Evening star., 1944-07-16
By Gould Lincoln.

Three delegates are pledged or claimed
for Joseph B. Ely, former Governor of
Massachusetts,. Uninstructed delegates
total 2l3. This means a possible total
of 2l6 votes cast against Roosevelt and
for some other candidate or candidates.
As Of today, no other Democratic
leader has announced his name will be
placed before the convention for the
presidential nomination. Democrats in
the South and in some other States have
strongly urged Senator Byrd of Vir-
ginia to permit his nomination, but up
to the present Senator Byrd has thrown
cold water on the proposal. Neverthe-
less, Byrd-for- committees
have been organized in a number of the
States.
Anti-Roosevelt Democrats have looked
longingly also to James A. Farley of New
York. hoping he would be placed in
nomination. Mr.. Farley, however, has
gone to Chicago without announcing a
decision in the matter. Mr. Farley, who
ran two national campaigns for Presi-
dent Roosevelt as chairman of the DEM
acratic National Committee and who
served for eight years ~ Postmaster
General in the Roosevelt administra.
ton, is strongly opposed to the renomi-
nation and reelection of Mr.. Roose-
velt for fourth term. He has re-
Gently retired from the Craftsmanship
OF the Democratic State Committee OF
New York. declaring he would have no
part in the coming campaign for re-
election Of the President.
Unit Rule Swelled Total.
When President Roosevelt ran for
third term nomination in 1910, three
other Democrats were placed in nomi-
nation-Mr. Farley. former Vice Presi-
dent Garner and Senator Tydings of
Maryland. The vote on the one and
only ballot taken was: Roosevelt,
s46 1880; Farley, 72 27/3o; Garner, 81;
Tydings, 1880; Hull, $40 The
fractions were due to the fact that some
OF the State delegations had given frac-
tional votes to large number of dele
gates. The full voting strength OF the
convention was l.l00. but the total vote
cast was l,095 1880.
Because many of the States delega-
tions were bound by the unit rule-un-
der which majority of q State delega.
ton casts the total vote of the deleea-
tion-the anti-Roosevelt vote was lower
than would have been the case If all
individual delegates could have ex-
pressed their choice.
The Roosevelt managers this year
have succeeded in having a huge num-
ber of delegates pledged to Roosevelt, or
promised to him, included in the con-
vention. So large is the number that
leaders of the anti-Roosevelt faction are
wondering what course they had better
follow-whether to attempt real show
ing against the President or to acquiesce
more or less silently in a fourth h-term
nomination. Despite the fact there are
upwards of 200 delegates "uninstructed,"
1t is extremely doubtful that they would
stand and be counted against the Presi-
dent, once the steam roller gets UNDER
way. The anti-Roosevelt Democrats
say. however, that the overwhelming
Roosevelt strength In the convention
does not present a correct picture of the
State Of the Democratic party. Opposi-
tion to Roosevelt among the rank and
file, they contend is far greater than
the convention picture indicates.
Southern States ANTI
Anti-Roosevelt strength will be found
IN the delegations sent by Texas, vir-
ginia, Mississippi, South Carolina and
Louisiana, particularly. There is a ques-
ton whether the Texas delegation, op-
poesd to Roosevelt, will be seated. They
were named at the State convention,
after the Roosevelt adherents had bolted
and set up convention of their own.
The same anti Roosevelt Texas conven-
tion adopted resolution declaring that
the Texas presidential electors would
vote for some other Democrat than the
nominee of the Democratic National
Convention, unless the national conven-
ton restored the two-thirds rule for
nominating candidates for President
oAAA vAIC 1ACoAuCut, OCIlOuIlCc0 GQe Sue
preme Court decision which gave Me-
groes the right to vote in the Texas
Democratic primary and supported
constitutional amendment which would
make only Amreican-born citizens elig-
ible for appointment to the Supreme
Court. This last provision was aimed at
Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter, who
was born in Vienna.
A contesting delegation from Texas
will be on hand. The Democrats will
have TO make up their minds which del
egation they win seat. TO turn down
the delegates named by the regularly
constituted State convention might lad
to even greater bitterness In 'ths Ione
star Stats democracy. 1his pronisas =