Evening star., 1932-12-11
BY LOUIS McHENRY HOWE.


NEW YORK, December 10 (NA
1.-THE Democratic presidential
candidate was standing before hushed
and expectant national convention
waiting to catch from his first utter
ances the keynote for the coming cam
paign. He had just shattered the an
cient custom of waiting weeks for
formal, expensive ceremonies before the
candidate publicly admits that he
knows he has been nominated. He
had already established two precedents
by arriving by airplane and appearing
before the convention itself before it
adjourned. These were almost his first
words:
II have started out on the tasks that
lie ahead by breaking the absurd ira
ditions that the candidate should re-
main in profesSed ignorance of what
has happened for weeks, until he is
formally notified of the event. Let this
be symbolic that in so doing I broke
traditions. Let it from now on be the
task of our party to break foolish ira
ditions and leave it to the Republican
leadership to break promises"
Few of the crowd that roared its ap-
proval realized to what extent all cam
paign traditions had already been shat
LeTeQ OF HOW COIIiJlClCIy bliC OCihOSAa abAN
campaign was to upset the ancient and
hoary practices of the past. In fact,
a great majority of the voters do not
vet know that ON the Democratic sloe
this particular national campaign bore
little resemblance to any campaign
which had been conducted before.
Perhaps to understand these differ
ences it might be well to outline the
ancient and honorable way OF going
about it.
Choosing New Chairman.
After the candidates nomination, and
in some cases weeks later, we selected
a new chairman of the Democratic Ma
tional Committee, generally personal
friend, and almost invariably man
with not the fainteSt idea how a ma
tional campaign is conducted. The Ma
tional Committee itself then proceeds
to become. overnight, vast campaign
organization, with only eight or nine
practical working weeks in which TO
spend intelligently several millions OF
dollars in the effort to elect candi-
date.
It has then been customary to ap-
point a Board of CounSelors, generally
from the National Committee itself,
some of whom at least have had expe-
rience in previous campaigns.
An organization has then been has
tily thrown together, the workers OK
this largely recruited from the friends
of powerful political leaders. The ma
tional committeeman has generally
been regarded as the key man In each
state, and through him, as rule, the
State organizations have been passed.
The unhappy nominee has then been
dumped aboard the train with the
blessings Of the central organization
and started on q tour Of many miles,
unless, as was the case with President
Coolidge and with President Hoover,
they were determined to conflne them
selves to very few speeches and con-
duct their pleadings from the back
porch OF the White House.
Under the old method this train was
always under the directions of the
Board of Strategy" and II some spe-
cially insiStent national committeeman
was able to persuade them to add, SUD
tract or change the points at whlcn
speeches were to be made, the noml-
nee only too frequently went to bed ex-
pecting to speak the next day in Osh-
kosh. only to find he had been routed
overnight to Kalamazoo.
Waste and Errors.
1t is one of the miracles of human
intelligence that an organization
thrown together this way, with inexpe-
rienced leaders directing inexperienced
help and with no time really to learn
the Job, ever succeeds in getting any
where, and there Is, of course, enormous
waste in efforts and money, to say moth
ing of errors in strategy and tactics. ..
The Democratic organization this
wear. however, was based on a funda-
mentally different conception OF STRAIT
egy. 1t was held that the functioning
of the National Committee was prop
erly along the lines so ably worked out
by John j. Raskob and Jouett Shouse,
and should operate as a permanent
body not concerned with temporary
campaigns, but with the perpetual task
of building up State organizations to
be self supporting and efficient politi-
cal groups.
It was not generally noticed, but this
change of policy was revealed in the
first announcement made after the
nomination. THE campaign Is to be
conducted" said Chairman Farley, mot
| by the Democratic National Committee,
but by the Democratic National Cam
paign Committee" This was at all
times kept entirely distinct from the
National Committee, and while the ad-
vice and the opinions of the national
committeeman were sought and well
| coined, technically they had no more