The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-06-25
NOW THEY BOOM
JOHN v. DAVIS
AS PROGRESSIVE
West VirginianS Discover He
Can Not Be Nominated as
Morgan'S Lawyer,
By LOWELL MELLET
Times STAFF Correspondent

ItnteS NtdH Correspondent
NEW YORK. June 25-John W.
Davis has new boom It's a pro-
gressive boom. John w. Davis, pro-
gressive candidate for the presi-
dency. See any member of the West
Virginia delegation for full details.
but for a brief understanding read
on:
The West. Virginia delegation
when it brought it's favorite son
boom to New York presented the
candidate as a calm, conservative
sort of person not calculated to
brighten the most timid, a safe man,
honest and exceptionally able. In
other words the very John w Davis
that all the world knows.
The West Virginians found vel
come reception for their boom. they
found the safe and sane element in
the pre-convention gathering ready
to promise votes in large numbers.
The Davis boom began to grow and
the more it grew the safer and saner
it came to sound. Stories appeared
in the newspapers telling what Davis
was not only J. Piermcnt Morgan's
attorney, but likewise to Standard
Oils. All at once he became too safe
and sane.
Undue Their Work
Tuesday the West Virginians
started painfully to undue their
own good work What they meant,
they explained, is that John ".
Davis is a safe, sane progressive
They heaped upon the correspondents
convincing stories of Davis pr0gres-
sivism. He is the man who, as a
Congressman, wrote the labor clause
in the Clayton Act exempting organ
lied labor from the provisions of the
Sherman antitrust law. they related.
He is the man who, as solicitor
general. argued and Won in the Su-
preme Court the fight 10 have this
law declared constitutional He
favored the establishment of the
children's bureau and supported the
child labor amendment. He fought
the Governments battle in the
courts against the harvester trust
and steel trust. He won the legal
battle to uphold the Adamson Act.
As a private attorney he won the
case of the window glass workers, !
when the latter were charged. along
with the window glass manufac-
turers, with conspiring in restraint
Of trade. Years ago as a young
lawyer in West Virginia he would
never take a retainer from the coal
ra~,r -.v,s
lobbying before the Legislature. He
volunteered his services and helped
get Eugene Debs and Mother Jones
out of Jail
And all this is true concerning
Davis.
GOmpers Denies Report
1t began to be whispered about
that Sam Gompers, being a good
Democrat, would support Davis he
cause of his labor record. This
whisper couldn't be traced to its
source before the friends of Com
pers denied it. The same happened
to a whisper that Davis was TO be
made the heir to the McAdoo boom. .
At least, the McAdoo insiders
promptly smothered the whisper.
It may be true that members of
some delegations nominally for Nc
Adoo are willing to make Davis sec +
ond choice. hut despite all this Davis
boom as progressive isn't getting so
very far. The boom, of course, is
developing nicely. but you can't get
anybody to think of Davis as pro-
gressive. Perhaps it's unfair to him:
perhaps the delegates don't reason
soundly.
They just can't hear themselves
explaining to the folks back home
that the progressive they nominated
is Morgan's lawyer. So the West
Virginians are bewildered and some |
what worried. They need not be.
Davis is close to the hearts of the
hard-boiled managers, and the hard
boiled managers have a lot of votes
to deliver to some one as soon as
the march Of events convinces Al
Smiths friends that their hopes are
vain. That some one just now is
more likely to be Davis than any
other man.
Brennan can deliver a lot of Davis /
votes, so can Ed Moore Of Ohio, and /
Guffey and BonniweH of Pennsylva~
mia. Tom Taggart could, but we will |
wait a lot longer, for, as he sees it /
now, the deadlock between McAdoo |
and Smith will be followed by a real |