Evening star., 1932-07-01
BY ELMER DAVIS.

CHICAGO, July / (N.ANA).-God-
frey G. Gloom, the old-fashioned Indi-
ana Democrat, was discovered slipping
out into the lobby of the convention
hall just as Senator Connally arose tc
nominate Garner.
Il don't care to hear Tom Connally,
said Mr.. Gloom. He's the fellow that
quadrupled my income tax, and I'm
afraid my Judgment on any remarks
of his might be biased by that painful
mem ory.''
what did you think of the Roosevelt
demonstration" the reporter asked.
Not very much at FIRST" Mr.. Gloom
confessed. Just lot of fellows list
lessly dragging their feet around the
hall and passing in review before jim
Farley on the speakers stand, maxim
sure he'll know their faces so they'll
never have to pay cash for their tickets
to boxing shows when they go to New
York.
wholesome Apathy"
"But presently I run into my old
friend, Col. Sangaree, from Savannah
He's for Roosevelt, of course, and he
was feeling very good indeed about this
demonstration Godfrey he said. did
you ever see such a display of whole
some apathy?'
Somewhat surprised, I asked the
colonel what he means by that.
why he says, when a lot Of fell
lows are all boiling over with enthusi-
asm about a candidate that don't mean
so much. But most of these fellows
here, they're for Roosevelt, not par
ticularly because they want him, but
because they think he's going to win
And that's what counts says Sanga-
rec, not the volume of shouting, but
the number of votes.
A man might give up his personal
convictions under pressure of circum-
stances, but it's pretty hard to dislodge
him when he thinks he's on the band
wagon
And so it may be-" Mr.. Gloom con-
tinued II noticed that when Judge
Mack was placing Roosevelt in nomina-
ton he practically called the roll OF
States that were for him-called ii
twice, once at the start and once at the
finish In between he bestowed some
eulogieS on the character and career of
his candidate. But the great argument
he wanted to pound in was that who
ever was for Roosevelt was for the win
ner, and don't you believe that consid-
Grafton won't have weight"
What did you think of the plat
form?" the reporter asked
You may quote me as saying that I
am still stunned" Mr. Gloom observed.
"A short platform, platform that
means som mething, and a platform that
says what ]. means in no uncertain
language. Never did I think l would
live to see the day.
"a Great Platform"
After this and after seem Texas
and South Carolina help roll up a ma
jority for that dripping wet plank, I
wouldn't be surprised at any moment if
the heavens were to roll up like a scroll,
if the mountains should skip like rams
and the little hills like lambs
Its true that the behavior of the
Democrats in Congress this year has
somewhat belied all these noble profess
sions about drastic reduction in Gov
eminent expenditures, and the planks
about protection of the investor and
the bank depositor sound good deal
like locking the stable door after all
the live stock has been stolen and run
off down the road. Still, it is a great
platform. But as the old poet says, the
end crowns the work and I'm afraid
this convention is going to wind up by
crowning its work with a crown of
thorns, and raspberry thorns at that.
1T was a good debate they had on
that minority plank, too" went on Mr.
Gloom. AT least it started off that
way. Dave Walsh and Cordell Hull
and Al Smith made the kind Of speeches
that remind you with a sudden shock
that there are still public men in this
country that can get down to the meat
Of an argument and chew it up.
But afterward that debate kind of
run to seed. You couldn't blame
Shouse for making a nice speech about
Raskob to even up for the nice speech
Raskob made about him a couple of
days ago, even if it wasn't pertinent to
the discussion: but a lot of those later
speakers on both sizes deserved the