The Wilmington morning star., 1940-02-16
WASH|NG7ON
DAYBOOK
BY PRESTON GROVER

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-The primary peove
of the organizations of democrats Of the 10
western states is non-recognition.
They claim the administration has forgotten
them. The forgotten man, they say. is some.
where out west between the Observation-Disclosures
frontier and the Pacific ocean.
BY forming a western bloc they hope to open
the democratic national convention in Chicago
with about 100 delegates. With that influence
they can get more recognition for the western
states than they have heretofore received.
Here is a sample of their complaint on the
non-recognition matter: OF the 10 members of
the cabinet, five are from New York. Not one
of the others is from far enough west.
There isn't a western member of the su.
preme court. The west has tried to wizard one
member into that august body ever since Jus.
tees Van Devanter Of wyoming and Suther<
land of Utah retired. No luck.
Wheeler In Favor
We talked to one Of the senior members OF
the westerners. He said the west had been
sucked on to too many democratic bandwagons.
Western states have sent delegations to the
convention already pledged to this or that can.
didate. Without any votes to trade, they got
no recognition. Moreover, as individual states
they could get nothing because no one western
state has enough v.Aes to make a dent.
California is not included in the picture.
They can't seem to find anybody there who
can speak lOI ill LuS SIlO dIS. SoLA1O Lid
democracy, from an organization standpoint.
is in a mess.
While their complaints Of non-recognition can
be backed up by more concrete examples, the
things about which the westerners protest
most is the trade agreements program. The
Rocky Mountain area complains that its inter.
ests-livestock, farm products, wool, timber,
mining-are being sold across the ocean for
the benefit of states with bigger domestic in
terests to protect.
Their chief trouble is they don't know exact.
ly the man to get behind as a presidential can.
didate. Their present plan, as outlined to us,
is to have delegations uninstructed but ready
to vote for one outstanding candidate after
they have dickered for dividends.
Many would not feel hurt if their manipula'
tions put them behind Senator Wheeler of
Montana. He has a heap of support out there.
Westerners claim he took on presidential sta.
ture with his arrangements of the fights
against the supreme court and the reorganlza-
ton bills. A lot of western business people be.
gan inquiring about him. Most painful to some
of them was his recent appearance at the CLIO
convention in Columbus, Ohio.
Hull Unpopular
Say what you will, a lot of p%racticed poll.
ticians believe that a candidate who gets the
CLIO endorsement might as well be kissed by a
cobra. Wheeler doesn't have it, but he has a
semblance of John L. Lewis approval. That
hurts. Wheeler has been the boy-hero Of west
ern ALL organizations for many years, but
they have cooled these past few weeks.
A western party official took a poll Of senti.
ment Of his states county leaders. He said 60
per cent of them were against a third term
and thought the general sentiment was that
way. But they told him 80 per cent of the
democrats would vote for Roosevelt if he were
nominated, regardless of the third term.
Next in line of preference stood Garner and
Wheeler. Because of the trade agreemnts pro-
gram, Hull was low. McNutt had what he
called "a trace of. support.
Our informant said that if somebody at the
Chicago convention gets up and moves for the
nomination of Roosevelt for a third term,
pledges and plans will be smothered in the
That estimate, he said, covered not
only his own state, but all the western states.
He thought it would stand good for the whole
country. He hoped it wouldn't happen.