Evening star., 1936-07-19
Continued From First Page.)

President Of today. For Wilson said:
ct am more interested in the for
tunes Of the oppressed men and pitiful
women than in any property rights
whatever"
He was speaking Of the rights Of
the people in Mexico.
Shadow Lawn, a big house with go
acres of lawn about 1t, lent itself ad-
mirably to the notification ceremonies.
Five thousand chairs were placed in
q semi-circle for the guests, and there
was standing room for another 10000.
Four years earlier. in 1912, there
were three major presidential candi-
dates in the field and Wilson was one
of them. At that time he was Gov
ernor of New Jersey. His notification
was on August Z, at Seagirt, and his
speech Of acceptance dealt only with
American problems, with the tariff,
the trusts, the banks, the high cost
of living, the conservation of resources
and the Philippine Islands.
Taft's Notification.
William Howard Taft, then Presi-
dent, was the nominee of the Repub-
licans after their terrific row in Chi
cago. Taft's notification was held in
the east room of the White House, into
which about 500 important Repub-
licans were crowded. Senator Elihu
Root of New York. who had been
chairman of the national convention.
delivered the notification speech. Taft
took q shot at his old chief, Theodore
Roosevelt, in his acceptance, denounc-
ing the recall Of judicial opinions by
the Bull Moose leader.
The Bull Moose platform of that
year, which had been more or less die
tated by Col. Roosevelt, is not without
interest today, particularly in the light
of the upset of the New Deal by judi
cial decisions. The Bull Moose plat
form demanded. among other things.
Such restrictions of the power courts
as shall leave to the people the ulti-
mate authority to determine funda-
mental questions of social welfare and
public policy" 1t sounds today very
like the fulminations of some of the
New Dealers. This demand on the
part Of Col. Roosevelt for the recall
of judicial opinions was perhaps the
principal thing which turned thou
sands of Republicans who might have
followed him back to Taft. There was
then, as there is today, strong SEN
timent against tampering with the
freedom of the judiciary.
When Theodore Roosevelt was max
ing Taft his political heir in 1903
when the best of relations existed be-
tween the two men-Taft. who had
been governor general of the Philip
pine Islands and Secretary of War.
decided to receive the notification of
his presidential nomination in his
home town, Cincinnati. He had no
home there himself So the home Of
his brother. Charles P. Taft. was Sc
lected as the place for the notiflca-
ton. About one thousand persons
we're able TO stand in the yard to
witness the ceremony and to hear
Taft proclaim that he would main
tain the Roosevelt policies" Believe
it or not, Taft's speech of acceptance
on that occasion was $4,000 words
long-probably the longest acceptance
speech on record.
Taft's opponent in that year was
William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was
notified in Lincoln, Neb.. his home. 1t
was the third time that the Democrats
had notified the "Commoner" he was
their choice for the presidency. 1t
turned out to be the last time. The
notification of Bryan was in the
grounds of the State capitol, and
was preceded by parade.
Nomination by AccIamation.
Bryan had been nominated by the
Democratic National Conventio
without the intervention Of COM
plete ballot In other words. the
Bryan designation had been accom-
piished by acclamation, very much
as was the Roosevelt nomination in
Philadelphia last month. In Philadel-
phia, however. the Democrats did not
go through the formality of start
lI4S 1Oll Cdl4 VI t4lC StdICo
in 1908 had a lot to say about the
iniquitous Republicans who opposed
the direct election of SenatorS-later
made possible through an amendment
to the ConStitution-and who opposed
a change in the rules Of the House of
Representatives. He claimed, too, that
the Republicans were opposed to the
0f ~ inn
act, to prevent fraud in national cleo
tons.
When Herbert Hoover and AL Smith
received their notifications of NOM
ination IN 1928, the ceremonies we're
separated by the breadth of the con-
tinent. Hoover's notification took
place in the stadium at Stanford Uni
versity, where he went to college.
Seventy-five thousand people we're
there. Senator George Moses Of New
Hampshire was on deck to make the
notification speech. Hoover in his
address declared his opposition to the
repeal of national prohibition. He
also pledged himself to adhere to
the course of government charted
by Calvin Coolidge. Smith, who was
Governor of New York, received his
notification in Albany. 1t had been
planned to have a great outdoor
meeting. 1t poured in torrents that
night. however, and the notification
had to be made inside the capitol,
which was jammed with humanity.
Smith was as wet as Hoover was dry.
Four years later, Hoover, again the