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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1920)
-,a . Vr 6 VdE'20, NO. 7 T to the general public. as well as' justice to em ployers and employes? :' . COMHZTTBE ON BKSOLUIHONS OPBKS HEAItmGS ON PLATFORM PLANICS v8an Francisco, Juno 30. Tho second day ot .tho convention is oolddm exciting. The ac cumulated enthusiasm expends itself in the first ptnonstration. Tho"" noise comes when the bottle is uncorked, so to speak, and the second day is largely a matter of routine, PomVanent .Chairman Robinson gave in his own language, , w,hlch Is always well chosen, a rovoiw of the party's splendid . economic record, following much tho same line of Chairman CummJng's gpboch.. His remarks about the senato elicited one of the most enthusiastic of tho outbursts of applause Ho disappointed the drys by not mak ing any reference to tho subject of prohibition, ,a matter tlo more surprising bocauso he comes v from. a bono dry state and represents a constit uency that has grovn more nd more firm in )la opposition to intoxicants. t Tho session, was entirely formal beyond the delivery of tho speech, there being no volunteor ,or .called out speeches. The second day is usual ly, lemploye.d as a sort of gala day; prbminent ' Democrats are called out to stir enthusiasm by a recital of the glorious deeds of tho party and 'by prophecies as to what we are going to do to " the enemy. There is no time in. a politician's life when victory and the oflicos that como with tit loom larger than they do on the second day .,pf .a, convention. The set speeches being tjpuched In language more or loss cautioiiB, the audience has to rely upon tho extemporaneous ..spoalqqra to wave the flag and pull the tail vfe,atfyeijs out of tho eagle with real abandon. Too bad that such a splendid opportunity is .wasted for it must bo remembered that, those present hove boon lighting for tickets for weeks. -oCApX uaye Deon writing to everybody they knew tiaha.d a push or a pull. ffher convention gives .&? man with influence a great opportunity" to demonstrate to his friends how near he ifj to the r .thronp. It isn't fair for a convention to have a ?short ; session on the sbcond day withaq many t etoFal flowers blooming in, tho prepared ,(speqcnes that are already delivered extempor aneously. .While tho convention was proceeding in the auditorium tho resolutions committee was af fording to quite a promiscuous group of peti ...uoners an opportunity to lay before the commit- ' .too in. opon session tho subject on their hearts. Samuel, J3ompors, the veteran president of the mpi;Ican Moderation of Labpr, presented tho jahnsof those for whom "h'e has. so long'spofcen. yJapTspoke earnestly as hOvajways does and made ' JiJyey'.favorablo Impression on .the committee. .Jfcje, v$li have -more reason to" rejoice here than ' he had in Chicago. fejt Prohibition was the second qubjpct taken up 3 and: nq one who was present will be beguilod ,ny longer by those who have been predicting ,,tnat the subject will be ignored. It Was very apparent from tho first moment that this Is the tites$iQn. upon which there is most feeling. I V&afl. the honor of apportioning .the., time among 4 .those who spoke in favor of a dry .plank and was v stls'f Ipd with tho showing madp. Bishop Can ,noii of tho Methodist Church Sputh, a typical Virginia Democrat, dwelt upon the party's part in,thia great moral victory and appealed to the ' committee to gratify those who had made this ; long' and successful fight by an assurance that N hore would be no return to alcoholic drinks. Mr. Hall spoke for the Presbyterians and other phurch boardsr'"Mr. Sllsby presented an appeal from the boe dry organization, and Mr. Need- tfa'm presented a formidable package of petitions t rom the prohibition party. Mrs, Yost, the NaV , tipnal Legislative representative of the Women's .Christian Temperance Union spoke earnestly for nearly one million women in that organization. Jibe-Congressman Hobson (Richmond Pearson) vniado an eloquent arraignment of alcohol and begged the Democratic party to1 do its duty to the nation and give hope to the world by a strong declaration In favor of the enforcement of the amendment. Honorable Wayne B, Wheeler, representing- 22 national prohibition 'organisations, concluded the arguments for our side'. As. general counsel of the Anti-SaiPon League he has defended prohibition legislation :Jp all of the hignor courts and, if a lawyer's 