New Britain herald., 1928-02-29
UNPLEDGED DELEGATES

It is being claimed that pledged
 delegates to Q national convention
 are an incubuA that they tangle up
 the political machinery and cause
 the convention to compromise upon
 some dark horse. The fact that
 Harding was nominated in 1920 is
 now laid to the pledged delegates
 who could not agree upon the can- didates of Wood. Lowden or John-
 son. Had the convention consisted of
 all unpledged delegates. 1t Is stated.
 a better showing-perhaps a better
 presidential ticket could have been chosen.
 This manifestly is the best possible
 reason for sending unpledged dele
 gates to the convention-provided
 there are no flaws in the argument.
 That there arc some flaws, however. Sdu bCdICcty U0 uClIcus
 If delegates are unpledged. who
 do they represent? The rank and
 file of the party or the political
 leaders who control the party? If the unpledged delegates maintain a sound position throughout a con-
 vention 1t k due as much to the sound reasoning of the leaders who control the delegates as to the pre- science of the delegates themselves.
 The states having presidential primaries, 1t is readily admitted, do not make any better showing than the states sending unpledged dele- gates. In innumerable instances it has occurred that the delegates have failed to abide by the dictates of the voters. and there is no law forcing them to do so. More apt to stick to their guns are the delegates from states pledged to favorite sons. These are the champion nuis- ances of political conventions; their ardor and insistence have been thorns in the flesh of political con- ventions for the past generation.
 The trouble with a political con- vention is that the politicians, the higher-up politicians, in the long run have their way. It is a notorious fact that the so-called political leaderA meeting in hotel-room around a. m. near the end of the convention. have more to say as to who is to be nctr mated than the pledged and unpledsed delegates; at least. they have their own way. It is they who pick the dark horses and are able to sway a pack of tired and listless delegates eager to get home and away from hotel ex- penses. They do their stuff at what might be called the psychological m moment.
 There are the unpledged delegates from Connecticut. for instance. Who do they represent. the rank and file. or the party organization? Pos- sibly they go forth imbibed with the idealism of crusaders for political right and justice: but the time they have had an opportunity to wrangle a week where the temperature is hot and the speeches long and hot ter. by the time they have spent a week of sleeping four hours a night, they are likely to be quite pliable and tired of the ritual. The erst- while unpledsed delegates then sud- denly find themselves pledged to vote for some dark horse the next bright morning and by night they jump aboard the rattlers and are on their way toward home and some we'll earned rest
 How the u1pledsed business works in this state can be glimpsed at a glance, so to sreak. The sentiment of the rank and file of Republicans, we are sure is 90 per cent for Hoover, now that 1t is certain Cool. idge really and truly does H.. c.. to run again. The unpledged dele i gates from Connecticut will know of this sentiment. which will increase as June hears rather than decrease. But it will be a tcss-up whether the 1 Connecticut delegates will cast their ! votes for Hoover or ultimately for some dark horse One Of the inter- esting things to watch will be how they vote on the first ballot whether they will vote solidly for Hoover. or whether the commerce secretary will receive only scat