Evening star., 1924-07-03
TITANIC STRUGGLE
TO CONTROL PARTY
Bryan's Reading of Conserv-
atiVe Out of Possibilities
Stirs Rabid Backfire.
McAD0O FOR FINISH FIGHT
Davis Hammered Down, But
Backers Still Confident-Cum-
mings May Get Tryout.
McADOO FOR FINISH FIGHT

in furious wreStle for supremacy
between its progressive and conserva-
tive forces. They are still locked in
ii grapple SO fierce, SO complex and
so full of sudden possibilities that no
Democrat. not even the shrewdest, can
predict either the outcome or when
it will be.
Men have their views, their hopes
and their fears One group says the
long-eXpected break is at hand and
will take place before this day is
over Another group is certain that
the Fourth of July will come and go,
tinding the convention still dead
locked Still third group contends
that the McAdoo and Smith forces are
SO embittered and embattled that
they are prepared to carry the fight
into another week, and still another,
ii necessary.
Within the past twenty-four hours
:: certain southern border state dele
cation pledged to McAdoo asked to
be released from it's obligations. 1t
pleaded personally with the Califor-
Nian to assent to a step that might
relieve the almost explosive tension
which exists in Madison Square Gar
den. Il will sanction neither deser-
: tions nor panics," was McAdoo's i'm
' perlous retort. If that attitude is
maintained, the conventions end is
not in sight.
Bryan's Speech a Factor.
Although there is a widespread at
tempt 10 deride William Jennings
Bryan's dramatic intervention in the
deadlock on behalf of NcAdoo from
the platform Wednesday afternoon, it
dominates convention thought The
speech was not SO notable as an ora
torlcal effort as for what inspired it
ana what it means to accomplish
Bryan was not in cross of-gold form
He never was in danger of stamped
ing the convention.
The siXty-odd additional votes
which accrued to McAdoo on the ninth
ballot following the BRYAN episode
and sent the CaIifornian's total to an
Impressive 500 and more, were the
least significant result of the com
moner's stunt Its overwhelming
significance was the bugle- blast it
sounded in the progressive key. 1t
was stern warning to the conven-
tion that the McAdoo-Bryan forces,
IN control of mething rapidly ap-
preaching majority, are determined
to force the nomination of a progress
slVe candidate for President
II they cannot nominate McAdoo, it
VIII be somebody who carries the Nc
Adoo blessing. The latest suggestion
va mat S,oie Is tl1dl lHe progressive
allies will first try to nominate Glass
If Glass cannot be put over they will
turn to Ralston. If Ralston cannot
make the grade. they have Senator
Robinson of Arkansas in final reserve
But for the moment the McAdoo- Bryan
contingent laughs at the thought that
McAdoo himself is beaten.
McAdOo Full of Fight.
The Californian entered the forty
third ballot this morning with SOB votes.
He was only ~ votes from a majority
of the convention. From his citadel
atop the Vanderbilt Hotel, he sent word
to Madison Square Garden that can
dldate in such numerical position
doesn't know the meaning of a single
syllable in the word capituiate.
There is one other Democrat whose
name is quietly cropping up all over the
convention as this dispatch is written.
He is Homer Cummings of Connecti-
cut, former Democratic national chair
man and chairman of this conventions s
committee on resolutions. Although an
caSterner he qualities as a progressive
in the McAdoo-Bryan sense. He has
been devoted adjutant of McAdoo in
New York, suppressing ambitions of
his own that Cummings is known to
harbor and refusing to allow the Con-
necticut delegations to make any use of
his name.
McAdoo would not veto a Cum
mings compromise nomination if it
seemed the feasible escape from the
deadlock. At the Californian's cheer
up" convention in Chicago in
February, following the apparent an
nihilation of the McAdoo candidacy
after the oil exposures, Cummings
appeared at McAdoos personal re-
quest and delivered the chief speech
on his behalf. 1t was powerful
effort. 1t had much to do with the
gatherings determination to stand by
McAdoo to the bitter end.
Stands Well on League.
No one will have a stronger claim
on the McAdoo estate, if and when
it has to be distributed. than Cum
mings. He happens to stand well
' with the league of nations element
typified by Newton d. Baker, too, and
with the other Wilsonian liberals
in Madison Square Garden.
If these statements explanatory of
progressive plans and hopes seem to
suggest that the conservative forces
are already in rout, that would be
an erroneous impression to create
John W. Davis of West Virginia is
the conservative fortress which the
McAdoo- Bryan guns chiefly are anxi-
have it crumbling, if not shattered,
but the Davis battalion does not think
so. They are saying this morning
that Davis only chance. from the
outset, was that of a compromise
They feel his prospects, therefore,
are every whit as good as ever they
were, and will remain just as good
SO long as the deadlock persists. That
the Davis fortfications have been
dented by the Bryan broadside is not
denied in any quarters. More than
Davis own fortunes are affected.
Bryan's big guns are certain to be
unlimbered with equally scorching ef-
feet against any other conservative
, candidate who may turn to be as
F" fieet-footed a dark horse as John w.
Davis had become.
See Conservatism Needed.
The West Virginian's friends are
making no effort to whitewash his
conservatism. With the La Toilette
third party menace now certainty,
their argument is that it is incum-
bent upon the Democratic party to
nominate a candidate as the Repub-
recognize as a bulwark against rad
icalism.
The principal pro-Davis contention
is that "Morgan's lawyer" is the only
Democrat in the United States capa-
BILE of winning the independent Re-
publican votes essential to Demo-
cratic success. With Al Smith run
ming for governor this year, Davisites
say that the West Virginia can carry
New York against Coolidge in land
slide.
Z With a western liberal like Walsh
of Montana, Huston Thompson Of Colo
rado or any one of half dozen availa-
BILE Democrats as Davis running mate,
hackers of the West Virginian say
his so-called Wall street taint would
evaporate and be forgotten. Davis
has resolutely refused to trade and
. haggle for convention support. A
friend who has been near him every
day this week says that Davis tele-
phoAs 10 ringing constantly. and that