Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-07-20
WASHINGTON
SNAPSHOTS
Taken by the Helm News Service

axe Dy the helm News service
A Democratic national con-
vention always puts on a superb
show. 1t exudes color in all the
crude raucous shades of the Am
erican scene; it expresses vita
lily in every form known to
human eccentricity. No circus
can match it, and certainly not
the comparatively calm, more
highly organized and orderly Re-
publican spectacle. Consider the
extraordinary assortment of ma
tional characters" that swarm
to a Democratic convention. The
thing becomes a riot of person
alities with a bedlam of mess
ages. One does not have to be a
Democrat to enjoy the racy qua
lities of such a convention or to
applaud the spirit hat animates
it. One has only to be an Ameri-
can conscious of the fact that
both in quality and spirit it is
genuinely representative of his
oountrymen, rooted in the soil.
Because of its brevity and plain
speaking the Democratic national
platform of 1882 will probably have
more readers than any other pre-
sentation of party policies in many
years. 1t makes only one sensation
al, declaration, but it is on the
issue which evidently is foremost
in the minds of the people today,
the repeal or retention of national
prohibition. BY declaring for re-
peal the Democrats have %squarely
joined the issue with the Republi-
cans, who favor putting the ques-
ton up to the people without at
tempting to dictate their decision.
Each party has taken an advanced
stand on this question which was
not possible only four years ago.
The political wisdom of the Demo-
cratic stand is an interesting
subject for speculation which will
not be answered until next Nov
ember.
If our political conventions are
our greatest national spectacles,
they are also u most conspicuous
absorbers of punishment. Witness
the submissiveness of the delegates
at Chicago in the face of the all
day stream of oratory and dem
o%nstration as the Presidential
candidates were nominated and
seconded. The whole business was
in contravention of the CONSTITUTE
onal prohibition of cruel and un-
usal punishments, but 5000 del
egates and alternates on the floor
and multiplied thousands Of visitors
in the CALLERS sat supinely while
the burdensome flow of oratory
empties itself upon their helpless
ears. P~anegyric followed panegyric
and cheer followed cheer without
regard for comfort or convenience
and in despite of the fact that
everybody knew not a single vote
would be DETECTED by the deluge of
words.
1t cost former Governor Alfred
E. Smith SLIPS to hear the speech
of Governor Joseph P. Ely of Mass
achusetts placing his name be-
fore the Democratic convention
and to listen to the frenzied dem
o~nstration which followed. Cover
nor Ely had just finished his speech
when a radio in the Congress
Hotel apartment of the former
governor gave an appealing click.
Mr.. Smith answered with another
quarter from a handful of which
he had stacked on the table beside
the radio and dropped it in the
slot. And once again he was in
touch with the stadium more than
two miles away.
President Hoover showed an ac-
tive interest in the balloting at
the Chicago convention to select
the man who will oppose him in
the coming presidential race. Sur
rounded by members of his So
called medicine ball cabinet in a
room on the ground floor of the
White House, the President list
ened closely to the second ballot.
He and his friends had just comp
leted their Commute workout in
the rear grounds and as is their
Elastc .ova euaud