AMERICAN ELECTIONEERING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19196, 12 June 1924, Page 8

AMERICAN ELECTIONEERING.

SELECTING STANDARDBEAREiIS. (Fkom Oun Own Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO. May 21. America’s methods of selecting delegates to choose the standard-bearers of the great political parlies may appear to staid .Britishers somewhat roundabout, but endeavours are always made to invest the election of a President with dramatic effect, and frequently it is varied by considerable buffoonery, particularly at the Democratic and Republican Conventions, when efforts are initiated to eclipse records for boisterous declamation and cheering for a longer period than ever previously recorded. In a word, politics in these United States remind one of the questioner of the immortal Rudyard Kipling, who, when touring America, was asked, “What do you think of American politics?’’ and quick as a flash came the author’s reply. “Iherc is nothing like u in the Old Country.” Although that retort was made a few decades ago it still holds good, and at the time of writing the minted States is psissing through another of these arduous political electioneering spasms. The situation is a most peculiar one on this occasion, and candidates are in plenitude, good, bad, and indifferent, but above the din of the battle Calvin Ooolidge is “sitting tight” in Washington, ploughing his lonely furrow and fully expecting to retain the Presidential honours. Undoubtedly the strongest contender that he met was the redoubtable “irreconcilable isolationist, Senator Hiram Johnson, of California, whose stand on the World Court and League of Nations obviously bas caused his downfall. He has been steadily losing ground, but his utter defeat came when his native State of California dismally turned him down in the recent primary election. Small wonder that he subsequently retired from certain States, and his withdrawal is now an almost certainty. CONGRESS OPPOSES OOOLIDGE. A large array of legislators have aligned themsehes with the forces opposing Mr Ooolidge. and fuel has been added to the fire by both the House and Senate so decisively passing the Veterans Bonus Bill over the head of Mr Ooolidge after the Chief Executive had given the measure his official veto, contending that at the present juncture when economy was essential the country could not afford the colosisal expenditure to foot the bill for the veterans, although nobody denied that the country a heroes merited some reward for their war services. f _ The President's stand on the Japanese exclusion policy has earned him more opponents than he ever dreamed of. for the sentiment of the West, strongly against the country being over-run by Orientals is surely spreading to Eastern States wheie the Japanese are not so frequently seen. The peculiar circumstance lias been witnessed, however, that in the State most furious against the Orientals, Ooolidge won hands down -in the primary election and Johnson was unceremoniously ousted. With many perplexities dominating the “nation it appears certain that the Republicans will unite in nominating Coolmge because he is a silent, non committal man. and there is really nothing against htni. The Democrats hope to find, not a deal and dumb candidate, but one who can rival Mr Ooolidge in taciturnity, and with no very strong views on any subject. I* l ®'’ hone to win by holding the ‘Solid South and carrying several great industrial Staves, like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Michigan. The Republicans hope to hold the big industrial States on the Atlanta coast and the Great Lakes, and get the additional votes i-hfy require from the agricultural States west, of t.ie Mississippi. Whichever parly wins, things will go on for the next four years pretty much as they have gone for the past four years. FARM SITUATION BAD. The farm situation is bad, and growing worse. It bas reacted upon the country banker and the country merchant, and is beginning to pinch the jobber and the manufacturer. Business is slowing down largely because of the farmer’s power having diminished. The trouble with the American farmer is that non-acrricultura! products are 70 per cent, above pre-war level. 