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The Commoner
JULY, 1920;;. l:..,: ";;
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.distinction of haying, the instructions oLhia
JifKviiig had jTofpponentbut only fiVo
!hn sixteen delegates .WjUl ydto for .him from
lee The other eleven -will , either individ
ally or through alternates 6to for him because
Ltructed to do so. '
I cannot at this .writing make any predictions
Jarding the platform. lfcjs "In the -lap of
Iho Gods," as a prominent Democrat" used to
S of uncertain things; We are sp far west
Srt the time is against us andour reports have
oba sent out considerably Lin; ndyancp of pub
lication. I shall have an opportunity to dis
cuss the platform later. '" ' - '
4t this time the conimitteoUs divided into
three factions on the. Hqufrr question, namely,
the drys, who want, an affirmative endorsement
of the amendment and' the enforcement code, the
wets, who wantfn declaration: in favor of wine
and beer or a plank bo worded as to'suggest a
modification of the enforcement law and the
dodgers, who don't want, to say anything at
all. Of course the word "dodgers an accusa
tion and not an admission. Those who want to
avoid any mention of the subject plea for har
mony; they think that it will hurt-the party to
declare for or against .prohibition.' Men's opin
ions on this subject aro likely lo be colored by
environment; thpe who -live in. wet cities argue
that they can increase the" Democratic vote by a
vet plank; thbseSvhp live; in 'states where the
sentiment is somewhat evenly divided want lo
avoid the subject, while those who live in dry
territory feel that the party's chances will bo
improved by a dry plank. As there are 37 states
dry by their ownact,:;n6V:tb speak Of dry con
gressional districts in f'wet "state's, tho drys
Eeem to have the best of the' "argument;- both
in principle and in policy.
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FIGHT FOXt DJlYPIiAK )?. ,l ,,
.gan FranciscoVteyS.Iftwas'a' day of'tri
tfmph for Senator-Gjass..ieleasVd from politi
cal obscurity by. excutivis leniency, ho sure was
enjoying his paroled t'S groat'disadvantago
'to have confe fr'Pmpagainstr'uch arp6rJonv
alify. The issues "sin.kMnto insignificance when
delegates shrink from incurring his wrath.
Secretary Colby srnVto be more popular; his
speech appeared (o .'strike a more popular chord
and tho ovation which hei received at the con-
f elusion might delude those not acquainted with
; popular assemblies. But' it was just seeming;
Ms smile captures the groundlings and his po
liteness attracta what might' easily be mistaken
for respect, if not good will, but a. real leader
of the kind so perfectly typified by the -Senator
from Virginia does not rule by affability or even
courtesy; he just dominates by his imperial will
and by abject fear -of what "he jnay do to those
ho dared to think with iny nullifying reserva
tion. ' W-: t. v v
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Tho President was fortunate to . find such a
ttau to manage his 'convention" campaign.
The fight oh the dry and wet planks did not
result in a victory for either side; my plank re
Wived something" less than one-fifth of, the
votes and there was great-joy among the follow
ers of Mr. Glass when- they found that the wot
oto had given them such-a preponderance; it
mast have distressed them to have been corn
Jelled to return .so soon to the companionship
of those who vatedfor rriy amendment. It is
too early yot to gather, up the explanations and
analyzo tho vote. My resolution reads as fol
lows: " '' . -
"Wo heartily congratulate the Democratic
Pwy on its splondialedd'ership in the submis
sion and ratification:! the prohibition amend
ment to tho federal constitution and we. pledge
Q party to the effective enforcement of the
Wesent enforcement law; honestly and in- good
aUh, without any increase in the alcoholic con
sent of permitted beverages and without any
Zoning o any other of -its provisions."
homo may have been unwilling to rejoice
neartiiy for there were degrees in the joy
by Democrats; and word "splendor" may
ITa allenated some, ;fortho splendor was not
I ilzlnz t0 tho "Vote as to tho drys.
flat the real trouble -was that Mr Glass and
2J,laborers had carefully considered .the
Z i and decided. that silenco would .be -the
fapoieonic policy, on the theory that, a w.et :has
to Q11conciliated while a, dry is .'not supposed
W f teeJ such intproit-ih thP question any-
Tho Eft ?H a Doraocratlc senate or house.
