Evening star., 1924-07-05
LEADERS OF PARTY
AT POINT OF BLOWS
TumuIty Seen Shaking Fist in
Face of Daniel C. Roper
After Test Vote.
BRIGHT HOPES VANISH
Both Sides Want Revenge-Many
;. Delegates Soured on Both
! Chief Candidates.
BRIGHT HOPES VANISH
ny FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


NEW YORK. July 5.-while the AL
Smith fireworks were going off in
Madison, Square Garden on the Fourth
of July, two democrats of national
renown were walking down from the
speakers platform. One was Joseph
y. Tumulty. Woodrow Wilson's fidus
achates. The other was Daniel c.
Roper. former commissioner of inter
nal revenue and one of the McAdoo
field marshalS. Tumulty was shak-
ing his fist in Roper's face. Tumulty
is Smith man. The convention had
just rejected Franklin D. Roosevelt's S
proposition to invite the Governor of
New York to address it. The rebuff
was administered with the aid of
McAdoo votes. Tumulty. who usually
is the most soft-spoken of men,
raised his voice to fighting pitch
when he addressed Roper There
were references to the unwillingness
OF McAdoo's supporters to let him
face the convention in competition
with Gov. Smith. Tumulty's clenched
fist was in action. in the kind of ges-
ture men make when they are ready
to do battle for an argument, and
d
shout.
:, Fears for Party.
Only those in the immediate prox-
Unity of the near Tumulty- Roper
clash, among whom was this writer,
probably are aware of the episode.
But it is characteristic of the whole
temper of the Democratic national
convention in consequence Of Fridays
amazing and abortive events. Today
Democrats are thinking far less of
the identity of their 1924 standard
bearers than of the conditions in
which these candidates will take the
field. What is concerning Ahem to
the point of nervous anxiety and al
most to the exclusion of everything
else is where they are left, as an or
ganization about to enter campaign,
after tearing at one another'S throats
for nearly two weeks. 1t IS the Teri-
est commonplace on all hands in New
York to hear that the party's chances
of victory, once so promising, have
now gone up in smoke.
Even stalwart leaders, not ordi-
narily victims of panic, are harbor-
ing moroSe thoughts of this kind.
Their one ray of hope today is that
the convention, despite the stubborn
ness of both McAdoo and Smith. will
renounce these candidates. in the
name OF party HdTIlOHy anu ShocSo
some one who is detached from their
bitter rivalries and frustrated ambi-
tons McAdoo and Smith still hold
great patches Of delegates in a vice
like grip. But if the hearts and souls
of these tied" representatives could
be X-rayed they would display emo
tions in many cases far removed from
affection or devotion. 1t would be
difficult to say which of the two
ballot leaders is now the more un-
popular with the convention as a
whole, McAdoo's intrepid fight for
victory compels a certain admiration
among those who love tenacity for
tenacity's sake. But when the con-
vention reaSsembled this morning
there were many more who think
that "builheadedness' can be carried
beyond the limits of human patience
in a crisis like this. They think the
time has come for Mr.. McAdoo to
face the music; to acknowledge that
he would only persist in his struggle
for supremacy at the grave risk of
disrupting a party already sown with
discord from end to end.
That is the sort of indictment lev
eled at McAdoo. An equally serious
Indictment is leveled at Gov. Smith.