Evening star., 1927-09-28
Politics at Large
By C.. Could Lincoln.

senate, based on reports that Senator
Jim" Reed. chairman of the slush
fund committee. had changed his at
titude and would permit them to be
sworn in and then undertake to throw
them out, might as we'll be discarded
Senator Reed. who for weeks has
been making his headquarters at his
home i'm Kansas City. issuing forth
now and then to deliver attacks in
Missouri and Kansas upon the Repub
lican party, is himself authority for
the statement that he has not changed
his position and does not expect to
change 1t. He has been against seat
ing Smith and Ware. and will stick
to 1t. He considers that their cases
differ materially from cases Of others
against whom contests have been
made. In the first place, the Senate
has been officially advised by it's own
committee, Of which he is the head
that excessive amounts of money
were expended to nominate these Sen
ators-elect, and that corruption was
found to exist. he points out. With
that information at hand officially, he
contends the Senate would he in error
to seat them and then investigate
The investigation has already beer
made. Senator Reed says he is not
to he shaken from a position which
he has taken with full knowledge OF
the facts, There you are.
* x
The battle over the seating of the
two Republicans required to give the
Republicans bare one-half of the
Senate membership will begin as soor
as the Senate meets. What effect /,
will have on the organization of the
Senate still remains to be seen. With
out Smith and Ware the Republicans
will muster 46 Senator's. the Demo
Gratis AZ and the Farmer-L Labor party
|. If the Republicans stand together
regulars and insurgents alike, and
Senator Shipstead, the Farmer Labor
Senator. votes with them, as he is ex
pected to do. there will be tie, with
Vice President Dawes on hand to de
eide in favor of the Republicans. In
some quarters. however. the right Oi
the Vice President to vote on matters
Of organization Of the Senate is chal
lenged.
Out in the West the recent pri
mary in Philadelphia for the nomina
tion of mayor, in which Harry
Mackey, Wares campaign manager in
1926, was nominated over J. Hampton
hOOLC, dS duLI- are
date, Is not interpreted as vindica
ton for Ware. 1t is pointed out that
Moore rolled up a surprisingly big
vote against the machine. indicating
that Republicans of the City OF
BrOtherly Love are many of them
thoroughly disgusted with Ware. West
erners have hopes that Moore will run
as an independent in the election. and
that coalition of the disgruntled Re.
publicans and Democrats may put him
in Office.
bill Bill' Thompson. mayor Of Chi.
cago. in whose bonnet the presidential
bee seems to be buzZing, is not so big
outside of Chicago. according to politi
cal observers who have been follow
ing the mayor in his swing around the
West. when he talked for flood pre-
vention and incidentally put himself
in the limelight in half a dozen
States. But he seems to nave con
vinced himself Nat the big man of
Americas second biggest city is a fac.
tor nationally. In Topeka, kans.
where the mayor made one of his
stops. he was listened to with no little
interest, and it was admitted that he
strutted his stuff we'll. But the
kansans do not take him seriously As
a presidential possibility. He made
clear, however. in a number of con
versations his dislike for former Gov.
Frank o. Lowden of Illinois. and that
Mr.. LowGen will have no delegates 90
the Republican national convention
from Cook County.
But Thompson. while he may not be
presidential timber is a smart poll
tician and a great vote getter in his
own home town. His falling, accord
ing to those who have watched him, is
that he is too susceptible to flattery,
and he is surrounded by men who
know he likes f1attery and who like
to Halter him.
4
One Of the latest rumors from Chi
cago is that Bill Lorimer, One-time
Senator and ousted because of corrup-
ton in his election years ago, has in
mind seeking election to the Senate
again if Senator.elect Frank l.. Smith
is denied his seat. 1t does not sound
plausible. but Lorimer is a friend of
Mayor Thompson and travelled with
the mayor on his Western trip. The
report that he would stand a show for
the nomination and election sounds as
though it belonged in the realm Of
fairy tales.
The dry Democrats in California are
to resist any effort to send
Smith delegates to- the Democratic
national convention next year. Will
lain Gibbs McAdoo. who had the sup.
port of the California delegation at
= l~~ l1u
ton, is expected to take a vigorous
part in the fight to prevent any of
s delegates being named for
Smith next year. The recent an.
Of Mr.. McAdOo that he
will not be a candidate for the Demo
cratic nomination is believed to have
him. in the State, and
have put him in a position to go after
Smith effectively. Already the drys
are organizing and they are planning
to put a delegate ticket in the field
to vote against any wet for
the presidential nomination.
But. outside of the pronounced dry
Democrats, there is much support for
Gov. Smith in that State. For ex-
ample. Gavin McNab, the leader of
the Democrats in the northern part
of the State, is said to look with
friendly eyes upon the Smith can
didacy. although Mr.. McNab in 1924
held the delegation together for Nc
Adoo. A number of the leading
Democratic newspapers of the State
have come out for Smith. The drys
point out, however, that the party has
indicated its opposition to
Smith. in the primaries of 1925. when
John B. Elliott. a McAdoo man. de.
feated Isadore r. Dockweiler for the
nomination for Senator.
Dockweiler is the Democratic national
and Elliott cam
paigned against him on the ground
that Dockweiler was a supporter of
AL Smith.
The advantage which Gov. Smith
and his supporters have in the presl-
Dental nomination race lies in the
fact that they are working indCstri-
Dusly in every part of the country for
delegates, while his opponents are still