Evening star., 1936-06-26
One-Fifth hRule
May Revive
Long Bouts
Change Might Offer
Star Act for 1910
Convention.
BY JOHN LARDNER.


desdline Of the 1896 trading
season, the Southern Democrats gave
up their good old two-thirds nominate
ing rule in exchange for two infielders,
a left-handed pitcher, and plenty Of
red-hot representation in 1910.
1t looked for awhile as though the
gents from Dixie would get nothing
at all for their trouble In fact they
were going around shouting I'VE wuz
robbed" in the manner Of Joe Jacobs.
And one Of them. Judge w. c. Davis
Of Texas, was describing the whole
thing as a Farley plot. -.
Farley" said the judge. sis going
to kill the good old rule and try for
the nomination himself in 1910"
This unpleasant rumor was eventu-
ally headed of and buried by the
hackers of the new majority system,
who saw clearly that they would have
to make concessions to gain their end.
They offered Dizzy Dean. but Die We
toed the scheme by saying he was
satisfied in st. Louis. Then there
was talk of giving the South a few
extra Senators, but every one agreed
that there were too many Senator's
already, both Northern and Southern
style.
Peace Too Peaceful.
Finally the men from the South de-
cided to settle for bigger and better
representation in 1910. It was a pretty
peaceful settlement, and pretty dis
appointing to your correspondent.
I'll admit, though. that the fight
was fun while it lasted. AS long as
the Roosevelt-Farley high command
tried to railroad its program through,
the indignation and confusion of the
rival statesmen knew no bounds.
This is a kick in the breeches,"
bawled Gov. Jimmy Alfred of Texas,
the leading tobacco -juice-spitter- by
proxy Of the Southwest. What would
have happened to the great Woodrow
Wilson if We hadn't had the two
thirds rule back in 1922"
Representative Doughton of North
Carolina had an answer for this.
I'VE would have elected the great
Champ Clark" he replied, "and be-
lieve me, the great Champ Clark was
Just as good as the great Woodrow
Wilson, if not better
Refight 46-Round Event.
To tell you the truth, think a lot
OF these delegates were more interested
in refighting the Clark Wilson fight
than in anything else 1t must have
been quite scrap, to hear them tell
1t. 1t went 46 rounds, with Wilson
winning by technical knockout.
have heard fight managers rehash
the Jeffries-C -Corbett fight and the
Dempsey -Firpo fight and many other
famous controversial slugging bees.
Sometimes they get violent and do it
with gestures, in which case you are
likely to see history repeating itself
and one or more managers lying on
the floor.
Then I have listened to cultured
gentlemen like Ely Culbertson and P.
Hal Sims as they reviewed the bidding
after bridge hand. Often these gents
forgot their culture and used words
which you would not care to have
your pet Airedale overhear, let alone
your wife and kiddies.
But bridge players and fight mana
gers are mealy-mouthed compared to
Southern delegate on the warpath,
and the rehashing of the great Clark
Wilson fight has produced some very
vivid language at this convention.
II you sprayed your garden with it,
there wouldn't be bug alive for miles
arounc.
Famous Multi-Round Bouts.
Besides, the Clark Wilson fight is
not the only battle which rouses their
memory and spleen. There was the
big Smith-McAdoo bout in 1924, which
went 103 rounds, and the Cox free
for-all in 1920 ga rounds, and the
Douglas slugfest of 1860 (57 rounds).
and the battle of 1852, which ended in
the forty-ninth stanza.
Some of the old-timers will even
take you back as far as 1874, when the
two-thirds rule rose up and smacked
Martin Van Buren right in the teeth.
1t seems-and the old-timers de-
scribe it very gleefully-that Van Bu-
rem outsmarted himself. The two
thirds rule had been invented for his
benefit. back in 1882, when Jackson
wanted Silk-Sheet Van for his Vice
President instead of Jack Calhoun. He
ordered a two-thirds vote and Van
Buren, copped the nomination.
But IL years later gentleman
named Polk stole the presidential
nomination from Van Buren by the
same process. This is very ironical
stuff and the Democrats still love to
tell about it.
Let's Try Another Version.
1t seems to me that if the boys can
rule they ought to kill the new ma
jority system at their next convention
and pass q three-quarters rule or a
four-fifths rule. A four-fifths rule
would be sure to bring back the era
Of 50-round and 100-round fights,
when men were men. Maybe nobody
would get nominated at all.
VI ~ Hl16LAI NC ilASC W nave q ollC-
fifth rule, in which case five guys
could be nominated at once. Five
simultaneous Democratic Presidents
would take UP lot Of space in the
White House, If they all chose to board
there, but there would be plenty Of
action all the time.
In an emergency the five Democrats
could be sent to the Olympics to repre-
sent the United States in basket ball,
and replaced at the helm Of the ship
of state by four Republican Presidents
and an electric icebox. The Repub-
Ican Presidents could be replaced, too.
Everything can be replaced except
the horse.
tCopyright. 1850