracy the Republican New York Herald-Tribune remarks: "The pub- lc attitude of Senator Wheeler towards the head of the Democratic ticket is the private attitude of many influential men in the party; and for every radical Dem- ocrat who is not for Davis, there is conservative Democrat who is not for Bryan. The attempt of the battle-worn convention to straddle has resulted, as every attempt in politics must result, in dangerous division" While we are will ing to admit that the Herald Tribune is an authority on straddling, yet this con- temporary is not speaking from the facts when it declares that the ticket is dis pleasing to Democrats. On the contrary, the expressions of approval become daily more warm and spontaneous.
 The general Democratic attitude is somewhat succinctly given in the follow ing tolerant expression of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal: "At last Senator LaFollette has found a sacrificial offer ing to be immolated on the altar of so- cialistic ambition. He has taken advan- tage of the ardent youth and political in- experience of Senator Wheeler and has prevailed upon the young senator from Montana to be the goat of the LaFol- lette ticket as it's candidate for vice president. That the young senator will be divided in his loyalty he admitted be- fore the nomination was thrust into his pocket. He is going to support his col league, Senator Walsh, among other Democratic nominees, while he attacks with all his vigor the national candidates of both the Democratic and Republican parties. For the reason that he is among the youngest of our elder statesmen there will be some measure of tolerance for his political indiscretions."
 A reason for the Democratic tolerance of Senator Wheeler's political error is given by the New York World: Senator Wheeler appears to be wrong in his pres ent purpose. But this does not change the fact that Senator Wheeler served his country bravely and ably when he broke up the foul nest in the attorney generals office and drove Daugherty and Burns out of the government service" It ap- pears strange that no editor seems inc clined to criticize MT. Wheeler for for getting that both his Republican and his Democratic colleagues, regardless of party lines, voted to exonerate him from any suspicion in connection with his in- dictment before federal grand jury in Montana, and that, too, before there had been any trial. There is a magnanimity about that which should cause the sena- ,. tor somewhat to regret his severed re- lations with those who so wholeheartedly voted their confidence in him. To be sure, MT. Wheeler is a free moral and political agent, but those who treated him so gen. ci1ro1yy ha of snPh motives as Mir. LaFollette attributes to them, and as Mir. Wheeler is now in duty bound to reiterate, or at least to refrain from disputing.
 With it's usual caustic wit the Kansas City Star observes: Senator Wheeler's case is understandable. If he had not gained some prominence as the prosecu- tor in the Daugherty investigation, it is probable he would not have deemed it necessary to make his dramatic bolt from his party ticket. But being identified with the pursuit of the money devil, he must live up to his reputation. He can- not bear even the smell of money. Mr. Davis has been the attorney of the Wall Street bankers. Enough. MT. Wheeler must cast him off"
 One of the wisest utterances on the subject is that of the Houston Post: "If Mir. Davis is not radical enough to suit the extremes to which Senator Wheeler would go, that fact will strengthen him with the more conservative people in other sections of the country In one way the senator's repudiation of MT. Davis is a service to him. While the nom inee declares his allegiance to liberal principles, the Wheeler bolt demonstrates that Mir. Davis is not interpreting lib- eralism in the terms of the political and
 .s.aL l a few states dominated by LaFollette is es- housing. Senator Wheeler has helped to put Mr. Davis in his true settings safe, sane Democrat, steering a straight course between bourbonism on the one hand, and socialisyn on the other"
 Mir. Wheeler's gesture is not convinc- ing. Ie is not believed that he is a real