Evening star., 1936-06-03

As zero hour at Cleveland approaches,
the conviction cryStalliZeS that the Lake
Erie metropolis will be the scene of about
the most Embossed convention in Repub-
lican history. From start to finish pro-
ceedings promise to be exclusively and
conspicuously in the hands Of l,00l free
agents sitting as delegates. Theirs will
be the privilege and task OF choosing
both platform and nominee. without
benefit of manipulation by party moguls
pulling invisible wires in smoke-fllled
rooms or other traditional haunts where
Republican national decisions have so
often been made. Nobody even approx
mately measuring up 10 the stature Of
the Mark HannsS, the BoieS PenroseS,
the Matt Quays or the Murray Cranes
of old will hover omnipotently over the
scene or behind it, Charles D. Hilles.
J. Henry Roraback and other field mar
shals of the old guard, or what is left
OF it, will be present. But at no time
during their venerable prominence in
@. o. p. affairs has their influence been
so utterly negligible as today. In the
case of every major decision, the out
look is that the convention itself will
be indiSputable master of its own destin-
les to an almost unprecedented degree.
y
Prospects for fireworks at Cleveland,
apart from what may turn out to be
q spectacular series of roll calls for
the presidential nomination, are con-
cerned mainly with choice Of perma-
nent chairman and adoption Of the plat
form. Hints that former National Com
mittee Executive Director Bob Lucas of
Kentucky might start a fight against
the selection of Representative Bertrand
H. Smell of New York as presiding officer
suggest the same kind Of clash as
the Democrats staged in 1882, when the
Rooseveltians put over Senator Tom
Walsh as permanent chairman in q
contest with Jouett Shouse. Senator
Borah and his supporters are scheduled
to wage a spirited battle for an anti
monopoly platform If they don't carry
the day in the Committee on Resolutions,
everything points to their determination
to take the fight onto the convention
floor. That would duplicate Republican
wet-dry fiSticuffs at Chicago four years
ago.
Senator Vandenberg's recent interview
broadcast. setting forth in sledge-ham-
mer fashion his views on current political
issues, has strengthened his availability
for presidential honors in the remote
contingency that Landon Is stopped"
The impression made by the Senator's
pronouncement whets the desire of the
Landon people to- annex him for second
place Vandenberg's friends are more
convinced than ever that II he had per-
mitted them six months ago formally to
launch his candidacy, the Cleveland pic
ture, now overwhelmingly drawn in
Landon tints, would have assumed an
entirely different color. Undoubtedly,
the Wolverine statesman can have the
Landon vice presidential nomination for
the asking. Many Washington sooth-
sayers are convinced that Landon and
Vandenberg ticket, in fact, is just around
the corner.
Capt. Robert Henderson. U. s. N.
retired, formerly on duty at Washington,
and now a newspaper chain executive in
Los Angeles, visited the Capital this
week in the guise of what he describes
as "an uninstructed, unpledged and un-
biased" delegate from California to the
Republican National Convention. He
paid his respects to the Senate's four
presidential observation-disclosures. Borah,
Vandenberg, Dickinson and Steiwer-
and generally took occasion to give the
political situation the once-over. Capt.