Pre-Convention

Republican. The Republican primary campaign drew to a close with desultory firing, while the victorious Coolidge forces entrenched themselves on the field.

With the accession of Maryland and Oregon, the Coolidge delegates were numbered at 986, with 28 for La Follette, 15 for Johnson and 80 yet to be chosen.

Thereupon Mr. Johnson gave up. He sent word to the delegates pledged to him releasing them from voting for him at the convention.

A day's flurry was caused by a letter from Mayor Curley (Democrat) of Boston to Senator David Ignatius Walsh. The Mayor asked for an investigation of the Coolidge campaign fund contributions on the basis of the following paragraph from a letter sent out by the chairman of the "Pipe Fitting and Allied Material Group" in Massachusetts to make collections:

"There is no limit to the amount an individual may give to this committee. Large contributions will be so divided as to give full observance to the requirements of the statutes. All contributions must be voluntary."

The second sentence seemed to imply a deliberate attempt to evade the law. It was discovered, however, that there was no Federal statute to be evaded, for the reason that there really is no legal limit to the amount an individual may give for such a campaign.

The week's most prominently mentioned aspirants for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination were Senator James E. Watson of Indiana, ex-Senator Albert J. Beveridge* of the same state.

Democratic. To aspirant William G. McAdoo went Kentucky and Oregon and apparently also Wyoming the latter by default of all opposition. Some 410 or 420 delegates were claimed for the ex-Secretary of the Treasury.

Under the two-thirds rule which holds in Democratic Conventions Mr. McAdoo will need 732 votes --some 300 more--to be nominated. Boss George E. Brennan of Illinois, anti-McAdoo leader, challenged McAdoo to advocate a change to a Dimple majority requirement for nomination. Under a majority-vote rule McAdoo would need only 550 votes--about 150 more than he now has. If Mr. McAdoo is to be nominated, such a change would make the matter simpler. On the other hand, if Mr. McAdoo is not to be nominated, the change would make it less easy for him to prevent the nomination of an opposing candidate, such as Mr. Brennan may favor. If either side secures a change to a majority rule, it will prove to be a two-edged sword that must be handled with care. So when Mr. Brennan challenged the McAdoo men to come out for a majority-vote rule, they countered by declaring they would make no opposition if Mr. Brennan proposed it.

The McAdoo forces went to Manhattan to attend a meeting of the Committee on Arrangements for the Democratic National Convention. The meeting of the Committee was to choose a temporary chairman, the so-called keynoter for the Democratic Convention. Each aspirant for the nomination naturally wanted a key-note speaker favorable to him. As compromises between the several factions, Representative Finis J. Garrett of Tennessee and Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi were the chief possibilities. The McAdoo group amicably agreed with the Underwood-Smith group in the choice of Mr. Harrison.

*"Coolidge-Beveridge--great hot weather ticket!" said a famed colyumist.