Show chicago convention by FRED HOLMES IES washington correspondent of 0 the park record CHICAGO june to a mere observer be he republican or democrat wet or dry believer or unbeliever la in the merits ot of the comparatively recent tariff law tor for or against the administrations policies about depression and other things favorable or antagonistic to our participation in affairs over seas bess the republican national convention ot of 1932 2932 taken all in all was a drab and spineless affair As a matter of tact fact it would have been puerile to expect anything else the formal announcement ot of what everybody knew anyway can hardly inspire enthusiasm pretty soon boon a dignified body ot of gentlemen will wait upon herbert hoover and advise him much to his surprise that he was nominated re tor for the office ot of president of the united states it will take mr hoover just fifteen minutes to express his thanks to the gentlemen for setting his mind at rest with respect to an uncertainty which had been c using causing him sleepless nights mr hoover will out of courtesy stifle a yawn but the rest ot of us if we listen in will make no attempt to stifle ours A little while after november ath there w will ill be a meeting of that somewhat obscure body known as the electoral college it will decide who is to be the next president of the united states the tact fact that long before the assembly of 0 that body everyone in this country will well know who Is going to be the successor of president hoover does not obviate the apparent necessity for official confirmation but just about one thousandth of the one per cent of the people will ever know where or when that meeting Is held and less than that percentage would go across the street to be among those present the chicago convention was lust just about the same sort eort of gesture everyone knew that herbert hoover would be abed as the standard bearer of his party no one seriously doubted that charles curtis would be named as his running mate the platform except for the prohibition bib hibi I 1 ti tion on plant plank was a foregone conclusion and as for the prohibition plank no one at the congress hotel for the past week has doubted bhat would be its general purport which leads me to take your readers into my confidence to the extent of telling him that the exhibition hibi tion staged at Chi cagos stadium was merely a sideshow side show the convention was held in the congress hotel behind closed doors as usual presidents are picked in what frank kent of the baltimore sun calls a smoke filled room Si stadium adlum and aid not in great open spaces like the fifty years ago keynoter Dickin dickinsons sons speech in might ight have dragged a lot of doubting into line not so today and that goes tor for the key keynoting noting of the keynoter who will keynote here on the on that date the democratic c convention will be held in a smoke 1111 ed room in the congress hotel with a 6 sideshow side ide show at the stadium to which the public Is invited A keynoter will mentally observe wb who wished the thing on me m all things considered it may be said that senator dickinson did himself proud elen eien if while he was indulging in forensics toren and platitudes delegates on the floor told each other how they made that yard no 6 in three lor for a bardl and in the galleries was seriously debated the respective merits of auction and con contract trait that was no reflection upon senator dickin son the democratic keynoter will get his next week we might just as well wake up to the tact fact that keynoters keyn oters are 1 as much out and side saddles ilia pretty much everything worth while in the way of business was taken care 0 01 a at t the ical convention in the congress hotel but they did get into enough ot of a jam over to make necessary th the staging 0 of one original feature at the sideshow side show at the stadium it seems that at the congress there was a most decided difference ol of opinion with respect to the d of the words repeal and resubmission As a result they passed the buck over to the sideshow side show where the audience began to think that alter after all they would get their moneys worth to ray ay that republican leaders were amazed by the size of the sideshow side show vote for repeal of the eighteenth amendment Is putting it mildly quite frankly they admit it injects the issue of repeal into the campaign and constitutes an invitation to the democrats to take advantage of the strong sentiment exhibited here last night it Is their op anlon that political expediency it 11 nothing else will dictate a strong depeal plank in the th democratic platform and obviously they are nervous about the outcome in november even the repeal wets in the convention did not expect such strong support for senator Bing ginghams hams plank hence they are greatly encouraged despite vigorous protests against the planks approval from henry curran mrs airs charles 11 sabin dr nicholas murray butler james W wadsworth and other loaders leaders of the repeal movement they recognize that the defeat ot of the minority plank by the republican convention by a mere votes emphasizes the strength of their cause they say the administrations machine was unable to hold the convention in line they point to such states as pennsylvania new jersey indiana michigan and mississippi as evidence of this As a whole seventeen states which control a large electoral vote were defeated on the repeal issue but in this defeat the administration received a severe jolt there Is great political significance in the tact fact that six atlantic coast states four from the middle west and four from fr m the far west voted heavily for repeal these are strongly republican states and ordinarily could be expected loyally to support a republican administration entering a campaign but the repeal issue had too strong an appeal tor for the hoover leaders to counteract anyway its chover against who well know more about it next week |