Evening star., 1940-06-25
Convention Oils
Voting Machinery;
Hoover Talk Awaited
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN,
Star Staff Coyresnondsnt

PHILADELPHIA, June 25.-A
stocky, black-eyed, black haired
former newspaperboy of Attle-
boro, Mass, the Scotch Irish son
OF the town blacksmith, marched
to the platform of the Repub-
lican National Convention here
today and aroused the delegates
to enthusiasm with his opinions
of the kind of government given
America by the Groton and Har-
ward squire of Hyde Park, now
in the White House.
I'VE have had a nightmare" said
Representative Joseph w. Martin,
Jr, minority leader of the House,
quietly but effectively.
I'VE have had national planning
without plan. We have had man.
aged economy, with neither manage
ment nor economy.
The Roosevelt administration
has spent all the savings of thrifty
people for generations to come"
A Likely Dark Horse.
Before he began his speech Mr..
Martin was elected permanent
chairman of the convention. He has
been considered one of the most
likely of the dark horse candidates
for the presidential nomination. The
Massachusetts, delegation is expected
to vote for him as a whole on the
first and perhaps on the second and
subsequent ballots, if Joe" desires it.
His speech was the shortest on
record OF any permanent chairman
Of major national political con-
vention. 1t took only Is minutes
Mr.. Martin was given an ovation
from the delegates when he was
introduced and enthusiastic cheers
came from group of Massachusetts,
people seated on the speakers plat
form, led by Mrs. Edith Nourse Rog-
ers. They shouted Joe" "Joe,"
Joe"
Gavel Presented to Him.
Mr.. Martin also was given an
ovation when he concluded his ad-
dress. A gavel, carved from black
walnut from the interior of the
house at Springfield, Ill, where
Abraham Lincoln courted Mary
Todd. was presented to him with
the prediction the chairman would
use it when the next President Of
the United States" choice of the
convention, was named.
A moment later Mrs. James p.
Whine, wife of the Republican ma
tional committeeman from Hawaii,
tossed a handsome white lei around
Mr.. Martins neck and leaned over
and kissed him, while the crowd
cheered. The newly-elected chair
man was flabbergasted for a mo-
ment, but seemed to be enjoying
the situation.
The crowd began to wander away
as Tom Burke of Billings, Mont,
read his long Rules Committee re-
port. Before he had finished the
patches of vacant seats in the gall
leries were growing rapidly. Dele
gates roamed about the floor and a
steady hum Of conversation COM
peted with the words from the
loudspeakers.
Report Is Approved.
Without debate, the Rules Com
nittee won convention approval Of
its report, which included a sweep
ing plan denying delegate repre-
sentation in future conventions to
any congressional district that fails
to poll 1000 Republican votes in a
prior national or State election.
Aimed at cleaning up" the dele
gate situation in the South, where
leaders have been charged with
buying" delegates in the past, and
at building up the Republican party
in that section, the rule change had
been a goal of party chieftains for
more than 25 years.
After adopting the report, the con-
vention recessed until pm, E. S.
T., when former President Hoover
Will deliver an address.
Stresses National Defense.
Like the temporary chairman of
the convention, Gov. Harold E. Stas-
sen of Minnesota, who delivered the
Keynote speech last night, Mr.. Mar
tin stressed in his speech the i'm.
portance of dealing adequately with
national defense and foreign affairs,
in the light of conditions in Europe
and Asia. He declared:
Every ideal of Americanism has
been imperiled by those who would
make our Government and our Ma
ton tools to be manipulated by one
man at the head of a great and
unelected political bureaucracy.
"The time has come to end all
this If we are to continue to live
as a free people"
Mr.. Martin asserted that "a steady
drift toward governmental abso-
lutism both at home and abroad"
must be checked this year and de-
clared the purpose of his party's
convention to be "to rally all pa
triots in a crusade for Amer
icanism."
For seven anxious years." he
said, I'VE have seen this march
toward one-man government.
"A Story Of Futility."
"The record is a somber story Of
failure and futility and broken
promises. And there Is much rea-
son to believe we may yet wake up
to find we have been pushed into
war. That is the record OF the New
Deal. That record will never be
approved by the American people"
The convention chairman de-
clared the Nation has reached an
hour of crisis and decision" but
that its problems-both foreign and
domestic-could be solved without
"a ruinous war or ruinous debt"
Turning to foreign policy, he said
Republicans stand -four square" in
determination to have a military
force amply able to protect our
shores, to defend our people and
ideals from any foe who might chal-
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