Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-20
M ADOO, CONF |DENT,
DIRE TSSTRATEGY
Of OWN CAMP |CN
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Special Leased Wire to The Journal
(Copyright 1924

| Especial Leased ire To Inc JOUrnaI.)
Copyright, 1924
NEW YORK, May II. - William
Gibbs McAdoo has come to town Just
at the psychological moment. There
are conferences now among Demo
cratic leaders which may influence
the whole trend of events at the
Democratic national convention, six
weeks. hence.
| Mr.. McAdoo and his associates are
| confident of the outcome. They nei-
Their look doubtful nor talk that Way.
Arrangements are being made for
| the convention itself-that is what
has brought several national COM
lmftteemen here-but the undercur-
rent of conversation is not who shall
be temporary or permanent chairman
or what the strategy of the conven-
ton will be.
The McAdoo men are sure of more
than 400 votes on the first ballot
They say they have more votes in
store on subsequent ballots. If they
get d majority, they believe the who,
convention will swing toward them
and furnish the necessary two-thirds.
On what is all this conference
based? You can't talk five minutes
with any of the McAdoo men before
learning that they are absolutely con-
WINGED that the dragging in of Nc
AdOo's name in the oil controversy
has been a boomerang; that it is the
kind of thing (which Republicans VIII
think harmful. but which the Demo
cratic party will not For, in the
first place, Mr.. McAdoO feels he has
done no wrong, that nobody has ac-
cused him of any legal wrongdoing
and that his activity as a lawyer
after he left the treasury department
is no different from the activity Of
Charles Evans Hughes after he lcft
the supreme court of the United
States. Mr.. Hughes, it is pointed
out argued before his former asso-
ciates and was highly protected for
his services.
Progressive Needed
But the McAdoo men say the oil
discussion is ''oId stuff" and that
the people in several state primaries
have passed on it and given McAdoo
their support.
Far more significant at the mo-
ment is the course that the McAdoO
generals are taking in mapping out
their campaign for the nOmina ton,
which is the first hurdle to be
crossed. The McAdoo men point sig
niticantly to the statement by Sena.
tor La Toilette that he would run
independently if both parties name
a conservative. The inference which
the McAdOo strategists draw from
this is that he may not run if a
radical or liberal Democrat is nomi-
mated. Anyway, the whole basis of
the McAdoO campaign is that there
must be a difference between the
two candidates and the parties in
the forthcoming test, that the west
and south can be counted on to sup
port a liberal and progressive while
the east will naturally vote tos
large extent for. conservative.
McAdoo's speeches in the west are
exactly in line with that doctrine.
While he himself would probably
say that to describe his doctrines
as radical is erroneous because he
thinks a radical is essentially an eX
tremiSt, nevertheless the utterances
are not in the least conservative.
For instance, he has been advocat-
ing the repeal of the much mooted
section 15-a of the transportation
act which limits the earnings of the
railroads, he has been favoring the
repeal of the labor CLAUSES so that
the present labor board may be
abolished. He has also been talking
in favor of cash bonus, while the
present soldier insurance bill does
not appropriate money for that i'm
mediate purpose.
Influence of Wilson
AS for foreign affairs, the man
whose reat liability in 1920 was his
liinship with the late Woodrow Viii
son is today finding it his biggest
asset. Mr.. McAdOO has been careful
not to come out in favor of any par
ticular formula of cooperation be
tween nations. but says he would |
call an international conference if |
elected. In such a conference would, !
of course, be discussed all kind of
formulas, and it goes without say
ing that Mr.. McAdoo is not hostile
to an amended and revised covenant
of the League of Nations. The Dem
Ocratic national platform will chart
the course Of the nominee on that
subject. For the moment foreign pol
icy is not an issue as between can
didates for the nomination itself. !
The Wilson following in the party
for the most part is behind McAdOo, |
though he has recruited some of the
old anti-Wilson men, too.
Another thing on which the Nc
Adoo cohorts are not silent is prohi
bition. They point to him as the
only dry and progressive candi-
date" This seems, of course, a chal-
lenge to Governor Al Smith. Wheth
er the McAdoo men can make of Al
Smith a conservative by declaring
Tammany is far from progressive,
remains to be seen. But the fight APP
pears to be developing largely be
tween the McAdoO and Smith forces.
with all sorts of rumors floating
around just now that at the psyche
logical moment both the Underwood
and Cox strength will be thrown
to Smith rather than McAdoo in or
der to head off the latter's nOmina
ton. The pre-convention efforts to
persuade influential men behind the
scenes to cast their support into the
camp of William Gibbs McAdoo :
becoming intensified. There was a
time when the skeptics thought him
eliminated on account of the oil mix
up. He has now carried several pri-
maries and has come here to ask
the doubtful ones what they think
about that and to persuade them to
climb his band wagon. For MCAdoO
is one of the chief strategists of his