The Washington times., 1936-07-14

or IL more Jnau b IHdJOIlCy, DuB
the nomination finally went to
Woodrow Wilson.
Champ Clark'S son, Senator Ben
nett Clark, assailed the twothirds
at this convention, insisting that
his father if he had been presi-
dent would have kept America
out of the World War. Soon after
the Baltimore convention Champ
Clark said:
Under the twO-thirdS rule the
prOsIavery men of the South OBJ
tanned friendly presidential can.
didates for a quarter of a cen.
tury. If they could not get
southern candidates they Sc
cured northern men with south
ern principles Van Buren,.
Pierce and Buchanan-whom'
their political opponents called
northern dough faces
"The rule should have been
repudiated in 1868, but it was
retained and used in 1912, a half
a century later, to gOuge me out
of the presidential nomination,
notwithstanding the fact that 1
led on % ballots and received
a clear majority on eight"
The present convention Sys.
tenn is the fourth method used in
nominating presidents and vice
presidents
The original constitutional
method gave us Washington and
John Adams as presidents; tbs
caucus, jefferson, Madison and
Monroe, and the nomination by
State legislatures John Quincy
Adams.
A SAFETY VALVE
The convention system has
given us quite a few second or
third-raters. among some first
class men, and, stacking them up
against the above, one wonders
whether this is the best Of all
possible methods of picking man
to rule the country.
The party conventions grew out
of rising hostility to the machina-
tons of party bosses and a clamor
for more direct popular representa-.
ton. Unquestionably, there were
plenty of powerful bosses in the
old days, and, under the conven-
ton system, they're still doing
business at the old stand.
This year is no exception. The
cars of powerful political ma
chimes in various sections of the
country all have been on hand.
working old-line techniques no diff.
ferent from those of Penrose, Tag
CART or Plat.
In spite of all this. in spite of
all the Glowing, all the pumped
up hullaballoo, all the Strutting
of the great panjandrums, all the
back-alley deals and StrategemS, it
seems to this seasoned convention
fan that we might do a whole lot
worse.
That big arena is a grand ma
tional safety valve. even if the
Studious deliberations have to do
with something already "in the
bag" and, to this observer, there
is in this Quadrennial uproar q
safeguard against extremist trends
in government.
ThySsen and the other Ruhr in
dustrialists who called in Adolf
Hitler in 1928, financed his black
shirt outfit and plastered fascism
on Germany, didn't do it with the
bands playing and all Germany
yelling its head off. They made
l. a swift, inciSive, busineSSlike and
more or less secretive proceeding.
Convention craftsmanship may
suggest the deliberations of dog
with a bunch of firecrackers tied
to his tail, but it all Sits down in
the end to the fairest representa-
ton of the wishes of masses Of
voters which any government has
yet achieved. A grand magniflca-
ton of a cracker barrel argument
is in our tradition.
The beautiful new Dartmouth
library is capped with a barrel of
rum, reminiscent of the deal by
which the college land was &C
quired from the Indians. 1t might
not be so bad to cap the Capitol
with a cracker barrel. There's a
deal of salvation in these conVen-
ton blow-offs, even if they do
seem a bit ridiculous at times.
Copyright. 1885, by King Features
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