(See front cover)
Time fled, and still the G. O. P. knew not whom it would choose to oppose the settled choice of the Democracy next November. The uncertainty was greater than ever following Secretary Mellon's declaration last week that "many men may develop in the convention, for you never know what will happen" (TIME, May 21).
Candidate Hoover, the Administration's busy but not supremely happy Beaver Man, waded into a trout-stream in Pennsylvania and for three days indulged pensively in the Sport of Presidents. He used the subtle, sporting fly, however, instead of the homely, almost infallible worm.
Candidate Lowden, the determined Farmers' Friend, returned to Chicago after visiting Washington and Manhattan, and indulged in the sport of candidates. He enunciated an Issue. He paced the floor of his office, shook his silvery poll, pounded his desk, even smote listening newsgatherers on thigh and chest to publish his point.
In Manhattan, Mr. Lowden had said: "I am not going to do anything to create bad blood." But in Chicago he was excited and emotional over what he said was the East's shocking disregard of Farm Relief. The McNary-Haugen farm bill, containing the "equalization fee," talisman of the Lowden campaign, lay on President Coolidge's desk awaiting a probable veto. Mr. Lowden intensified the political significance of the bill by shouting:
"I do not want the nomination unless the Republican party meets the farm issue fairly and squarely!. . . I have no hankering for the kind of fame that rests on an unsuccessful Presidential campaign!. . . Agriculture realized the moral and economical wrong of Slavery and joining with Business it created the Republican party. I feel that there is again a crisis and unless this partnership [Agriculture & Business] is maintained now, the candidate named at Kansas City will have a hard road to travel!"
Some observers thought that this statement actually raised an Issue—the first
Issue of the campaign in either party—and that it fixed the lines of force in the coming G. O. P. convention. Others viewed it as only a temporary resurgence of an undercurrent which can be diffused in the convention and submerged afterwards.* No one suggested that it bettered Candidate Lowden's chance of being nominated but all were agreed that it threatened Candidate Hoover.
There are three factions in the Republican party: Hooverism, anti-Hooverism and the Administration. Of these, Hooverism is the most popular, as demonstrated by the primary elections. The Administration is the most potent, by virtue of its record and occupancy. Anti-Hooverism is miscellaneous but its chief hero is Candidate Lowden, because he has a definite program for a large, definite group of voters. That this program is more important than personal success to Candidate Lowden is not doubted, except by such cynics as could read "sour grapes" between the lines of his conditional renunciation last week.