Evening star., 1926-04-16
DEMOCRAT|CSA
BAREDBY DINNER
Jefferson Day Event Proves
"0rgy of AbSenteeism"
and Side stepping.

Nearly every Democrat and many
Republicans in Washington are dis
cussing. in terms Of it's political
effect the jefferson Birthday dinner
ira ragi-comedy at the Capital on
Tuesday. It was beyond all ques-
tion one of the weirdest public func-
tions on record. Following upon the
painful scene created by Senator
Caraway at the New York Jefferson
dinner on April 10. when the Arkan-
sas Democrat INDUCED in an i'll
tempered personal attack on Presi-
dent Coolidge. the Washington affair
j. being talked about as completely
indicative of the slump into which
the national Democratic party seems
to have fallen.
Headliners Are Missing.
The dinner turned out to be an
orgy of absenteeiSm. Although non
partisan in character it was designed
10 he an essentially Democratic
affair with John w. Davis, late
Democratic candidate for the presi-
dency. as the star oratorical per-
former. But Davis did not SHOW
up. Neither did the five Democratic
governors Of the respective states of
Virginia. North Carolina. South
carolina. New .Ieysey and Georgia
hmone the missing We're also Sena-
tor Peter G. Gerry of Rhode Island.
chairman Of the Democratic sena-
tnrial campaign committee GOV.
John G. Winant. Republican. of New
Hampshire: w. Freeland Kendrick,
Republican. mayor of Philadelphia,
and DR.. James Il. Angel, president
of Yale University. Senator William
II. King. Democrat of Utah, who was
20 have spoken. was present during
Tho evening, but, apparently dis
pleased with the way things were
auinc. left the banquet hall long
before his name was reached on the
speakers list
Six Speak Out of IL.
As 1t turned out. only six of the
scheduled II speeches were delivered.
They were forthcoming from Senator
Bruce and Gov. Albert c. Ritchie.
Democrats, of Maryland; Senator
Thomas f. Bayard, Democrat, of
Delaware; Representative William A.
Oldfield of Arkansas, chairman of the
Democratic congressional campaign
committee; Representative Tom Con
nally, Democrat. of Texas, and Mrs.
Livingston Rowe Schuyler of New
York. The distracted and discounted
POSTMASTER, Henry f. Davis, had a
sad and busy evening reading regrets
and making explanations. Nearly
everybody present had paid $6 for
his or her place at the dinner, and
when Toastmaster Davis opened pro
ceedings by proclaiming the absence
of the principal attraction, John w.
Davis, gloom descended upon the
feast. Then the POSTMASTER droned
that the three next speakers We're
missing, too. Gov, Ritchie broke the
monotony of absenteeism. whereupon
Toastmaster Davis informed the
diners that the next four speakers had
failed to turn up. Outlaws and muir
murs of displeasure followed each of
these lugubrious announcements. Then
came Senator Bayard, Democrat, of
Delaware, who kept his date, but the
next two speakers on the list were
casualties.
Called to Fill In.
Toastmaster Davis, who bore up
bravely, decided to throw a couple
of impromptu spellbinders into the
breach. For the purpose he drew
upon A. Owsley Stanley. lame duck"
Democratic Senator from Kentucky,
and William Tyler Page, clerk of the
House of Representatives. Mr.. Stan
ley, an eloquent lawyer. rhapsodized
about the Lewis and Clark expedition
and the battle of Vincennes, and Mr..
Page declaimed an endless essay
about Jefferson, sent to the dinner
by a Boston gentleman whose name
was lost in the shuttle. Mr. Page also
took occasion mildly to rebuke what
he seemed to consider an effort to
make the dinner a Democratic love
feast and proclaimed himself an
apostle of "Jeffersonian Republican
ism" His observations did not Wis
IDLY add to the gayety of the evening.
The commonest comment on the
whole affair was that it seemed to
typify the inertia and despond, as
we'll as the lack of leadership, now
characteristic of the national Demo
cratic organiza ton. Criticism Of
John W. Davis. still the titular leader
of the party. was particularly bitter
He had been advertised for weeks as
the oratOrical drawing card, but con-
tented himself with a perfunctory
telegram from Pittsburgh, whittier he
claimed important legal business had
taken him.
Democrats in more optimistic mood
than others are talking about the
capture of Republican, Senate seats
this year. not only in doubtful States,
hut even in Republican States like
Illinois and Pennsylvania where
bitter primary fights are expected
to leave bad G. O. r. blood in their
wake. But it was the consensus of
moot Democratic faithful at the JEFF.
ferson dinner in Washington that
there will have to be a vastly differ
ent kind of party spirit manifested
than was there revealed if victory
this year, or in any year, is to be
won.
H., A.