U.S.A. PRESIDENCY

Wairarapa Daily Times, 30 June 1928, Page 5

U.S.A. PRESIDENCY

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE. I, ■ ;/, i GOVERNOR SMITH SELECTED. {H ' j EUOu JPress Association--Electric Telegraph--Copyrigh NEW YORK, Friday. Tlio Democratic Convention was brought to one: of its high moments when Senator Moody asked and received the. indulgence of the Convention to address it, but it was only an address of welcome to Texas. Then for the next four hours there were seconding speeches of the various candidates. It was long past the dinner hour and the hall was three-quar-ters empty. The Democrats, however, were indulging to the full their penchant for endless, windy talk, even heckling by some .disgusted delegates being unable to stop them. A Prohibitionist association of the Southern States offered a petition to the Convention protesting against the nomination of any “wet” caididatc. 1 ' The Convention went into recess for dinner. Afterwards the committee presented the following programme for adoption' by the Convention: Denouncement of the Republican Administration for its failure to enforce Prohibition, and its promised “honest effort to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment and all other provisions of the constitution and all laws enacted pursuant thereto.-’’ This was the strongest expression on Prohibition ever adopted by the Democrats. Outstanding points in foreign policy were the endorsement of the outlawry of war, but “freedom from entangling political alliances with foreign nations.” The plank also condemned the Republicans for their failure to enforce the limitation of armaments, and asserted that “there is now a race between nations in the building of unlimited weapons of destruction.” The labour planks defended collective bargaining and favoured restricted im-

migration. The platform on agricultural relief pledged their .support for the “control and orderly handling of agricultural surpluses in order that the price of the surplus may not determine the price of the whole crop.” This is the theory of the McNary-llaugen Bill. The platform contained a resounding denouncement of Republican corruption, containing the words, “turn the rascal out.” On thb tariff, the platform said that the Democrats would hereafter levy duties to permit effective competition, ensuring against monopolies and the equitable distribution of the tariff burden. The clerk’s voice was drowned as he read the platform. It was ten o ’clock. The hall was jambed, at least thirty-five thousand persons being present. .Mounted policemen blocked the gates, no more being admitted, some late delegates even being excluded, despite loud protests. A man fainted from the heat within the hall. The chairman rapped for order, and the clerk continued the reading, which had now nearly consumed two hours. He gicw hoarse, and another clerk took up the task. There was a short, -sharp burst of applause when he read the Prohibition plank, and again when he came to a plank approving independence for the Philippines.

..Senator Moody then came forward with the minority report on prohibition, which contained a reference to opposing the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Senator Aloody, however, declared that he would not ask for a vote thereon. This spirit of unity, this determination not to cpiarrel among themselves, is a most amazing outgrowth of the present Democratic Convention. The lesson of 1924 has been well learned. The platform was adopted in' its entirety, with few dissentient votes. Balloting then began for the Presidential nominee, and when the first ballot concluded, Governor Smith had 726 votes, lacking seven of the nccessaiy majority, but Ohio thereupon changed 'ts vote, giving him 44 more and nominating him. Thereafter other States changed their votes until the Convention ultimately made it unanimous, the total being 849. —Australian and N.Z. Press Association.