Evening star., 1939-12-30
Republicans 10 Pick
Convention Date
After Democrats
Farley Calls Meeting
Of National Committee
Here Februory5
By G. GOULD LINCOLN.

The Republican National Commit
tee will meet to select a date and
place for the 1910 Republican Ma
tional Convention after the meet
ing of the Democratic National
Committee February 5. The date OF
the Republican committee meeting
has not yet been fixed.
- Under the rules of the Republican
committee. only 10 days notice of
D committee meeting is required to
Its members. It is possible that the
call for the committee meeting will
not go out until after the Dem
ocratic committee has picked the
place and date for the Democratic
National Convention. However, it
was reported the call might go out
about the middle of January, if not
before.
Republican and Democratic lead
ers have been jockeying over the
time for their party conventions.
The Republicans have insisted that.
as minority party, they are entitled
to know the nominees of the Dem
ocratic party and to see their rivals
platform before taking action them
selves.
First Break in Impasse.
The announcement last night by
Chairman James A. Farley of the
Democratic National Committee
that the committee would meet here
February at the Willard Hotel was
the first break in the apparent i'm
passe over the dates of the conven-
tions, since the dates have to be
fixed by the national committees.
Oh" Mr.. Farley merely said letters had
been forwarded to committee men,
bers giving the date OF the meeting
and adding, THE purpose of the
meeting is to select a city, fix the
time and make other preliminary
arrangements for the national con-
vention to be held next year"
Under ordinary practice, the Re-
publican National Committee would
hold its meeting this month, and
the Democrats would have met early
In January.
In some squarters it was limited
that the Democratic National Com
mittee might decide to fix a late
date for the party's national con-
vention. so late that the Republicans
would feel compelled to hold their
convention earlier. 1t was pointed
out that the Democratic set-up is
now functioning smoothly, and that
the Republicans probably will need
much more time to build up their
organization for the campaign.
Suggested Shorter Campaign.
President Roosevelt at Warm
Springs recently suggested it would
be wise to shorten the national cam
paign greatly, in the interests of
economy; that there was really no
good reason for holding the national
conventions in June as has been the
practice in the past, but that they
might be held as late as August and
even in September.
How the Garner-for- President
Democrats and other opponents of
third-term nomination will regard
the prospect of an August or Sep
tember Democratic National Con-
vention, however, is a question. 1t
is obvious that if there is to be a
draft-Roosevelt movement, it would
be aided materially by long delay
of the national convention. If in
the meantime. the President with
holds all comment on his own politi-
cal plans. the candidates for the
Democratic presidential nomination.
except those like Vice President
Garner, who says they will run in
opposition to the President for the
nomination, will remain in an en-
barrassing position.
Garnerites' Position Not Clear.
The Garnerites probably would
not object to delay of three or four
weeks in the date of the national
convention. However, they have not
yet made their position clear. Chair
man Germany of the Garner-for-
President Committee said not long
ago in Texas that he did not like
the idea of changing dates for the
national convention but that the
Garner supporters would be ready
for the fray no matter the time
selected.
If the President and Mr. Farley
have determined to hold national
convention in August, undoubtedly
they will succeed in postponing the
date until then. They could easily
control the action of the committee.
The argument advanced that
two-month campaign is sufficient,
and therefore the national conven-
tons need not be held until Au-
gust or September, is poor argu-
ment, for the national campaigns
do not get under way in force until
after Labor Day, and have not for
q long time. 1t is the preliminary
organization work that is attended
to prior to that time. Many politi-
cal leaders insist that month or
so is needed for that preliminary
work, particularly in view of the
fact that new national chairmen
and many new members of the
national committees are selected.
OF course, if President Roosevelt
Is to be the candidate and Mr.. Farley
is to remain at the helm, much of
this preliminary organization work
would not be required for the
Democrats.
When the Executive Committee
of the Republican National Com
mittee met here early this month,
some of its members insisted it
would be unwise for the Repub-
licans to postpone the date of their
national convention. They wished
to go ahead and fix date in June
rs usual, no matter what the DEM
ocrats may do.