Evening star., 1936-06-25

ing a program 4
making body. = @%&$E& Il.
They are speak Dorothy THOMPSON
ing to 12o.000,000
Americans at the end Of receiving
sets. The campaign begins, therefore,
before the program Is even formulated.
And the public Is in on the entire
PROCEDURE A form of mass democ-
racy Is brought into being, which was
never foreseen, never prepared for,
and which Is the result Of q scientific
discovery.
For me, the most fascinating place
at either the Cleveland or the Phil
adelphia convention has been the
Office of the broadcasting system with
which, for these few days, I am
associated. Only q step from the
convention hall. 1t is nicely air-cooled
and insulated from outside sounds.
Eyes and Ears Everywhere.
The roars from the floor can be
muted by the turn Of dial. And
here I can learn, better than any
delegate sitting in the hall. just what
is going on. For the eyes and ears
of the broadcastinh system are every
where. The voice of the current
speaker comes from one corner. In
another corner q teletype machine,
that miraculous inhuman stenogra-
pher. ticks out gently on q continual
manuscript the news cleaned by re-
porters who are experimentation
~ he
Resolutions Committee. or themselves
dashing into open hearings to see
what is going on.
The notes are snatched from the
machine by commentators, who, as
soon as there Is a moment of recess,
will relay to the public what they
have learned. Every phase of the
convention Is audible to the entire
American public.
The speakers realize this and vet
fail to realize it. Is the fact of the
radio. perhaps, one reason for the
absence Of debate? There have
been times in our history when q
great personality and dynamic
speaker would strike into a conven-
ton and capture it; could swing 1t
away from one policy and twoard
another, by sheer force Of personality
and argument. william Jennings
Bryan did this IN 1896. But no such
spontaneous action can capture mil
lions listening on the air.
May Inspire Walk Tactics.
The procedure comes formalized.
Debate Is almost intransmissible.
Also, the appearance of unanimity
must be maintained. What would be
the effect upon the public If Senator
Carter Glass, for instance, or Harry
Byrd, should rise up on the floor to
attack some tendency or policy of the
New Deal? Would they not be ac-
cused Of washing party linen in pub
lie, In plain hearing of everybody in
the United States? Is perhaps the
radio responsible for the fact that
today minorities take q walk instead
of taking a stand in the cotnsels
where they belong?
On the other hand, the radio has
not yet had any appreciable effect
on the technique Of keynote speakers.
Radio experts have estimated that
about Is to 20 minutes of one human
voice cn the air Is about all that the
listener can stand. Spread-eagle ora
tory Is complete washout. It is the
quiet voice that gets over Neither
Senator Steiwer nor Senator Barkley
would ever get a contract as radio
speakers. The technique is effective
only where crowds are, where the
timed pause calls forth applause, where
one mans enthusiasm Is transmitted
to another. The audience of one,
sitting at home by the fire, cannot be
stampeded. He can only be per-
suaded. As far as the great public is
concerned, Senator Barkleys speech
would have been a great deal more ef-
fective If it had been rewritten and
delivered by Boake Carter or Hilmar
Baukhage.
False Fronts Necessary.
There is a good deal to be said on
the subject Of open covenants, openly
arrived at" Open covenants are one
thing. but the procedure of openly ar
irving at them is another It is likely
to lead, in conventions like these, to
the putting up of false front of COM
plete unanimity, where no such una
nimity exists.
A very amazing thing is happening
here in Philadelphia. This Is a con-
vention of the Democratic party. The
men and women who fill the hall are
Democrats, many of them the sons
and grandsons Of Democrats. Many
of them are the identical people who
met four years ago, nominated Mr..
Roosevelt for President, and drafted q
platform along traditional Democratic
liberal-conservative lines.
That platform was never put into
operation. Instead, the New Deal was
initiated originally as series of emer-
gency measures designed to meet
peculiar conditions arising out Of a
great and worldwide depression. No
considered philosophy and no inte-
grating organization was behind them.
They did not repeat the demands or
the program Of any appreciable body
of American citizens who had ever
previously debated them. They were
frankly experimental.
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