'reputation standi upon hfs success, ho has no superior as a "constitutional lawyer. Ho. pre- 'kanted a terrific arraignment of the liquor tfaf lie and marshalled such an array of facts to provo the success of prohibition at to over whelm the opposition. Tho liqupr side was in charge of Congressman Sabath of Chicago. Ho introduced as tho first 'speaker on their side Honorable Theodore Boll who made tho usual argument in favor of per sonal liberty. As his speech was directed against all prohibitory laws it weakened rather than strengthened the arguments of those who had been trying to mpke it , appear that tho wot side accepted the saloon issue as closed andi Urged only a modification of tho law for lheN benefit of home drinkers. As the press dis patches wiM probably carry, the colloquy be twe6n hiin and myself I need not dwell upon It further than to express my satisfaction at hav- . ing an opportunity to answer .publicly. a misrep resentation that has been circulated privately. Mr..0ompers was called upon -to deny a pub lished report to the effect that the labor meet ing at Montreal had turned down ja, wine and beer proposition. The committee was assured that the subject was not mentioned at Montreal. Now York's great orator, JBourke Cockran, closed tho debate for the wets by inveighing his customary vehemence against any attempt to promote temperance by law. As did Mr. Bell he made his assault against the amendment, as well as against its enforcement and thus con firmed tho opinion of those who insist that a question cannot be dismissed as settled so long as the opponents of the law assail it so vigor ously. Taken all in all the hearing very much encouraged the drys and increases tho probabil ity of a dry plank in tho platform. There are probably 300 delegates in the convention who would trade their views onvwery other question for a wet plank and go home happy in the' be lief that the Democratic party ban carry the election by an appeal to the throats "of the drink ers and the pockets of those Who want to' go into the business rather than by arguments that appeal to the heart and the conscience. 'But with woman suffrage in sight the delegates know that a wet plank would be suicidal. The' real contest is between the drys and the dodgersf 'A number of other subjects weie presented, amongfthe'm agriculture,' education and tfiFlrtsh question. And I might add in this connection that here, as at Chicago, the women have sure ty justified their claim to equal consideration. Last night the League of Women Voters pre sented a battery of speakers that would ba hard to match. , Senator Phelan and Mr. McCIatchy of Sacra mento appeared before the committee in behalf of moro rigid Japanese exclusion, the latter with statistics and the former with a masterful' digest of the situation. Those who have heard tho senator before say that this is the most power ful address he has made on tho subject, it showed him to bo an effective speaker as well as acquainted with the subject. Tho greatest personal victory yet won In this convention was scored by a young Filipino by the name of Jose T. Melencia. He has charge of the Phillipine Publicity Bureau at Washing ton. He is only 28 years old and received his education in the pubjie solools of the Phillipines under American teachers as he proudly boasted and at Georgetown, (D. C,. He 4s a remarkably promising young man. Speaking with grace, using the best language and without a trace of embarrassment he presented the claim of the Filipinos to Independence. The$audience was astonished at the strength of his argument, tho skill with which he marshalled his facts and the high tone ;ot his speech. He captivated everyone and committeemen and visitors paid him tho compliment of rising and cheering when he. concluded his plea. When tne of the com mittee nslfed him some question he returned to the platform and answered them with as much logicand precision as if he had taken weeks to prepare his answer. It was a' remarkable triumph, Aa one wh6' began 22 yeafg ago-to fight-tor the promise tof independence 1 was proud of this illustration; of what the Filipino is capable. One" of the committeemen expressed some irritation at the amount of time that had been devoted td the hearings. I explained to him that wo who wore not' on the -subcommittee charged with the preparation, or at least with the reporting, or the formal draft -of the plat form, had nothing, else to do f6r the present and conld