LANDON CHOSEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 9

LANDON CHOSEN

REPUBLICAN NOMINEE TJ.S.A. PRESIDENCY KNOX FOR THE VICEPRESIDENCY United Press Association—By Electric Telsgraph—Copyright. (Received June 13, 9 a.m.) CLEVELAND, June 12. Mr. Alfred Landon, Governor of Kansas, has been nominated by the Republican Convention as the party's candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Colonel Frank Knox has been nominated for the Vice-Presidency.

Twice the convention assembled and twice it went into recess because the platform committee was unable to come to an agreement on the exact phraseology of the planks. Senator Borah was summoned during the day to make his wishes known. 3500-WORD PLATFORM. The platform when finished was about 3500 words long. It combines all the old traditional expressions in which political promises are framed, yet combines with them to an extraordinary degree New, Deal phrases. To that extent it will give the Democrats a marked psychological advantage. I

It makes the following pledges on issues of international significance:—lt affirms faith in protective tariffs and advocates the repeal of the reciprocal trade agreement law and the end of secret negotiation of trade agreements; it promises 'the restoration of the principle of a flexible tariff and opposes further devaluation of the dollar; it demands the repeal of all laws whereby Congress delegates to the President power to issue and regulate currency; it advocates international stabilisation of currency, but does not indicate when it is to be done; the foreign affairs plank opposes foreign alliances or political commitments as demanded by Senator Borah, opposes American entry in the World Court or the League of Nations, and advocates international co-operation for limitation of armaments and traffic in arms; it pledges every effort to collect war debts, and condemns the Roosevelt Government's failure to reopen negotiations with debtor nations..

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. On social and economic questions the platform in many respects is a mirror of the New Deal, save that it advocates delegation of powers and responsibilities to States instead of to the Federal Government. It advocates distribution of relief through local agencies, with Federal grants in aid, but States to share the cost of such relief. It also advocates only meritorious public works, condemns President Roosevelt's Social Security Law, and advocates instead necessary payments to citizens over 65 years of age to protect them from want. Funds for i this would be obtained direct from Widespread Federal taxation. The plat 7 "j form further advocates unemployment | insurance by States. The labour plank : acknowledges labour's right to collective bargaining "by representatives of their own choosing," which is the language of section 7a of the National Industrial Recovery Act. It further approves the adoption of State laws andj inter-State compacts to abolish sweat- i shops and child labour and to protect j women and children in respect of! maximum hours and minimum wages. I "This can be done within the Consti-I tution as it now stands." 1

AGRICULTURAL PROMISES. The agricultural plank opposes crop control and advocates a "national land use programme," family-type farms, some system of export bounties for surplus agricultural products, and protection for American farmers against thf» importation of livestock and dairy and agricultural products.

The controversial monopoly plank was a victory for Senator Borah. He dictated its wording. Private monopoly is condemned, and the enforcement of criminal as well as civil laws against monopolies' and trusts is promised. Finally regulation of business is advocated by new independent tribunals under specific laws. The platform was unanimously adopted immediately the reading was finished by the chairman.

TELEGRAM FROM MR. LANDON. Within a few moments of the approval ot the platform the States from Alabama to Illinois deferred to Kansas, and Mr. Landon's campaign manager, Mr. John Hamilton, rose and read a telegram from Mr. Landon which caused a mild sensation. It stated that he disagreed with two planks of the platform. First, if necessary, he would approve a constitutional amendment protecting women and children in industry in respect to wages and hours. Secondly, he interpreted sound currency to mean currency in terms of gold and convertible into gold, but the latter was not Vo be sought until it could be achieved without injury' to domestic economy and foreign trade. DELEGATES DEMONSTRATE. Mr. Hamilton then put the name of Mr. Landon for nomination, and the expected demonstration by delegates began, headed by the Kansas banners. Virtually all the State delegations, aided by every conceivable noise-mak-ing device, paraded the convention floor. It was in the best rrianner of American conventions, noisy and very artificial.

Mr. Landon's daughter and father were occupying a box in one corner of the hall, and two enterprising wireless men walked seemingly over the heads of spectators and hauled a microphone towards Miss Peggy Landon. She laughed, but apart from sending a "hello" to her father, listening in Topeka, she would say nothing. No other State would offer a candidate. There were only seconding speeches by Senator Vandenberg and other aspirants' representatives who announced their withdrawal, and the path was quite clear for Mr. Landon. START OF VOTING. The hall was in tremendous excitement as the State-by-State voting started. One by one the chairmen of the various delegations rose and cast their full voting strength for Mr. Landon. It was an unbroken parade until the West Virginia chairman, Mr. Bachman, Senator Borah's manager, cast 16 votes for Mr. Landon and 1, his own, for Senator Borah. Sixteen of the Wisconsin delegates voted for Senator Borah and six for Mr. Landon. At the end of the poll call, however, the Wisconsin delegation put forward a motion that the nomination be made unanimous, and this was carried with a thunderous burst of applause.

