Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-08
Last Ditch" Plans.

UOCeO.
Last. Ditch" Plans.
Alfred Z. Smith and his supporters,
meeting in New York yesterday. deter
mined to back to the last ditch"
Jouett Shouse for permanent chairman
OF the Democratic National Convention
against Senator Thomas j. Walsh, the
choice Of the Roosevelt leaders for
chairman The charge has frequently
been made that Smith Raskob-Shouse
alliance existed in the Democratic
party Whether it has existed in the
past does not so much matter 1t
exists now And existing, it Is leading
toward a desperate convention battle,
There is no longer the slightest effort
made to cover up the fact that the
aim is to stop Roosevelt" He must
be stopped" IL any ether candidate is
to be nominated. Men who claim to
know definitely what they are talking
about. and among them some of those
political leaders in Massachusetts,,
Connecticut and New Jersey who are
supporting Smith, admit in private
conversation that they have no idea that
Smith will be nominated or that he
has any expectation of being chosen.
The campaign of the Roosevelt OPP
ponents, including Smith, to prevent
the nomination Of the New York Gov
ernor has for long time been clear to
the supporters of Gov. Roosevelt. 1t
did not require the jubilant comment
of Mr.. Smith on his victory in the
Massachusetts primary to make the
Roosevelt forces understand what all
time Mr. Smith said, Il guess that puts
a chock under the band wagon wheel.
or words to that effect. Furthermore.
the Roosevelt leaders have felt for 4
long time that the national Democratic
headquarters in Washington and the
party organization were being used by
Roosevelt's opponents to aid in the cam
paign against their candidate They
looked upon Mr. Shouse. in charge OF
the headquarters as chairman Of the
Executive Committee of the Democratic
National Committee. as the head and
forefront Of this effort to use the party
organization against Roosevelt, Mr.
Shouse and Chairman Raskob of the
National Committee have frequently de-
nil "a for
to defeat any particular candidate.
Roosevelt leaders feel today that with
the primaries and conventions for the
election of delegates practically all be-
hind them they have sufficient dele
gate votes to deal with the national
convention organization as they desire
They do not desire Mr. Shouse as chair
man. They have offered in his stead
Senator Walsh of Montana, who has
host of friends in the Democratic party
who was chairman of the 1924 conven-
ton and won the respect of all the
contenders for his fairness
The Smith Raskob- Shouse combina-
ton will have exceeding difficulty in de-
feating Senator Walsh for the perma-
nent Craftsmanship. The Montana Sen
ator is likely to have strong personal
following among the delegates at the
convention, giving him even greater
strength than the Roosevelt forces by
themselves could provide. The show
down between the Roosevelt and anti
Roosevelt forces is to come almost at
the very opening of the national con-
vention.
Politics makes strange bed fellows. In
the fight to make Shouse permanent
chairman, Mr.. Smith will have to rely
perhaps on William Gibbs McAdoo of
California for support. Eight years ago
Mr.. Smith was one of the principal
leaders Of the Democratic party who
prevented Mr.. McAdoo from realizing his
great ambition, to be the Democratic
nominee for President. The Roosevelt
opposition is made up Of disccrdant ele-
ments in the party. elements that it
may be impossible to weld together for
q real battle.
The signs point not only to a bitter
battle At the national convention, bu.
also to factiofal differences which NAV
make 1t extremely difficult for the DEM
ocrats to win In the national election in
November. The anti Roosevelt forces
may, as a last resort, declare that in the
event Of Roosevelt's nomination. they
will not support him in the election. Il
would be dangerous move. The Roose-
welt delegates to the national conven-
ton are not likely to accept the nominee
dictated under such circumstances by
the Smith -Raskob-Shousep rol1n