ejathor a, good deal of Information while awaiting the action of our superiors, add ing that our position was 'illustrated" by a story An agricultural college instructor was enllght- enfng rural audience aa to scientific farming In the courae ot his Temark he explained thai raw corn. When this fmiiortnnf tr 1 mado clear the professor was somewhat disced certddjby a question put to him by a farmor on mo iruui row, wai s a nog's time worth1 aiiyuuir Dominating day brings Ann ax of PRESIDENTIAI CANDIDATES San Francisco. JhTv 1 . VaatttiiiA . .5 t 17, f, Z . " oi.wuijr was an inn .teresting; day for the spectators; in one respect! uommauou uay laicea tne leaa over all the otuors. 'mere is more chance for speaking and the demonstrations are snoctacninr on,. fouit; big demonstrations were those that fol3 jowou tup presentation of the names of Palm er, Cox, Smith of New York, and McArinn a demonstration when properly staged, as most! of the demonstrations for the leadinc nun fit J dat,es are, includes several features. The ora- tor wno presents tne name reserves it for the last. ' Sometimes they have been known to forget the name, whereupon the audienco fl- mandsJrts name. More frequently, however,' me cans,, "namp mmi.'-'come earlier. In fact; the -spealcer is very likely to be reminrW of the eagerness of the audience if he is either! prosy or long, and he doesn't do his candidate any good by, continuing after he has received such, an admonition from thp. audience. I have known tho -contest between the audienno nmi ..the speaker to, continue for sometime, but I nave never Known tne speaser to get the best of the controversy. Tho Palmer demonstration came first and was very creditable. Next game the Cox demonstra-J ton, It seemed id be the best organized of any! of thembm it was nearly all organization. His supporters attempted the usual parade. En courage, by a splendid band the,, procession was Jormed with ,.,a .beautiful Ohio, banner at the -front. Jh:e--0hio delegation followed with en- thusjasnvbut to the surprise of the audience .;;pnlyjthre.l,other, states, .joined; in, .and it soonj Decame apparent tnat tiie.DuiK ot tne marcnera were drawn from tho uniformed club that came from, Ohio. Groups had , been planted around through the galleries ana they ' made all thp noises that they possibly could, and the yell leader mounted the platform and gave an ex-, hibition of the athletics which can be mingled with a colloge yell.. There was no general participation- either on the part of the dele gates or the audienceand it soon transformed itself from demonstration to general confusion. TJie Smith demonstration .was as surprising as the Cox demonstration was disappointing t Bourke Cockran presented the name of the New York governor with all the force at his command, and that is very considerable and tho audience quite generally rose with NeW York and yelled as if they seemed to- mean it. Spon the standards, ot the states began to fall in after New York and New Jersey for Nes Jersey was scarcely less enthusiastic than the Empire State. Soon practically every state standard was in Ifne, andthe delegates mai-chetf anq -sang until tne aisles were so crowaeu i"" the marchers fell into the lock step and tne line swayed to and fro as It moved its ser-1 penime length along. I do not know how tc explain tho difference between the Smith demon stration and that given to Palmer and Cox un less it is that the latter beine active candi dates, the friends of other aspirants feared that ,a demonstration might bo hurtful to their own. choice whereas in tho .case of Governor bmiu they thought irvould compliment him without aiding his .chances.' . The McAdoo demonstration surpassed all the others -in extent and heartiness. It was more -ren oral and. was annarentlv snontaneous. There were no evidences of nrearrangement. Mr.l . Jenkins of Kansas City made no speeoh in pre-j sentlnghim. ;He simply announced the mieu, finrl nf.MV MoArtnn'fi ftimnnrtorfl to vote fOf him. This was a disappqintfrient to the audi-; pnee for-they had been keyed up ,to a mgu i of expectation and were -looking for a greai speech. . - "A-mnnm- fhh nVim iftTrtfl rtrfiSfinted. With ap' plause "more locaj were' Senator Owen of 0Kla1 liAino1 QnAVntoi.. TTAvifn nf .Tnwfl, Chairman Cummlitgs of 'Connecticut and Senator Hitch nfK.lr'ftf'MolifnDtra Tarnna W. Oflrard and uO Edwards of New'jprspy. The last named haii N .s LrAiiiii uikt i .nwSaatn. a.v'xtii awta frt3o&aSfcit
