Evening star., 1932-06-27

CHICAGO, Ill, June 27.--Franklin
D. Roosevelts nomination for President
on not later than the second ballot,
Senator Walsh'S defeat OF Jouett
Shouse for the permanent chairman
ship. and a neck-and-neck race on
abolition of the two-thirds rule were
the shining prospects as the Democratic
National Convention cleared for action
today. Roosevelt control of the situa-
ton is absolute on everything except
the two-thirds proposition. On that
the Governors managers seemed also
to have a strenglehold up to late hour
Yesterday But as the zero hour ap-
preached this morning heavy defections
in the otherwise serried Roosevelt ranks
set In, indicating that Democracy hesi-
tates to break with its century-old jack
sonian tradition There was even an
ominous suggestion that the New York
er's attempt to scrap it had caused seri-
oIlS inroads in his nomination strength.
This is firmly denied by James A. Far
ley. colonel in chief Of the Roosevelt
Rough Riders He claims in cocksure
accents that he can and will put his
man over, two-thirds or no two-thirds,
probably on the first ballot, and posi-
lively on the second.
~
History will record that it was Sem
ator James Hamilton Lewis dramatic
withdrawal from the presidential race
that drove the first breach in the Roose-
welt opposition wall. 1t is the strategy
of the Governors allied antagonists to
hold the faYorite son coalition together
long enough TO deadlock the convention
and throw the nomination to dark
horse. Richie, Garner, Traylor or
Baker loom as the heir to such con-
tingency With favorite-son delegations
now ready to disintegrate, the stop
Roosevelt movement is in acknowledged
disarray. Many delegations committed
to favorite sons. like that of Illinois, are
saturated with Roosevelt second-choice
strength. This is notably the case with
Jim Reeds Missouri delegation. Once
these States begin to waver in their al
legiance as the roll call proceeds, the
Smith-Hague anti-Roosevelt phalanx
fears the worst. 1t will be the signal
for the band wagon TO get in motion
and then the deluge.
II they could undo one single thing
upon which they embarked with high
hope at Chicago, the Roosevelt man
ayers would undoubtedly renounce their
plan to upset the two-thirds rule. IT
has aroused a storm of wholly unexpect-
ed ferocity. The final vote on it in the
convention tomorrow, unless the Rough
Riders abandon the program. will dis
close the Democratic party in bitter
strife. The South, threatened with ex-
tinctIon of its historic veto power, is
in particularly bellicose mood. Largely
under the leadership of Senator Pat
0fxysa doll slvn fNnC
Of Mississippi, North Carolina and Ala
bama register angry hostility to scu:-
ting a party practice that has served
the Democrats for hundred years. The
Rooseveltians' alibi that they seek mere
ly to entrone majority instead of mi
nority" rule is not proving to be very
convincing. 1t does not remove the
suspicion that their scheme is conceived
in their candidates personal interest
pr Danish the belief that the Rough Rid
ers want majority nomination because
they are not sure Of two-thirds nomi-
nation. Joe Tumulty, Woodrow Wilson'S
political executor, makes e notable con-
tribution to the controversy. He re-
veals that the World War President
spurned the suggestion Of friends, prior
TO the Baltimore convention. to nomi-
nate MIN by killing the tWo-thirds rule.
Wilson declared that if named as a re-
suit of such an abrogation, he would
decline the nomination.
4 X
President Hoover has a scout at the
Democratic convention, that battle-Scar-
red G. o. p. veteran, former Senator
Henry J. Allen of Kansas. Allen breezed
unobtrusively into Chicago last night and
went promptly to work to spy out the
enemy territory. He contrived to re-
strain his emotions when he discovered