_ Following Mr. Hamilton's nomination speech, there was a rush by previous opposition candidates to express approval of Mr. Landon. In addition to half a dozen scheduled addresses, every candidate, with the exception of Senator Borah, who had departed for Washington, spoke in seconding the nomination of the Kansas Governor. These included Colonel Knox and Senators Nice, Dickinson, and Vandenberg, whose strong pledge to Mr. Landon was

taken by many as an indication that he would accept the Vice-Presidential nomination. "STOP ROOSEVELT." "In this convention I belong to but one block, and it has but one slogan, 'Stop Roosevelt,' " said Senator Vandenberg. Even after he left Cleveland, Mr. Borah added something of a discordant note to the otherwise seemingly harmonious Republican situation. According to reports from Akron, he was stunned at Mr. Landon's interpretation of the currency plank as meaning a return to gold convertibility when possible, and at his insistence on support of a constitutional amendment to allow Etates to protect labouring women and children if other means fail to gain the desired objective. FOR VICE-PRESIDENCY. Colonel Knox's nomination for the Vice-Presidency . occurred promptly after Mr. Vandenberg, who was Mr. Landon's choice for his running mate, had addressed a letter to the Convention asking that his name be withdrawn. A dozen aspirants for the position were put up .for nomination by zealous friends, but while the stream of oratory continued, behind it the party leader went about the business of choosing between Mr. Vandenberg and Colonel Knox, the former's relinquishment making possible the selection of the Chicago publisher in the first ballot without a single dissenting vote.

The convention then adjourned sine die.

THE NOMINEES

Alfred M. Landon, Governor of Kansas, has been characterised, since he became an outstanding candidate for I the nomination, as a "Conservative Liberal." When his friends call him a "Conservative Liberal," says the "New York Times," they mean that in his relatively brief political career the "Kansas Coolidge" has adopted a middle-of-the-road course, without espousing anything more radical or more conservative than budgetary economy. By his ingratiating ways he has been able to keep his Legislatures fairly docile and content.

Landon was born in Pennsylvania 48 years ago. His parents took him in early childhood to Ohio, where he went to primary school. In his early teens the family moved on to the cultural domain of William Allen White. Here Landon attended the University of Kansas and obtained a law degree. He was admitted to the Bar, but never practised law. Instead he found a job in a bank, which he soon abandoned in favour of ''wildcatting" for oil, a vocation in which he has been quite successful.

He was a first lieutenant in the Chemical Warfare' Service during the World War, then went back to his oil prospecting. He learned to be tough, and, through his fondness for card games, not to show his hand too soon. In 1912, when he was only 24, Landon aligned himself with the Theodore Roosevelt Bull Moose movement, along with White and Henry J. Allen. When Allen became Governor in 1917, Landon became his secretary, but served only a couple of weeks before going to the war. Since then he has been active in political campaigning and has held sundry political jobs. His chance came in 1932, when he was elected Governor on the Republican ticket, while Roosevelt was winning the State for the Presidency. He was the only Republican Governor elected in that year west of the Mississippi, and he repeated this in 1934.

Colonel Frank Knox, "The Chicago Rough Rider," was born in Boston on January 1, 1874, and has sold, station[ers' supplies, served in two wars, published three newspapers (not counting 'Hearst's Boston properly), run unsucjeessfully for one public office, and [-played practical politics for many 'years. He is wealthy and energetic. jHe went to public school in Grand [Rapids and to Alma College, a Presbyterian school in Central Michigan. He enlisted in the Michigan militia at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, was transferred to Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and took part in the Battle of San Juan Hill. After the war" he went to work as a cub reporter for the "Grand Rapids Herald," saved his money, bought a decrepit newspaper in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and built it up. He also became active in local and State politics. Next he moved to Manchester, N.H., and bought another paper. He went to the World War, sought the Republican nomination for Governor of New Hampshire, served in the Hearst organisation, became publisher of the "Chicago Daily News," and was one of the first publishers to come out against the New Deal. Everything he has had in life he has gained for himself, usually against determined opposition. Colonel Knox has definite ideas of what ought ' to be done. He does not speak in platitudes and generalities, though at times his eagerness has appeared to lead him into paradoxes. On the financial side he asks drastic economy and a balanced Budget, but last November in one and the same interview he called for economy and full payment of the soldiers' bonus. He is opposed to Socialism and Communism on religious grounds. He favours downward tariff revision.