Californians Both

In the springtime the buds of the fruit trees swell and swell. Finally there comes a point where they cannot swell longer, and they burst-- the peach tree into warm pink bloom, the apple modestly, into flushed white flower. So is it with Hiram W. Johnson and with William G. McAdoo.

For this is the political Springtime and "receptive candidates," who were the buds of yesterday, must burst betimes into active bloom unless they wish to wither with a canker of disappointment in their hearts.

Hiram W. Johnson. So the Senator from California, sojourning temporarily in Chicago, the home of his chief backer, Albert D. Lasker, invited reporters to call on him at his room in the Drake Hotel at 5 o'clock of an afternoon. When they came he served them each with a mimeographed statement. In it was a summary of what the Senator believes to be wrong with the country and how he would right it, to which was appended the words: " Upon these as fundamentals . . . I will make my appeal. In every state the contest will be waged."

The Senator's platform is based on the thesis that " there is discontent abroad in the land; there is threatened disintegration in the Republican Party. . . . Two warring philosophies of government." One is " ultraconservative, materialistic . . . vigorously contesting every human advance." The other is "idealistic and forward looking," avoiding ultra-conservatism and ultra-radicalism,"mindful of existing rights but recognizing conditions and mankind's gradual progress."

Mr. Johnson's concrete proposals are: 1) that there ought to be Presidential preference primaries in all states; 2) that we ought to establish no connections with the League of Nations or its subsidiaries.

He added: " I question not men now, but their philosophy of government. That which obtains at Washington does not fit present-day needs. Ultra-conservatism there rules; Progressivism challenges it."

William G. McAdoo. Senator Johnson launched his candidacy in Chicago as he progressed across the country from California to Washington. On the same day, Mr. McAdoo, crossing the continent in the reverse direction, was in Omaha, just having passed through Chicago. One of his followers at the latter city issued a statement: " Mr. McAdoo has been in Chicago for several days . Men and women . . . urged him to announce promptly his candidacy for the Democratic nomination . . . Mr. McAdoo can and will speak for himself when the time to speak arises . . . That the whole country is calling loud for leadership is manifest. We affirm that Mr. McAdoo is the one great figure now available in our party. William G. McAdoo has all the qualities of a national leader and a great executive. He is a man of action and a man of decision . . . The supporters of Mr. McAdoo intend to nominate him and to elect him to the Presidency."

This statement being placed before Mr. McAdoo in Omaha, he said simply: "Mr. Rockwell has stated the situation accurately."

Mr. McAdoo's announcement was hardly more than an admission; it was not coupled with a platform. He promised that in the course of several speeches which he was planning his position would be made clear. One point of his stand, however, he expressed; he favors tax reduction and a soldiers' bonus. Said he: "We can have tax reduction and do justice to the American soldier as well, by treating adjusted compensation [the bonus] as a part of the War cost and funding it through an issue of 50-year bonds. The interest and sinking fund charge should not exceed 80 to 90 millions per annum. This would not prevent a reduction in taxes."

The Significance. The announcement of the candidacies of Senator Johnson and Mr. McAdoo on the same day is generally, and probably rightly, attributed to the stir that was caused by Mr. Mellon's proposal for a tax cut. The Mellon proposal was one of the most telling political moves of the season, and its reception was a nine days' political wonder; to Hiram Johnson's Presidential ambitions it had more meaning than to William G. McAdoo's, because the proposal is generally considered a feather in Mr. Coolidge's cap, and Mr. Johnson must fight Mr. Coolidge in the Republican Convention.

It was generally surmised that Mr. Johnson's announcement would be followed by announcements from other candidates, perhaps Governor Pinchot of Pennsylvania and Senator La Follette of Wisconsin. There is much talk of Mr. Johnson's hold on the Progressives having weakened because he followed the " regulars " too closely in the last Congress. At any rate, both Californians, following this first bloom of their candidacies, must pass through a long and hazardous growing season before the ripe fruit of election can hang from their laden boughs.