The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-15
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS
Bv LUDWELL DENNY

Inc hoover victory was expected,
his demonstration inevitable.
But the enthusiasm for La Toilette,
and the Spontaneity of 1t, was the
surprise and the thrill of the Re-
publican convention.
1t was not contrast in person.
alities Hoover was far away in
Washington, rather aloof new lib
eral leader Of an unwieldy uncDn-
sentative party. La Toilette was the
spokesman of a militant minority,
with the zest of free protest and
without the responsibility of power.
1t was the contrast in platforms
that caused the commotion.
But Young Bob's personality
helped. The son of a great father.
More than son. More than an in
heritor. A leader in his own right,
carrying forward the La Toilette
championship of the peoples rights.
II
CCENE: A listless convention.
~ A thousand delegates, whose
nerve were logged since the tense
night hours before the convention
when the anti-Hoover barrier
crashed. More thousands in the
! galleries, who had fought and
pleaded for tickets to see the big
show-and there was no show.
George Moses, Senator, Hoover
lieutenant, chairman, was pushing
the program with mechanical pre-
cision. His hard, sarcastic voice
lashed them on. He introduced
Reed Smoot, latter day saint of the
Church of Mormon, Senator, chair
man of the resolutions committee,
angular, hair awry, conservatism
IN gesture and convicted.
Smoot droned out the monoto-
nous majority platform. A compro-
mise, 1t was the platform most of
the delegates desired, but it could
not stir them.
1t boosted of Republican achieve
ments, it evaded Republican fall
ures. 1t defended Nicaraguan in
tervention. 1t did not mention the
Philippines and the unfulflled
pledge Of independence. 1t ignored
invasions Of civil liberty, unenploy-
ment child labor, old age pensions.
social insurance, lame duck sessions
of Congress.
1t offered subsidy to shipping and
withheld subsidy from agriculture.
1t repeated friendship for the farm
ers, without providing a specific
substitute for the doubtful Nc
Nary-Haugen panacea. 1t declared
for prohibition enforcement with
out mentioning the lawlessness of
law officers.
1t did not mention the names of
Republican officials and business
men guilty of bribery and theft of
public resources, of election corrup-
ton and disguised campaign con-
trloutlons. 1t ignored the official
revelations Of power trust" propa-
ganoa and attempted control of
schools, press and government. and
the test cases of Boulder Dam and
Muscle Shoals.
THEN came young Bob. SLIGHT.
l. boyish, alert. He asked to pre-
sent the minority platform. The big
spotllghtS shot down upon him. the
bored delegates sat up, the reporters
scented "a good yarn" the galleries
studied this daring youth.
instead of taking the defensive as
in minority, this late outcast of the
party attacked. Through the years
Wisconsin and others had presented
a minority platform always rejected
by the conventions, but-"of thirty
tlye planks presented by this
minority since 1908, thirty-two have
since been made law" Cheers.
1T is so unusual for a Wisconsin
delegate to receive applause from a
Republican convention that I pause
to thank you for it," More cheers.
and more and more as he threw
at them the heresies of today and
the commonplace of tomorrow.
Here are some of those heresies,
which the convention cheered-con-
ventionso conservatives and liberals
and of protesting farmers who were
doubling their Lowden-Dawes lead-
ership.
Through the fertile lands of the
West and South, bankruptcy has
stalked, counting its victims by the
hundreds of thousands, until TODAY
the spectre Of peasantry haunts
those who till the soil to give the
nation bread.
Meanwhile great combinations
Of corporate wealth, from whom the
farmer must buy and to whom he
must sell, we're permitted in VIOLA
ton of law to extend their dominion
over the supply and the price Of
the necessities of life" He favored
"the prir ,iples of the McNary-
Haugen bill" and "equalizing the
conditions Of all classes and all
sections"
"TNHE monopolization of electric
Il light heat and power is the
most alarming economic develop
ment of this decade-we favor the
development and operation by the
Federal Government of Muscle
Shoals, Boulder Dam and other
strategic points.
eve oppose the landing of armed
forces on foreign soil, without the
consent of Congress as a violation
of the Constitution and as de-
structive of the very principle Of
| equality among nations.
1--WE declare that no person con-
nected directly or indirectly with
the concealment of knowledge con-
corning it shall hold any position
Of honor or trust in the gift of the
Republican party.
1--WE urge legislation to restrict