Evening star., 1936-06-14
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


~ ARELY has revolution been
- more complete than that in
IN the Republican party. The
l. y convention last week was that
of q new party. The elements that
were out begin with the "Old Guard"
Senator Smoot of Utah was absent
for the first time, think, in third
of a century. DR.. Nicholas Murray
Butler-not ''Old Guard" but a vet
eran-was absent for the first time,
think. In more than half a century.
Senator Watson Of Indiana, recently
Republican leader of the Senate, was
present-but as a Landon delegate,
an involuntary Landon delegate, per-
mitted to come only as an act of po-
litical charity to a 'has been" Mr..
Watson spent some of his time telling
a rural Indiana anecdote which Illus
trated his acknowledged impotence.
Another group, equally absent or
out Of power, very different group
from the Old Guard, but similarly
victims of change, were the Hoover
men. Mr.. Hoover's Secretary of Ag-
riculture, Arthur Hyde, would not be
permitted to be delegate from Mis-
souri, unless he would pledge himself
for Gov. Landon. This he would not
do and his presence was that Of a
spectator. Mr.. Hoover's Secretary of
War, Patrick j. Hurley, is the only
cabinet member Oklahoma has ever
had in either party. Local pride
should have put him on the delega-
ton to the Republican National Con-
vention. He was offered the oppor-
tunity, but only accompanied by an
obligation to support the new king.
Mr.. Hurley, being Irish, did not come
on those terms. Mr.. Hoover's Secre-
tary of the Treasury, Ogden L. Mills
OF New York, was not given New
York's place on the Committee on
Resolutions, though precedent and
tradition should have given him the
place. One of Mr. Hoover's leaders
in Congress, Franklin Fort of New
Jersey, was defeated for delegate. One
OF Mr.. Hoover's friends in Massachu-
sets was similarly defeated. Mr.. Hoo
yer's Postmaster General, Walter L.
Brown, was deprived of his place as
national committeeman from Ohio
In California some of Gov. Landons
friends tried hard to prevent Mr..
Hoover himself from having influence
In the convention by defeating a slate
OF delegates sympathetic to Mr.. Hoo
ver's ideas. This effort failed.
Not all the decapitations, attempted
or successful, were direct actions of
Gov. Landon's official managers or
friends. Many were expressions of a
cropping by voters for something new.
Progressives Also Out.
In the convention little was left of
the Republican party as it used to be.
Nearly every separate element of it
was retired or reduced in Importance.
Even the Progressive Republican fac
ton. as it used to be, was practically
out. Several Of the old leaders of this
faction had already taken themselves
out. Senators Norris of Nebraska,
johnson of California, La Toilette of
Wisconsin and others had gone over
to the New Deal. Alone among the
old group of important Progressive Re-
publican Senators, Borah of Idaho was
present. But he had a rough time.
While the new regime wished to get
his allegiance and keep him in the
party, they were unwilling to yield to
all his terms.
What is the meaning of what took
place in the Republican National Con-
vention? And who composeS the new
regime? The new men are younger
ard they are of the West. They are
close kin to the old Western Pro-
gressive Republican wing of the party,
but they differ in having a greater
capacity for teamwork and in being
willing to accept responsibility. They
do not seek to make themselves con-