Evening star., 1953-09-14

ence Wnlch actually mas no au-
thority to do anything but pro-
vide the opportunity for a high
old time in a tough old town.
But There Are Problems.
Underneath the hullaballoo, OF
course. there are problems. Gov
Byrnes and Gov. Shivers are fal
away; Senator Byrd and others
have chosen to be elsewhere
But around the issue OF the 10y
atty pledge, in some ways the
most potentially stormy, the
soothing oil of compromise IL
being poured by some shrewd
and experienced citizens.
Perhaps the most powerful OF
these is Sam Rayburn, Speaker
of the House when the Demo-
Gratis were in power and still
'Mr. Speaker" here.
Mr.. Speaker was chairman OF
the national convention in 1852
and Mr.. Speaker held it together
by main force almost single
handed when Northern hot heads
wanted to force Southern hot
bloods to pledge their support
of the national ticket. Now Mr.
Speaker is at it again.
There won't be any resolution
passed on this" Mr.. Speaker
says firmly. This isn't goin' to
be a resolutin' meetin'."
And within a couple of hours
after he says so there is evidence
that he may be right:
Meeting at MitcheIl's Home.
A Sunday noon meeting al
the home of Democratic National
Chairman Stephen A. Mitchell
attended by ex-President Tru-
man, Adlai Stevenson, Mr.
Mitchell, Mr.. Rayburn; a quiet
chat among the four men; q
sudden damper on Mr.. Mitchell's
earlier enthusiastic comments
about the adviSability of thresh-
ing the matter out in this Chi
cago meeting. After talking II
over with Mr.. Speaker, Mr.
Mitchell tells press conference:
The luncheon reached no de.
ciSion I know of" on the loyalty
pledge: he doesn't have any
opinion on whether the national
committee should vote on a reso-
luton to repeal the pledge; anc
while he still thinks "any prob
lem we have ought to be met
and not ignored" it should be
met "in our own way and in ou1
own time"
"And Of course" he concludes
thoughtfully, "a committee Is a
creature Of a convention, and
whatever it does cannot control
the convention. Only the conven-
ton can do that"
OK With Rayburn.
This sits fine with Mr.. Speaker
who has taken his stand squarely
on parliamentary law: The loyal
ty pledge was a provision of the
rules of the 1852 convention, and
Of no other.
"It died with the convention
which gave it BIRTH" Mr.. Speaker
AYERS with the air of one whom
no one any longer contradicts
If the convention in 1856 wants
to adopt it, that's up to the con-
vention Of 1856. It's dead now,
so there's no point in arguing
about it."
With this blunt dictum, as the
hours wear on and the tempo
increases. it begins to appear
that many will agree. Certainly
Gov. John Battle, of Virginia,
one of the leaders of the fight
against the pledge in 1852, shows
few signs of being unruly. Gov.
Battle arrives. greets the press
with his unfailing courtesy,
smiles from his deep-set eyes.
I'm just here to participate
in the meetings of the rules
committee" he says. I'm not
mad at anybody about any
thing"
White Is Late Arrival.
And although his fellow
Southerner. Gov. Hugh White
of Mississippi, is a late arrival
and cannot be reached to clar-
ify an earlier statement that
he will ask the Rules Commit
tee to recommend that the
pledge be banned at future con-
ventions. reliable reports indi-
cate that he isn't really mad
either but will settle for some
thing innocuous such as the ap-
pointment Of a special commit
tee to study the proposal.
So Mr.. Speaker is doing all
right as the conference moves
into its opening day, and all
he has to worry about now are
the young Turks" of the 50
convention-Gov. G. Mennen
Williams Of Michigan, Ex-Sen-
ator Moody and the like. No
body is quite sure what they
will do about the loyalty pledge,
but nobody seems too worried.
Mr.. Speaker says this isn't a
reSolutin' meetin'.
Most folks think he's right.