Evening star., 1936-06-09
CONVENTIONAL
!. BY PLAIN PEOPLE
So.CaIIed Ruling Classes
Conspicuous by Absence
at Cleveland.
ny SAMUEL G. BLYTHE.

lnlS Is a COnNe1JlOIl VI tIlc COiiiAiOli
d. people. So far as ! have been able
to discover. there isn't a private car
. en- any railroad side track. I remem-
Der a Republican convention when
, there were 40 of these ornate equi-
pages parked across from the Black
stone Hotel, in Chicago, and the lists
of their passengers, who came to see
to it that the delegates performed
satisfactorily, resembled excerpts from
the social register and the directory
OF directors.
Not now. To be sure one comes
across, occasionally, a specimen OF
the former Republican ruling classes.
but not many. and these are buying
neither champagne nor delegates. II
there are any political crumbs going,
they will take them gratefully, but
nobody is cutting any cake for them.
This is serious, non-effulgent, down.
on-tbe- ground convention. 1t has q
job to do and is intent on doing 1t.
True, there are plenty of badges and
ribbons and the women wear gay
dresses. but most of the ballyhoo of
national conventions is eliminated.
Preservation Rules.
Until dark yesterday, not a band
had blared in any of the hotel lobbies.
There are some pictures of candidates
around. and the usual crush at the
headquarters of the various candi-
dates. most noticeable at the Landon
headquarters because the general
impression is that Landon will be
nominated. and the old political STRAIT
egy is that those who check in earli-
est with the nomination winner have
the preferred positions if he Is the
election winner preservation
still prevails as a ruling political trait
Also in some other quarters.
The chief interest of yesterday cen
tered in the alleged blood brother
hood combination of Candidates
Borah, Knox Vandenberg and Dick
inson as against Landon. which was
said to be a solemn and sacred
undertaking to unite forces influences
and opportunism to stop Landon
or, at least, to impede him until the
third ballot or fourth. with the hope
that something deterrent may turn up
Opposition Wagon Breaks.
There was hope at that time that
Senator Borah would devastate
Landon by appearing before the con-
vention in his best devastating form
Also it was figured that the speech
of Mr.. Hoover tomorrow night would
hal al 1rif
sensational episodes were to be CON-
bined with the usual midnight labors
to put together enough coalesced sup
port. under the Borah-Knox-Van-
e. denberg-Dickinso banners and under
the distress signals of the favorite
sons. TO keep the Landon delegate;
from arriving at the necessary ma jor-
ity for some time.
This was good wagon until II
broke down. Late yesterday after
noon, Senator Borah, at a press con-
ference, said he had no intention OF
joining in any combination to pro-
mote himself or to stop Landon. He
made it quite clear that at this con-
vention it is his plan to remain en-
tirely free from any entangling al
liances. This put crimp about as
big as the Grand Canyon into the
plans of the allies, but they kept
bravely at their task And at this
writing they are still valorously stop
ping Landon, on paper.
Move to Stop Shoppers.
However. the Landon managers, en-
tirely cognizant of the anti-Landon
enterprise and its component parts,
decided there might just as well be
another combination, consisting Of
themselves, to stop the Landon STOP
pers. 1t seemed good time, an op-
perfume moment, to discard any ideas
they may have had of being courteous
to favorite sons and other candidates
with votes of more than their own
State delegates, and to adopt for
their slogan the first rule of the great
American game of stud poker: Shoot
them in the Spring and they won't
bite you in the Fall" Which Is the
axiom under which they are now
operating.
This anti-Landon crusade is q
formidable undertaking, viewed in the
light of the apparent, expressed, and
undercover Landon support that can
be drafted up. Naturally. the claims
of the Landon managers and the
allies are widely divergent. The Lam
don people, again resorting to the
vernacular, say they have the nomi-
nation "in the bag" which means,
of course, that they are sure of at
least 500 delegates The remaining
allies scoff at this and say the entire
Landon strength is not more than
$50, or 400 votes at the outside.
No Brakes Available.
Looking these claims over, in the
light OF an experience at great many
national conventions, and in an en-
tirely detached manner, it is impos-
sible not to give more credence to
Landon claims than to the claims of
the allies. LAndon has a great ad-
vantage over any of the individual
candidates, and what seems to be a
safe advantage over any combination
that can be made.
The difficulty with the "stop Lam
don" campaign is that nothing has
developed here of sufficient impor-
tance or effectiveness to discredit or
hurt him more than minutely, if at
all, for the irrefutable political reason
that If there had been stop Landon"
material available anywhere he would
have been stopped long before he got
to his present commanding position.
That is the entirely neutral and
plain political common sense of this
Cleveland situation. Iandon has been
in the field for year. His candidacy
has been known to all his opponents
and to their managers. The idea that
these opponents would have allowed
him to get where he is, to their own
disadvantage. if they could have
eliminated him months ago, Is fan
tastic. The idea that they would
have waited for the Cleveland conven-
ton before putting their wrecking
crews at work ia e0llally DreDOStpr-