411 the talk about (he unequal price level is “old stuff”; so are the figures showing that one-fourth of all the farmers in 15 States have gone bankrupt in the past three years. So are the statements that more country banks failed during the past four years than during the preceding 18 years, that 10 per cent, of the habitable houses on farms are unoccupied, and that the trek from farm to city goes on at the rate of a million persons a year. The M Nary,Haugen Bill'may not be the remedy, but it is the remedy upon which the Western farmers are agreed. This Bill does not help the cotton-growers and this is expected to divide the fanners’ vote. It is expected that raanv of the Western farmers will vote for Coolidge or a third party, and the Southern farmers will support the Democratic ticket as usual. The agricultural situation is the biggest problem that faces the United States to-day. but neither political party is going to tackle it, and the farmers ‘themselves cannot agree on a remedy. INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE. While it is generally believed that Senator La Follette will be nominated for President either at a convention in St. Paul on Juno 17. or at a convention in Cleveland on July 4, or at both conventions, it is quite llkelv (hat he will be nominated at neither. And yet it is almost certain that he will be a candidate. The reason for this paradoxical prospect lies in the nature of the two conventions. First tlie St. Paul pow wow. It is being called as a Farmer-Labour party national convention, using the machinery of the Minnesota State Farmer-Labour Party to some extent as a. nucleus. Organised labour and those progressive elements which desire to work with organised labour are looking coldly upon the S(,. Paul convention and “Labour,” the organ of the railway brotherhoods, has is- , sued a warning against participation in the meeting, saying it will be controlled by Communists. ... 4s for the Cleveland •Convention, it, has teen called the Conference for Progressive Political Action, an organisation formed prior to the election of 1922, largely through the efforts of several national labour unions. La Follette is the condidato now being seriously considered by the men who will make up the convention _ . General opinion is that L» Follette will run ns an independent candidate for the Presidency, and with the Democrats and Republicans split on several issues it, is believed that an independent nominee would have an excellent chance of reaching Washington’s honour. Coming Lick to Mr Coolidge, his supporters contend that it will bb impossible tor him to be defeated for he has shown unexpected skill in party management, and in the public eye stands clear of responsibility for the scandals of the Harding regime. The two questions that will embarrass him until the campaign is well on its way are the Soldiers' Bonus Bill and the Japanese exclusion clause in the new Immigration Act. It is recognised that he was bound by his own utterances to veto the former, but with Congress carrying the /Bill over his head the beneficiaries of (he measure will probably forget by November his part in the business. DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE. The state of uncertainty in the Democratic camp over the choice of a leader has increased public interest in the selection of a candidate. If Mr M‘Adoo had not acted as counsel for the oil group involved in the Washington inquiry he would have been assured of the party nomination. Even now ho leads in the primaries, where Democratic voters express their personal prcferencee, but trailing him has been Senator Underwood, of Alabama, an able and experienced public man, but he does not appeal as Mr M'Adoo to the progress! ve sentiment, which is especially strong in the Mississippi Valley States. A dark horse may emerge at the Convention, a contingency which will 'rive it a touch of drama locking in the foregone conclusion of its Republican rival. Prophecy is. busy with the spectacular element of the third party providing the possibility of La Follette capturing a few States and preventing either party of the old rank from getting a majority in the Electoral College, that anomalous institution in which 531 obscure persons nominally choose the President and Vice-presi-dent. in obedience to the iastruclions from the electors of their respective States. If such a thing happened—as it has happened before —both the present Houses of Congress would meet on February 11 next in joint session in the Chamber of the House of Representatives; the electoral certificates from each State transmitted by the college would tie counted, and the chairman, Senator Cummins, would announce that no President or Vice-president had been elected. 'The Senate would withdraw to its own Chamber to elect a Vice-president, the House remaining to ballot for a President. There, are 435 representatives, but onlv one vote for each State wquld be permitted. Nevada, with its 77.000 population and one representative, would have the same weight os New York with 10,000,000 people and - ”—o delegation of 43. Ji would bo

possible for the House to be stalematei' indefinitely. As there are 48 States, i would require 25 votes to elect a candi date, and the Republicans would be certain of only 22. This is an impasse the possibility which is being discussed, and although it i| a very improbable possibility it is adding zest to America’s effort to find the best leader of the nation. There are those who are demanding a direct vote by the people for a Chief Executive instead of this circumlocution lasting almost a year before the actual President is elected.