Candidates' Row

Mr. Willis. Goaded by the pro-Hoover Scripps-Howard newspapers, of which there are six in Ohio, Candidate Willis enlivened the week by crying out at Columbus: "In these times we hear much of chains--chain broadcasting, chain motion pictures, chain stores, chain newspapers, chains in international trade. The fact is, under the chain system . . . the great middle class of our people face all the time greater difficulties in maintaining its independent existence. . . . Since when has the Republican Party come to the place where its candidates are to be dictated by a chain of newspapers that have never supported the Republican ticket?"

Mr. Hoover. The Chicago Tribune beckoned. The New York Herald-Tribune pushed. The Scripps-Howard press coaxed and clamored and, more compelling than any of these, the Springfield Republican, a Bible to many Republicans, issued a fiat, citing 16 reasons. The last day approached, the next-to-last day arrived, and that evening Candidate Hoover did it--authorized the filing of his name to fight Senator Watson for Indiana's delegates as he was already fighting Senator Willis for Ohio's.

In one sense, Senator Watson's "candidacy" for the Republican nomination is even more curious than the Willis phenomenon. Senator Watson's reputation is extremely unsavory. The Springfield Republican's 16 reasons for a Hoover campaign in Indiana were references to 16 members of the Watson political crew who have been indicted for crookery in the past four years. But, unlike pompous Senator Willis, easy-going Senator Watson has no pretensions beyond those of a "favorite son." His game is simply to herd the Indiana delegates for delivery to his good friend Vice President Dawes or for barter with other big G. O. P. traders at the convention. Candidate Lowden did not file in Indiana, and therefore, since Lowden admirers realize that a vote for Lowden is virtually a vote for Dawes anyway, the Watson support in Indiana will be a Watson-Lowden-Dawes vote--really more significant for Candidate Hoover to beat, if he can, than the Willis vote in Ohio.

To suppose that Candidate Hoover was beckoned, pushed, coaxed or ordered into Indiana by Republican newspapers or by his own disapproval of the Watson regime, would, however, be foolish. More and more a political technologist, he did not enter Indiana until convinced by Publisher Oscar G. Foellinger of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel that there really was a chance of winning 17 or more Indiana delegates from Senator Watson. The Indiana primary law provides that whosoever wins a majority of the delegates, wins all, and Indiana's delegates total 33.

Smith v. Walsh. South Dakota, adjacent to the home State of Candidate Walsh (Montana), held Democratic and Republican State conventions last week. The Republicans unanimously endorsed a Lowden-Dawes ticket. The Democrats voted on Smith v. Walsh. Result: Smith, 43,876; Walsh, 41,213.

Mr. Woollen. So quietly that citizens of other States scarcely heard him, Banker Evans Woollen of Indianapolis formalized his candidacy for the Democratic nomination by filing for the Indiana primary.

Mrs. Wilson. In Berlin, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was nominated for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket by the Vossische Zeitung as follows: "Her candidacy would be of first importance to the entire feminine world. She of all women should be experienced in governmental affairs. She was rated almost as a prophetess by her husband. The most important argument against feminine presidency is the question whether a woman President would be even conceivable during war time. However, Americans' love of sportsmanship leads them to take big risks."

Democratic Debt. In Washington, Chairman Clem L. Shaver of the Democratic National Committee made known that he had been informed by Jesse Holman Jones, director of Democratic finance, that their party was extricated from the $224,000 debt remaining from the Davis campaign of 1924, and, moreover, stood $250,000 to the good. Among those contributing: Jesse Holman Jones and Thomas Fortune Ryan, $50,000 each; Howard Bruce, Rogers Caldwell, Sam W. Fordyce, John W. Davis, Frank L. Polk, $10,000 each; Clem L. Shaver, Cyrus H. McCormick, James W. Gerard, $2,500 each; Edward N. Hurley, Owen D. Young, Henry Morgenthau, $2,000 each; Melvin A. Traylor, Silas H. Strawn, Norman E. Mack, $1,000 each.

Serious Senator William E. Borah, himself no candidate, last week came down hard on all soft spoken candidates and the porous policies of their parties. At a meeting before the Idaho State Society of Washington, he rapped:

". . . The most demoralizing and corrupting instrumentality in American politics is that of great political parties deliberately maneuvering and sidestepping with reference to questions of great public interest.

"The people are not indifferent to these public questions. They are baffled and discouraged because they cannot get them squarely and fairly presented. . . .

"A candidate who has no views upon public questions is unfit, a candidate who has views and is afraid to state them is unsafe. A voter is entitled to an opportunity to record his vote in accordance with his conviction and it is impossible to do that unless the issues are fairly presented.

"I presume every Republican has of late suffered a deep sense of humiliation. The awful conditions which have been revealed to the voters of the party are as indefensible as they are intolerable. The modern system of avoiding issues which would interest the people and then depending upon organization and money to work up an artificial interest, together with manipulated and managed conventions, have borne fruit."

Then, with a spirited spurt, he finished:

"It is time to try another system. Give the people issues and you will not need to sell your soul for campaign funds. Give the voters policies squarely presented and you will not have to mortgage the future action of the party to concession-hunters."