The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-05-26
II Takes Heap 0 FuSsin 10 Make a Hall Into d Home
For Major Political Parties National Conventions

and facilities will be installed to
pick up the rumbling, rolling peal
Of the huge Stadium organ.
Approximately $4,000 will be spent
by the parties to furnish newsreel
men with enough lighting to take
moving pictures of the. proceedings.
With 10, 000-watt incandescent search
light units set up, enough light to
illuminate mediurn-size town will
be provided cameramen shooting
from the high rafters. This lighting
must be arranged to permit shoot
ing from any angle of the building
without causing blind spots from too
much light on any one point.
In making success of conven-
ton, the little things are as impor-
tant as the big ones, and sometimes
the little things cause as much both
er as the big ones.
For instance, O'Connen and Hal
lanan have had their difficulties pro-
viding badges and tickets. Because
of wartime, metals have been un-
available for badges, and it has been
necessary to secure plastic material.
To convention wise Ambrose
O'Connell, there is more to badges
than meets the eye. For instance,
they must be so designed as to avoid
catching onto clothing and ripping
1t, and all kinds of different types
must be used to restrict the move
ments Of the various attendants
throughout the Stadium.
Tickets a Headache, Too.
Also because of wartime, there
has been scarcity of certain paper
stocks, condition of particular
pique to bustling Walter Hallanan,
since it is necessary to print tickets
on material that cannot easily be
counterfeited.
Incidentally, in the distribution Of
tickets to the conventions, each dele
cation is allotted a percentage, usu-
ally depending upon the approx
mate distance of its state from the
meeting site. The idea, of course,
being to provide more seats for those
who might be able to come in by
auto, etc., from neighboring re-
gions. Civic committees which put
up the finances to bring the conven-
ton to their cities also receive an
allotment Of ducats.
Unique, in that this years con-
ventions will be the second in the
history of this country held during
wartime--the first being in 1864
the impending Republican and DEM
ocratic meetings are expected to
lack some of the flourish and hoopla
of bygone days. However, they are
not expected to be bereft of all pop
ular enthusiasm so easily stirred
over candidate, or over the ex-
preston of party's outstanding
principle stressing the hopes, the
aspirations and the achievements Of
its partisans.
In their excitement over the swift
stream of dramatic events often ac-
companying conventions, even the
soberest politicians and statesmen
sometimes forget their immediate
environment and lapse into what aft
erthought must characterize as the
comic.
For instance, during the 1882 DEM
ocratic convention in Chicago, O'Con-
nell remembers the heated fight over
the election Of a permanent chair
man, which would have demonstrate
ed the strength Of the contending
factions.
As the fight developed, the Missis-
sippi delegation caucused, only to
find venerable old Senator Pat Har-
rison absent. Without further ado,
some members hurried off to his
hotel and after pressing the urgency
Of the situation upon him, hustled
him back to the convention hall In
his pajamas, carpet slippers and
bathrobe, there to cast his vote.
AS Hallanan said, this years con-
ventions will be marked by the So
Der restraint Of a nation at war.
Once events have stirred up the at
tendants, the enthusiasm may carry
over into the typical hysteria Of
%boco orao% oak;1no1 r,ooo%;n0c