Evening star., 1925-08-19

Found William u. MCAQoo summing
himself salubriously upon the front
porch of his vine clad villa in aristo-
cratic Berkeley Square, Los Angeles,
as oblivious, he claims, TO politics
as a denizen of Mars. William Jen-
nings Bryan had just passed from the
scene. and l was anxious to sound out
Mr.. McAdoo on the suggestion that he
is the natural heir to the progressive
estate. But Woodrow Wilson's sonin-
law would commune of naught but
the glorious zinnias, acacias, rhodo-
dendrons and fig trees amid which he
has his being and in which he takes a
bubbling pride. Whatever ''W. e."
himself thinks about it, California is
convinced he is not through with poll
tics, or politics with him. If he is
again a candidate for the presidential
nomination, his adopted State will
send a fervid McAdoo delegation TO
the next Democratic national dissen-
sion. If fate were kinder to him than
it was in 1924, there are those in Cali
fornia who think Mr.. McAdoo would
give even Calvin Coolidge a worthy
race for the States vote. Recently
McAdoo took into law partnership at
Los Angeles J. T. F. O'Connor, former
Democratic candidate for Governor
and United States Senator in North
Dakota. O'Connor is the man who got
up in Madison Square Garden and
denounced the Klan. then seconded
the nomination of McAdoo.
y X x
Gavin McNab, leader of the San
Francisco bar and famed throughout
the West as the man who victoriously
swung its votes into the Wilson col
umn in 1916, has his pessimistic mo-
the future of the Democratic party.
The brilliant and eloquent Scot, who
speCializeS in calling things by their
right names, recently wrote Franklin
D. Roosevelt, who wanted McNab' S
opinion as to the cause of Democratic
misfortune, as follows:
I'm the presidential election of 1920
the Democratic party virtually went
into bankruptcy. The strange thing
in all this, to my mind, is that the
Democratic party has never had the
courage to take an inventory of its
affairs to ascertain the causes and to
fix the blame. We of the West, where
the States vested Wilson with power,
and where, in two presidential cleo
tions since, no State has voted Demo
cratic, wonder at socalled party
leadership that refuses to examine it
self and ascertain the truth. The first
duty of party leadership is to take the
long delayed inventory. that it may be
determined whether it is possible TO
bring a united, cohesive, national
party, actuated by lofty principles and
inspired with enthusiasm, to the serV-
ice of the people. IF this cannot be
done. why the existence Of the Demo
cratic party?"
y X * r.
California grape growers have found
prohibition a boon rather than a
blight. When the eighteenth amend
ment overlook the thirsty land panic
stricken wine growers uprooted thou
sands of acres of vineyards. facing, as
they thought, the ruin of their indus
try Today there is said to be
greater acreage under grape CultlVa-
ton in Sonoma and Napa Counties
than ever before. The price, too, is
unprecedentedly high. In pre-prohibi-
ton days grapes sold for about $50
ton. The present price is anywhere
from SIS to $50. The railroads that
serve the grape counties can hardly
cope with the traffic. Home brewers
in the East are named as the big
buyers of California grapes.
X X y
Mason Lathrop, dramatic critic OF
the Los Angeles Evening Express. has
a claim to distinction that Is unique
in American history.
He was the only child ever bap-
tized in the Capitol of the United
States at Washington. Mr.. Lathrop' s
father was a bosom friend of Schuy'
ler Colfax of Indiana. Vice President
in the first Grant administration.
The small congregation. to which the
Lathrop and ColfaX families belonged
had not yet established their own
place of worship, SO when the Lathrop
baby came along in 1869 Mr.. Colfax
suggested to his friend, the proud
daddy, that the Vice Presidents Of