The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07


 New York for Columbus, Ohio-his
 venture into that mighty section of the nation west of the Atlantic seaboard. It is unlikely that John W. Davis will | ever forget certain little city in Ohio at which his train made momentary J halt last Tuesday evening" MT. Davis was not scheduled to make. any speech
 there. He had probably never seen
 that town before in his life. He, didn't even know it's name until somebody told l him. But he ought to. remember it, be- cause it was the first small town, out side his native east, whose men and women and children gathered at the railway station. to cheer him as the democratis nominee for President, writes Samuel Mccoy inythe New York f Times.
 There they were, perhaps POO of them, who bad waited until nearly 10 o'clock at night just for glimpse of him. It wasn't prearranged-it was 1 natural. To look at those upturned faces was to see in imagination the whole of America-the people of 10000 towns, just like this (unique only be- cause it was the first of them all), all waiting for a glimpse of the man who might lead them nearer their hope.
 Leaned Down To Grasp Their Hands
 MT. Davis couldn't say anything. It would have been an utterly emotionless man indeed who did not feel his heart beat strangely at the sight of these eager eyes, and with the knowledge that they looked to him for leadership. Give us a speech v they shouted. But the man. on the platform could only smile at them and lean down to grasp their hands.
 He was very thoughtful when he came back to us in the car. And from what he said at last it was plain that he had been pondering long over what he might do in the future the better to express to such crowds his faith in them and his determination to serve them.
 l The capacity of Memorial hall. at Columbus, where Mir. Davis first chal- lenged Mir. Coolidge by name, is 4,500. An hour before he arose to speak there were 4,500 people in it. There wasn't room for one more person, from plat form to ceiling over the balcony. When the tall, gray-haired man in the dark blue suit came upon the platform there was roar of applause that rocked the ceiling. But he didn't seem to take it as tribute to himself. He didn't step out of the line of leaders of the democracy in Ohio who were escorting him upon the platform. He didn't ad- vance to the edge of the rostrum and bow delightfully."- to right and left. He kept his place in the line of stalwarts as they moved to find their chairs, Hooked steadily ahead, and, having given only one brief, half-embarrassed lglance at the cheering, handwriting crowd that packed the hall, and a lsingle shy nod of the head in response to this pandemonium, sat down quietly. Puts On No Frills
 John Davis, as we discovered in trav- cling with him, puts on no frills and is mighty human sort of companion. In the campaign he has not yet told many anecdotes, though he is said to have a stock of them, but he is that. rare person, good listener, and his hlaugh is quick and spontaneous. The EoRly story ! heard him tell was the Tone about old man Browns funeral, and which he told as Illustrative of re- publican attempts to say kind word ] for their own record of the past three years.
 "Old man Brown" said MT. Davis, Twas character who had never been known to do anything that wasn't stingy. At his funeral, when the min ikter asked if there wasn't some one present who would like to say few words over the coffin, there was a unanimous silence for an embarrassing interval.
 Finally" said Mir. Davis, "one of the nighbors got up, cleared his throat and observed: Wal, he want as mean Fsome of the time as he was all the time ," -s. s- -..t. Ek Incidentally, Mir. Davis audiences are kanjoying treat of wit of an intellec- tual quality rarely possessed by politi- Ical speakers. He seldom tells a funny Istory," but depends instead upon sar- casm. These never fail to tickle his audiences. I counted, during the Co lumbus speech, which lasted hardly an Eshour, no Jess than A separate shafts Eof, sarcasm which brought laughter Efrom the audience. Mir. Davis seems to have no difficulty in persuading his hearers that he has sense of humor {; his problem is to discover just how much of it they think necessary.
 His first discovery was that demo- cratic audiences, at least, are far sfrom believing that to discuss the scandals m oil leases and in the administration 6f the veterans bureau is to revive a dead issue. His reference to these mat ters awoke instant response.
 The "VVay To Banish War
 His insistence that ''the only way to banish war is to set up some permanent plan of conference, consultation and ad- justment to take it's place as arbiter among the nations" likewise was hailed with cheers whose spontaneity seems to show that this is an issue still close to the hearts of many.
 On the subject of tariff, when, in his Seagirt address, he sought to bring the subject home to the housewife by spe- cific discussion of duties of kitchen ware, sewing machines and footwear, the usual stupefied silence of the lay man in the presence of that abstruse subject was noticeable; but when, at Columbus, he confined his reference to the tariff to the generality that the Fordney -McCumber tariff made life "easy and prosperous for those who are least like the poor in their ways and manner of living" he drew quick laugh ter. and applause. The often-repeated assertion that such tariff takes from one man in order to enrich another" seemed to have lost none of it's power to bring approving shouts from the crowd.
 When, a Seagirt, he concluded his address with is denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan, the pitch of ferVor which