Evening star., 1935-12-04

Talk of the Democrats taking their
1886 national convention to Philadelphia,
in order to promote their chances OF
carrying Pennsylvania, stimulates Specu-
lation as to whether there's any basis for
such theory in the light OF experience.
The Democrats nominated Wilson at
Baltimore in 1912 and carried Maryland,
renominated him at st. Louis in 1916 and
carried Missouri. But the holding OF
their convention at San Francisco failed
to carry California for Cox in 1920. Nor
dio Davis selection in hectic Madison
Square Garden. in 1924 keep Coolidge
from winning New York. -Four years
later, even though the donkey wandered
as far afield as Houston to nominate Al
Smith, Texas for the first time broke
away from its rock ribbed Democratic
moorings and voted for Hoover. Roose-
velt, nominated at Chicago in 1882, pro-
ceeded to win Illinois. Democratic lead
ers may think that, as their convention
location proved a mascot for the first
time in Il years, F. D. r. can repeat the
trick, as far as Penn State is concerned,
if he's put up for second term in Phil
adelphia. At least, that's the logic on
which the current Quaker City boom
rests, plus the suspicion that the PreSi-
dent prefers a nearby place, in order to
repeat his Chicago precedent of accept
ing nomination in person before the con-
vention adjourns.
k*
Representative James P. Buchanan,
Democrat, of Texas chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee, who
intends to fight like tLe devil" for
budget retrenchment, is one Of the
shrinking violetS of Capitol Hill, despite
his pugnacity as watchdog of the Treas
ury. He is among the handful of men,
bers who refrain from autobiographical
sketches in the Congressional Directory.
His life story there is confined to the
legend: James P. Buchanan, Democrat,
of Brennan, Tex" Though he has spent
practically his whole life in the Lone
Star State, Buchanan is a native South
Carolinian. He made big reputation as
a criminal lawyer and public prosecutor
before being elected to the Sixty-third
Congress in 1913 to succeed Albert Sid
ney Burleson, who resigned to become
Postmaster General in the first Wilson
cabinet. Mr.. Buchanan also inherited
the BurleSon place on the Appropriations
Committee and has filled it throughout
his % years in the House. Nobody has
a firmer grasp on the intricacies of Fed
eral finance. A $40 900 dam on the
Colorado River in his home district has
been named after the Appropriations
chairman.
Former Gov. Clifford Pinchot of PENN
sylvania has just arrived to spend the
Winter in his Washington home, survey
ing the national scene from the en-
battled Potomac and completing his book
on forestry and conservation. The volume
will deal exhaustively with the celebrated
Ballinger- -Pinchot controversy in the In
terror Department during the Taft ad-
ministration, which became political
sensation 26 years ago. Pinchot has
temporarily withdrawn from the political
arena, but those who know his lust Tor
combat expect to find him somewhere
on the 1886 fighting line, possibly as
Roosevelt supporter, if the Republicans
fail to nominate Progressive for Presi-
dent. The Governor, at 70, cuts the figure
of having plenty Of scrap left in his lean
and lanky frame.
X n X
President Roosevelt will undoubtedly
devote an important portion of his Chi
cago address before the American Farm
Bureau Federation on December 8 to a
spirited defense Of the Canadian reci-
procity treaty, In refutation Of widespread
charges that it Is unfair to American
agriculture. Because Of the popularity