The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-04-20

sor Quiz, was on the way. The political writer braced himself.
 sDaddy," the young man be- gan, you were talking about conventions. Whats a cOnven- tiOn?"
 @WelI, in politics, said Daddy, a convention is an assembly of < deIegates for a purpose, usually to nominate candidates for Ot- ' flee or to make important deci- siOns on matters of policy. Then there are many other kinds of conventions; the only thing the same about them Is that wives 1. have a great dislike for them all. And almost every hotel ! keeper shudders and knocks on wood when he finds that he's booked a convention"
 "But what's a delegate?" in- utlired the young man as he agreed with Newton that you have to have the knack before you can stand on your head without fal- ling.
 "A delegate to a political con- vention", answered the father of the mquisitor, lis cross between a human being with a will and a Mickey Mouse. Most of them speak with their own lips, but they do what the Walt Disneys behind the scenes tell them.'
 "I like Mickey Mouse. Could be a delegate?", the young man asked with great show of in- tereSt.
 Daddy took a deep breath. "Tf you wanted to be delegate to the state conventions this spring, you'd have either to be one of the boys on the inside or have their okay. Then you'd , have to cross your fingers in hope that someone with more influential backing didn't want your place, and get it. One other way is to have the leaders think you're safe and decide to put you on for appearances; or y0u can be so valuable that they can't take a chance on ig- ncring you. Or, possibly, you . might just slip in by accident"
 This only led the young man to ask, as he paused ill the act of walking up his fathers chest, Whats it like at a state political convention?"
 "Briefly," said the proud papa, "it,s like this: You find every inch of space taken in the hotel, and while one of your buddies is ] skipping you on the back two other fellows are finding it easier to step on your feet than on the floor. There's nothing ill the air but smoke and about IA people try to pull you in different direc- tions at once. In the convention hall you see that someone else has taken your seat, you can't hear the speakers because of the horseplay and the shouted con- versa ton. You. dectde,you'd be bet r ter off in bed and head for your room, only to find, when you get there after five elevators have ignored you, that four perfect strangers are in your bed, sleep [ ing too soundly (to put it de- ltcately) to be disturbed. So you try to sleep in a chair ill the lob- by, only to have impromptu pa rades put your place on their line of march every few minutes. When they start sessions in the morning you're too tired to care about what's going on, and you realize that nobody would pay any attention to your ideas any, way"
 x.
 "If that's state convention,
 Daddy, what's a national con- ventiOn like?", the young man
 queried while balancing him.
 self from chandelier.
 i "Jt's the same, only that it's
 48 times worse and it's a longer
 trip home.
 The young man was getting bored now, but took time to say: Tn the book there's another word that starts with con like the word convention. It's spelled c-o-n-f-u-s-i-o-n. How is that different from convention, Dad dy?"
 And Daddy could only say ferv- ently: There's no difference at all, son; they mean exactly the same thing"
 Political Potpourri It
 would be a pleasure for newspa-
 per readers and radio listeners
 if state Republican leaders
 would make up their minds
 about auto inspections. So many
 arc straddIing right now that
 the fence is liable to give way
 any minute New Haven
 county legislators meet Thurs
 day to 0kay spending $14,0OO for
 providing better light at Sheriff
 J. Edward Slavin's hotel for bad
 boys in New Haven The
 word is out that several Brass
 Cityites have settled their in-
 come tax difficulties with the
 government, but that more
 claims are on the way, some of
 them against lawyers and others
 who received city funds but who
 did not figure in the conspiracy
 trial
 One of the defense lawyers in the conspiracy trial believes that a portion of Judge Inglis' charge to the jury will be one of the most important issues during ap- peal hearings J. Warren Up- !, son, retiring as town chairman, would like to stay on as a mem- Der of the G. o. P. state central committee Jasper McLevy is bennoaning the fact this is a pres idential year, figuring that other wise he'd be the new governor .. He'll run anyway.
 Going the rounds is the story
 Mf an ivsanortanf cifv hnord