Thfl L nSU,re8 a dry conB"ss.
Govern S V PSe? of a numbor of bnis.
einor qn rdS Cnt onto the rockB? -
r pSmith surrendered whatever chancoa ho
had; Governor Cox read tho hand wrltinc on
onVwo80 HiiCh0Ck' of WrZbtSZ
only wet candidate who suffered no loss. Ho has
the sixteen votes from Nebraska, moat of thorn
voting for him because they havo to, and two
unexpectedly from tho outside. If ho can gain
two votes on each ballot it would only tako a
few hundred ballots to carry him over.
PLATFORM AS ADOPTED EVADES MANY
PROMINENT ISSUES
San Francisco, July 3. The platform adoptod
by the Democratic convention, now before tho
country, is the most important subject for dis
cussion. It is well written, covers many sub
jects, and is, except on a few controverted points,
quite as good a3 could be expected. The writ
ing of a platform is not an easy task. Straight
forward statements of the party's position aro
aways difficult to make on subjects that divido
those within the party. The only easy thing
to write is in denunciation of the opposition.
We have heard a great deal of the crusaders,
and the very name stirs tho heart and quickens
the pulse. If thoso who control ' this conven
tion are to be taken as tho leaders of the party,
Democrats will not be considered crusaders Jn
this campaign. They aro more likely to bo
.branded as evaders. It may bo worth while to
note a few illustrations of tho spirit of evasion
that manifested itself.
., ...First, the platform evades the liquor ques
tion; 155, votes were cast for my resolution
declaring positively" in favor of the amendment
and. the. enforcement lawand opposing any in
. crease in , the alcoholic content dfc other weak
ening of the. contbnt. Three hundred and fifty
six voted for the Cockran amendment in favor
of light wines and beer.
If the dry vote is added to the wot vote, and
then the total substracted from the total voto
cast for and against tho wet plank (the total
vote on the,., wet proposition was 1,082, whero
asthe vote cast bn the dry proposition was only
1,075): we find that 571 delegates voted against
the planks. That is, the evaders outnumbered
those who voted either for a dry plank or a
wet plank. No matter what the reason was
more than half of tho convention refused to
commit the party to either side of tho Jiquor
question. A few of these may have been wets,
but nearly all of them were from dry states. It
is easy to understand why the wets would vote
against a dry plank, but the average man and
wriman will have difficulty in understanding he
TttUude of those who, altho themselves tho
advocates of prohibition, were afraid to express
SSSaotlon in the Democratic party's leading
fnvfln the bringing of national prohibition. In
1863 1872 and 1876 tho Democratic party wrote
nto'its Plat orm a plank declaring its acceptance
paigns l,afX Democratic party was opposed
?eBdfr,i 5 and ye?Sere was not a state in
to revising it, ana yet i question.
have 356 aGrZ for a re0pening of the
tion aso. As Jea70t knowing tho -
act number of evadersp beforG them both
readers of theseartl :0m w on im sub.
joct,-they can, if ( moro intelligently it
To mao the comparison J the Democratic
iVn be well to t compare Repubncan
plank on Pucal, the same tone runs
; plank. Wb le not WAC0 attempt to indict
''grs!tf..,ssA,,,,ta,
i3i
flitni- vWBtoui specific remedies, so that of
flo all ol6cted on such a platform would ho
bound to somothlng specific. Tho men in con
trol mado no effort to tako a glnglo specific
remedy mentioned In my plank and add U to
theira. They had full charge of tho sub-corn-mitteo
and tho full committee, and Ihoy had a
argo majority of tho full convention, and may
used it to foroo through a plank on profiteering
which will not bo satisfactory to tho nmaml
public, bocauso It offers no ral hopo of rollof1
Tho cvadcro also dodged tho question of uni
versal compulsory military training, They con
tended that It was not an issue, but tho real
reason, as frankly stated by tho committee,
wa that tho secretary of war, having rocom
mondod a system of universal compulsory mili
tary training, a plank opposing such & ayBtom
might seem llko a rcbuko to tho president, aHho.
