Evening star., 1936-06-07

| only living RepuDlcan former PreSl-
dent and titular head of the party,
has been invited by the Committee on
Arrangement to speak to the conven-
ton on Wednesday, its second day.
Steiwer is the temporary chairman
and keynote speaker of. the conven-
tion.
Few See Stampede to Hoover.
Hoover has said he. is not a can
didate for the nomination. He. has
| not said, however, that he would not
accept the nomination If it came to
him at the hands of the convention.
During the last six months, he has
made notable series of public ad-
dresses, attacking the Roosevelt New
| Deal from stem to stern. There are
those of his friends who feel that he
might yet stampede the convention
| in his own favor, if he makes a
stirring appeal. But the number who
believe this could happen Is very
small.
Steiwer fits into the picture, so far
as being a liberal and a Westerner
are concerned but he has been in the
Senate; voting for nearly all Of the
Roosevelt New Deal measures that
have come before that body. He
makes a good speech. but has never
set the world on fire with his oratory.
Presidential lightning has struck
very few men taking active speaking
parts in national political conven-
tions. There was the case of James
A. Garfield of Ohio in 1880 and the
case of William Jenning Bryan in
1896, the first Republican and the
latter a Democrat Garfield, as a
matter of fact, is the only President
of the United States ever present at
his own nomination. Bryan never be-
came President, although nominated
three times. Harding was in Chicago
at the time of his nomination in 1920,
but was in hotel and not in the con-
vention. Garfield was nominated on
the thirty sixth ballot in the conven-
ton of 1880. He had come to the
convention as a supporter Of John
Sherman and had taken a leading
part in the debates. The sudden shift
to Garfield came when it was obvious
that the faction favoring the nomina-
ton of Grant for a third term, and
the faction supporting James G.
Blaine could not win. In the case OF
Bryan the Nebraskan swept the DEM
ocratic convention of its feet with
his famous Gross of Gold" speech.
Not Probable This Year.
Such things might happen again.
But they do not seem at all probable
in the coming Republican convention.
One of the best speakers today in the
Republican party is Senator Vanden-
berg Of Michigan. He, like Senator
Borah, who is great orator, is not
a delegate or an alternate to the ma
tional convention. He could not,
therefore, attempt to ring the bell"
unless the convention should, as has
been suggested by some of the Borah
people, undertake an oratorical con-
test for the presidential nomination
and invite all the possibilities" to
appear before it. It would be a great
surprise if the convention adopted
such a program.
The Landon "build-up" has gone
to the grass roots. Delegates from
New York, Indiana and indeed from
nearly all of the States, report that
his support has come from the man
on the. street and the man on the
farm. The very thing for which
Jim" Farley, the Democratic Ma
tional Committee chairman, twitted
the Kansas Governor has helped to
build him up. He is q governor OF a
'typically prairie State" The people
have visualized him as a man of the
people. as a saver, rather than a
spender, as, indeed, the very antith-
esis of Franklin D. Roosevelt. And
so the people who are opposing
Roosevelt have very largely accepted
this idea of the Kansas Governor.
Few of them ever saw him and not
many have ever heard him speak.
May Await Notification.
Landons manager insists that he is
mot coming to Cleveland; that he will
prefer to receive formal notification
of nomination at his home in Kansas
than to follow the example set by
President Franklin y. Roosevelt. How"
ever, if the convention adopted reso-
luton urging him to come to Cleve-
lard, after giving him the nomination.
he might do SO, The convention
probably would be guided by his wish