POLITICAL NOTES

POLITCAL NOTES

The Republican George H. Moses (N. H.), is being "groomed and boomed " by his friends for President pro tem, of the next Senate. (President pro tem, presides when President Coolidge is absent.) It is thought that Senator Cummins, incumbent, will not be a candidate. At various times during the last session Mr. Moses was called to the chair. According to his backers, he "made some of the elder Senators dizzy by the despatch with which he kept the Senate machinery going."

A New York Herald despatch from Washington described a " Democratic plan " designed to keep William Jennings Bryan from " kicking over the traces or sulking in his tent, refusing to give any active support to the (1924) ticket." The plan: Name Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska (W. J.'s brother) as the candidate for the Vice Presidency.

With Bryan out of the way, the " next problem "--according to the Herald--is "how to keep Wilson from running off the reservation. ... To placate Wilson after rejecting his League plank is one of the most serious problems before the Democrats. They fear the nomination of his son-in-law, William G. McAdoo, would not solve the problem."

Final returns in the Collier's straw vote showed (in round numbers):

Ford . . . . . . . . . . 88,000

Harding .. . . . . . . 51,000

McAdoo . . . . . . . 19,000

Cox . . . . . . . . . . . 16,000

Johnson . . . . . . . 15,000

Smith . . . . . . . . . 14,000

Hughes . . . . . . . . 13,000

Hoover . .. . . . . . . . 9,000

La Follette . . . . . . . 7,000

Wood . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000

Borah . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000

Underwood . . . . . . 3,000

Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000

Lowden . . . . . . . . . . 2,000

Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000

Ralston . . . . . . . . . . 1,000

Even the New Republic's Presidential poll for " liberals" favors Ford. The Detroiter has passed Borah and is neck and neck with La Follette, who is distanced only by McAdoo.

"Baltimore and Cleveland are the most likely contenders for the Demo-cratic Convention, the former because of the fact that Maryland has no active candidate for the Presidency and because it was from Baltimore in 1912 that the last Democratic nominee was successful in getting to the White House. The advantages of Cleveland are of course that it is a Mid-Western city and is in President Harding's home state, where the Democrats are 'as anxious as possible to develop publicity and prestige."-- David Lawrence, political prognosticator.

The place--Chicago. The time--third week of June, 1924. These facts (pertinent to the next Republican Convention) were determined " at a gathering of Party chiefs" in Chicago last week.

The last five Republican Conventions were held in Chicago. McKinley was nominated in Philadelphia in 1900 and in St. Louis in 1896. Harrison was nominated in Minneapolis in 1892 and in Chicago in 1888. Elaine was nominated in Chicago in 1884; Garfield, in Chicago, 1880.

Senators King (Utah) and Ladd (N. D.) sailed for Europe. In Berlin they will meet Representative Frear (Wis.)--and possibly Senator Wildman Brookhart (la.)--who will accompany them into Russia. Senator Ladd, a Republican elected with Non-Partisan League endorsement in 1920, is inclined to favor Russian recognition. Senator King, an old-school Democrat and a Mormon, is inclined to view the Soviet with alarm. Both Senators aver that they are " open-minded."

In an effort to puncture the Ford boom, Charles D. Hilles sent a copy of his recent attack on the Detroiter to every member of the Republican and Democratic National Committees, to every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate and to every Republican State Chairman. Said the Louisville Courier-Journal: " Where does Mr. Hilles get the idea that Congressmen, committeemen and such officials can make or unmake booms?"

Charles E. Hughes has set a new fashion. On sweltering Washington nights he appears at informal evening functions equipped with white trousers and a blue sack coat, instead of the usual dinner coat and close- fitting vest.

The "old-time political henchmen" who have manned the elevators at the Capitol since time immemorial have been ousted in favor of " clean cut and obliging young college students." This enabled Mrs. Miles Poindexter (wife of the Ambassador to Peru) to remark in one of her newspaper articles: " Many of the debutantes would, have been shocked if they had known that the handsome young men who danced so divinely were in truth only elevator boys at the Capitol."