tho pronldont naked tho Democrats In tho homo
of representatives to loavo tho subject for the
national convention to dual with. It will be
romomberod that tho houso caucused on this
subject. Notwithstanding tho fact that thu ac
tion soemod nocoiwnry, tho president asked for
a postponement with a view to leaving this to
tho convention to defin0 tho party's position on
thoso subjects. The Democrats in tho caucus
declined to accodo to the president's request
and declared against universal compulsory mili
tary training by a vote of 106 to 17 and by m
doling defeated tho Republican program on this
subjoct in tho houso.
Tho Republican loaders of tho house, knowfrfg
that tho Democraic voto added to tho Repub
lican vote agajnst It, mndo success impossible,
put it over tt (bo next soaslon, '
A Republican commltteo in tho senate re
ported a bll. providing for universal compulsory
military tralningat an estimated cost of $7,
000,0,00,000 a year. A poll of tho Dem6cratlc
senators was takon, and It was found that they
wero -nearly all against tho bill, the ''Repub
lican leaders dropped tho compulsory idea; rid
substituted a provision for a voluntary ijyste'm.
This was dropped in tho conforenco, Kow,
in view of tho facts abovo recorded, Who 'will
believo that universal compulsory tralntafcylt
hot "an issue being takbn into cotisfderatfoli.
But the evaders evaded it, and wo sp' before
tho country with a platform that ofertf no 'pro
tost to tho Republican efforts to socuro thla"daa
gorous and expensive innovation. v '-'- k
Tho convention evaded also any 'specific
remedy for political corruption. Tlid 'ta'ct
brought before the Investigation committee de
veloped into a scandal that mado two pi 'tho
Republican candidates unavailable. ' 'tt' Vas
found that Governor Lowden had spoht 'kbjfUt
$375,000 of his own money on his cartdldatjy
and that General Wood had spent something
like a million and a half of money subscribed
by friends. . ' ' ' '
Here surely, was an opportunity to tako ad?
vantage of popular indignation already rlafag
because of the Newberry scandal, but the con
vention contents itself with denunciation with
out presenting any effective remedy. '.,,
I presented a very simple plank, approved by
Hon. Vance McCormick, chairman of the' lemo
cratlc National committee, in 189fc: 'HVhai
full knowledge of tho manner in which our party
is handicapped by tho impossibility of getting?
our side before the public. .
My amendment proposing a national bulletin
was defeated in tho resolutions committee fiy
only one majority, but it was shouted down by
the convention after Chairman Glass and Secre
tary Colby had heaped scorn upon it.
In the commltteo my provision for an investi
gating commission patterned after' oar treaty
plan .and having in view publicity without bind
ing the partfes to accept tho report, wag voted
down. Wo go before the country with a labor
plank that does not suit Mr, Gompers and
which does not contain any definite plan for tho
protection of tho general jpubllc, who, while
not directly interested in a strike or lockdut,
suffer from all strikes and lockouts.
Here again the evaders carried out their
nollcy - But the greatest triumph of tho evader
was won on- what they call their paramount
issue They ask. tho country lo endorse tho
narty's position on ratification when they de
liberately evade the real issue. The plank as
oricinally proposed declares for ratification with
out surrendering any essential provisions. This,
of course, Is Jiidefinite. The party is expected to
a fight lor a iams wmuu unuuu;
My make
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