Owen, Simmons

Many a dubious Democrat has mumbled gravely, "I am a Democrat," when asked if he would bolt Nominee Smith. Robert Latham Owen, oldtime Democrat, visited Hoover headquarters in Manhattan last week and announced distinctly: "I am in favor of Herbert Hoover." Then he read a long, prepared laudation of the Hoover career and character. He was asked if he felt, as a Democrat, that he could not stand for Nominee Smith. "I won't stand for him! That's worse!" cried Bolter Owen. "I am an American citizen and not a coward. I'll be damned if I'll stand for the Tammanyizing of the Government of the United States!" Nominee Smith took the news calmly. Bolter Owen used to have, and might again have, a large following. "Naturally, I am sorry," said Nominee Smith. ... "... My greatest regret comes from one of the reasons advanced, because it compels me to question his sincerity. In 1924 . . . Senator Owen called to see me at the Manhattan Club and asked me to use my influence to secure for him the support of the Tammany delegation and stated that, with that support, he felt he could get considerable delegates from other States for himself as a candidate for the nomination for President. . . ." This reply did not dim the joy of Senator George Moses, the Hooverizer beside whose desk Mr. Owen was standing when he performed his "bolt." Senator Moses presented Mr. Owen to newsgatherers thus: "Gentlemen, behold the representative of the aroused Democratic sentiment in the border states." And Mr. Owen answered Nominee Smith by saying: "I was never a serious candidate [for President] and there never was any likelihood that Tammany would support me." The chief significance of "bolts" lies in the volume of votes which they may involve. The volume they represent is a less ponderable matter, especially when the bolter is out of office. Mr. Owen, part Cherokee Indian, is mostly Virginia patrician. He was born and educated in Virginia. He went to Oklahoma, with which State his name has long been connected, when he was still young and the region was a Territory. He grew potent, first as an Indian agent, then as one of Oklahoma's first U. S. Senators (1907-25). As a member of the Senate Finance Committee he helped frame the Federal Reserve and Farm Loan Acts. His horizon was widened by his experience on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. He became an intimate of President Wilson. After the War, his interests definitely transcended Oklahoma affairs. He had an organized boom to inherit the Wilson mantle at the National Democratic Convention of 1920. He all but joined the La Follette movement four years later, after his "not serious" desire for the Democratic nomination had been balked a second time. "I am and always have been an Insurgent," he once said. In 1925, Mr. Owen left politics and entered the employ of Oilman Harry Ford Sinclair. He went abroad and after inspecting Germany, gave an interview exonerating Germany and Wilhelm II from all War blame. When he came home he settled down in Washington. His Oklahoma days were over and he now looks back on them much as returned and retired Englishmen revive their careers in the British provinces and colonies. From the point of view of actual votes, the Owen "bolt" seemed far less important, last week, than another departure from the Democratic ranks--the resignation of Senator Simmons of North Carolina from the Democratic National Committee. No explanation accompanied the resignation. Senator Simmons had denied that he would "bolt" his party. He was seriously ill and perhaps felt that his condition was sufficient explanation for his act. Nevertheless, uncertainty lingered because Senator Simmons, small of body but great of voice, bitterly opposed the Smith nomination and Senator Simmons has been North Carolina's boss Democrat for some 40 years. He it was who, as a young man, rescued the State from a coalition of Republicans, Populists and Negroes. He it might be whose departure from control of the North Carolina Democracy might open the way for a coalition of Anti-Smith Democrats, alert Republicans, Anti-Salooners and W. C. T. U.'s to Hooverize the State. Smith men hoped not and began casting about for Senator Simmons's successor.