The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 28, 1920, Page 5

b the Republican ' conven-. ‘il of Washmgton, D.C., How It Was Drawn REPUBLICAN PLATFORM The Farmers Planks * By E. B Fussell Leader Staff. Correspondent at Chlcago. ‘Hearmgs ‘a Farce Men ‘Who Draft Platform Absent When’ ; Speakers Appear OW are the national platfoms of ‘the ‘Republican and - Democratic “parties read in the daily papers you will learn B that representatlves of the farmers, of - organized Iabor and other interests ap- peared before the resolutions committee, which con-. " gists of one representative from each ‘state ‘and ter- ~ ‘drawn? ‘If you still believe what you - py jag” gets up and yells “Amen” again. ritory, that the resolutions committee g:]e them a = Tespectful hearing and after considering all the pro- _posed planks brought to theu' attentlon adopted the followmg platform. : -That 'is the 1mpression the pohtunans want to give the people. 'What actually happens is' this: .- The resolutions committee consists of 53 members 1 —one from each of the 48 states and one each from - Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Philippines, the District of Golumbxa and Alaska. But as soon as the commit- - tee meets it is divided into two sections. Thirteen Mars& down. He says he has practxcally called Senator Lodge a liar. . “You can:go on and spes,k ‘here but you musn’t “attack the motives of one of the lead.mg members of ‘our party,” the chairman says, Marsh goes on. . He says he.is against the sale of government-owned ships to the “Bntlsh firm of J. . P. Morgan & Co.” = The chairman raps again. There are cries from the committee of “Throw him out,”’*We didn’t come - here to listen to a Socialist speech;” ete: The “hap- No one knows - whether he ‘is' saying ‘“Amen” because of < what Marsh said or because the others want to * throw him out. Probably the “happy jag’” himself doesn’t know. succeeded in msnltmg another “Ieadmg member; of ‘our party.” 'He is cautioned again by the chairman = that he must not mdulge in personahtxes. “ “WATER TO DRINK” A g ".of the members are selected by the chairman as ..a subcommittee to draft the' platform. ' They are led .away into a private hotel ‘room: and start'to’ work.' . Then the other 40 members of the committee an- - ‘nounce an “open sessxon" at which they will hear-all - -and sundry who want. planks in the platform. - They meet in an assembly room of the Audito- _rium hotel, with seats for about 100 people. ‘The 40 ~Temaining: members of the committee, newspaper i ‘meén and other spectators are scattered. around in- l_ dlscnmmately, the writer among them. ‘There appear, in rapid succession,” President Gompers of the American Federation of-Labor, a representative of the Anti-Saloon league and a . - ~number of farmers representing the National Board: - of Farm Organizations. " of definite-labor’ planks, the Anti-Saloon league Gompers asks 2 number . man wants a prohibition plank and the farmers ask - for planks printed in last week’s Leader. When the - first farmer representative gets through talking one ! of the members of the resolutions committee objects v- o hearing from any more farmers, but Chairman Watson of the committee says they have been promised a clumce to be heard and can go ahead. MUSTN'T ATTACK “PROMINENT MEMBERS OF OUR PARTY” et Frank P. Walsh urges a plank recognizing the nght ‘of Treland to freedom. One of the members, .of the committee, sitting on the frontrow, has had - < a little too much to drink. He now has what would: be called, technically speaking, a “happy jag.” He ' gets ‘enthusiastic over Walsh and gets up . and shouts “Amen.” ‘Everybody laughs. Another ‘speaker wants a plank condemmng Presxdent Wilson for keeping American soldiers in. Russxa, a year after the war w1th Germany _was over, ‘and. when we had' /no. war with Russia. . Again the “bappy jag? | yells out “Amen.” ¢ = The mext speaker is == BenJamm Marsh of the . Farmers’ National coun- | representmg a number | "‘of progressive farm or- gamzatlons of the coun- by Marsh starts ou’e by = statmg ‘that” Senator . Henry Cabot Lodge, 'in ~his “keynote” speech at’ ~ tion, declared ' against ‘government. ownershxp of . railroads and in favor of = | ‘the Eisch-Cummins. bill. #But'T am here to tell you,”'says Mr. Marsh, “that Senator Lodge does . ~not 'speak for the major- ity of the Repubhcans of - this. country, who “are | iarmers ‘and workers.” ~The ‘acting . _chairman - {7 of ‘the committee raps - = for ; order and calls ; /JOKE TO THE DELEGATES - 'Nexh:omes ‘alady speaker. She wants the party to go on record for a 1,000-mile “Arcadian way” ' down the stslssxppl valley; with canals, hard-sur- - face roads and parks along the way. The chairman “tells her she can have only five mmntes. “‘The happy jag: gets’up again. . “Jush go ahead,” he tells the lady al the time you wansh (hic), lady.” ; The lady goes ahead. Finally, she ‘tells ‘the dele- .gates, besides the parks along the Arcadian way, there will be bubbling fountains, “water to drink,” and she looks at the bhoozy delegate 2s she says it. Everybody roars with laughter'and she has to N ‘beg them to stop, because they are takmg m,ost of - ‘her five minutes. ' - ; And then I escape. I have heard all T want to. The next. day the subcommittee of 13, out in another room while the committee was holdmg its “hearmgs _brings in the platform. -1t has nothing “in it-about Irish freedom, nothing about prohibition, nothing about the lady speaker’s ‘“Arcadian-way” and the “water to drink.” There were one or two of the labor planks, so hadly mutilated that they “‘can hardly. be recogmzed ‘and a few of the farmers’ planks, but none in the language in which they were presented and one, at least, so badly garbled that .it is absolutely meanmgless i : . But the subcommittee says to the other members “of the resolutions committee substantially this: . - “We 13 men have worked hard on this platform.. There isn’t time to draw it over. You’d better ap- - ‘prove-it qmck so ‘we can get up to the conventmn with it.” = The resoiutlons committee adds Just one plank— . something about Hawaii which no one knew: any- thing about except the Hawaiian delegate. And " then the resolutions committee hurries the platform up to the Waitmg convention. How much consider- 4 atxon the conventlon gave the plat:form I told before ,‘ mms 7 d\QMUE% 5 A Sl . !,;. -—-Drawn expressly for l:he Leacfer by W. C.. Morns. & PAGE FIVE But it is evident that Marsh has ° "‘Take (hic) What F armers Got A Companson, Plank by Plank, With What ~They Asked AST week the Leader pubhshgd a sum- mary of what farmers’ organizations, . which appeared at Chicago, asked the Republican convention to. put in' its platform. ' Below is a comparison of what the farmers asked and what they got the exact language of the planks, in each in- stance, being quoted ‘wherever the wording is im- portant, Farmers’ plank—“We recognize agriculture as the fundamental industry and we pledge ourselves to give it p\ractlcal and adequate representatxon in the cabinet and in the appomtment of commissions and governmental officials.” - Proposed by National Board of Farm Organizations. Republican plank—“The farmes is the backbone of the nation.” For “practical and adequate farm representation in the appomtment of governmental officials and’commissions.” Notice that the promise of farmer representatlon -in the president’s cabinet is carefully cut out. However, this plank, recognizing the right of farm- ers, as a class, to be represented in the govern- ‘ment, is'a wonderful concession to secure from the “standpat Republican bosses. Because Nonpartisan league farmers have insisted that they are entitled to representation in the gevernment, as a class, they haye been charged with fsetting class' against class” and ‘“trying to establish a Sov1et form of government.” Farmers’ 'plank—“We pledge to all farmers the full, free and unquestioned right of co-operative _marketing of their farm products and purchase of . ‘their supplies and protection against -discrimina- tion.” - Proposed by Farmers’ National council and National Board of Farm Organizations. Republican plank—For “the right to form co- “operative associations for marketing their products ‘and protectlon against discrimination.” This plank is meaningless because farmers have the right to form co-operative associations now, but ‘they are arrested fined and. jailed when they en- deavor to fix their prices outside .of an association, - PLATFORM MAKERS DODGE QUESTION OF PACKER CONTROL Farmers’ plank—“We pledge effective national control oyer the packers.” = Proposed by Farmers’ National ‘council and Natlonal Board of Farm Or- ganizations, < Repubhcan platform——Nothmg " Farmers’ plank—*“We pledge leglslatlon that will effectively gheck and reduce the growth and evils of farm tenancy. We pledge the perpetuation and strengthening of the federal farm loan system, the s improvement of facilities for loans on farm com- modities and the inaugu- ration of a sysfem for co- operative personal credit that will enable farmers to ‘secure - short-time credit on more favorable terms.” ' ‘Proposed - by Farmers’> National coun- cil and National Board of Farm Organizations. - * Republican - planks — For “the «pthorization of an association for the ex- / tension of personal cred- .|Q:"\\_\ loan act will be sc¢ ad- ministered as to Zacili- tate the acquisition of farm land by those -de- siring to become owners | + and proprietors, and thus minimizé the ‘evils of farm tenancy, and . to furnish such long-time credit- as' farmers may need to finance adequate- ly their larger and long- time production opera- hons 2% This plank shows that (Continued on page 10) R it” and “the federalfarm '