CONVENTION TIME IN THE U.S.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 468, 11 June 1948, Page 14

CONVENTION TIME IN THE U.S.

Washington. So the States say who shall vote in Federal elections. Over half the States have literacy: tests; some have property qualifications. The Constitution says that there shall be no dis¢erimination "on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude," but several Southern States have adopted qualifications, generally in the form of a poll-tax, which effectively disfranchises a majority of Negro voters and a large proportion of poor white citizens as well. Each year, however, a larger number of Negroes in the South are voting, partly as a result of organised movements to get them to pay their poll taxes and avail themselves of the ballot. How are the party conventions organised? The conventions are composed of party delegates from all the States. Each State is allowed twice the number ef delegates as its total number of members of Congress. They number about a thousand. But this is not all. A party convention attracts other people from all over the Union, and it is necessary that it be held in a big city which ean provide a very large meeting place and accommodate all the visitors.

Haven’t what they call primaries something to do with the conventions? What exactly are primaries? Primaries are elections held in about a third of the States to select party delegates to the National Convention, and at the same time offer party members in the State an opportunity of voting for a possible nominee for the Presidential election. Men intending to offer themselves for the presidential nomination by the National Convention may enter these primaries, but they are not obliged to do so. Primar-

ies provide a preliminary ---- test of the popularity of different candidates who will come before the National Convention. The result of primaries pledges State delegates to certain candidates, byt not irrevocably. How does the Convention proceed? You must visualise a convention not only as an assembly to choose party can-

didates for the Presidency and VicePresidency and draft the party platform, but as entertainment. "These meetings are tremendously dramatic," says an American textbook, The American Citizen. "Packed halls draped in flags, the delegates under their State banners, thousands of spectators begging

to get in, bands playing, ' speeches, enthusiasm, demonstrations, some of them spontaneous, all add to produce one of the most colourful shows in American politics." An English exposi- = writes of the convention proceedings s "frenzied." The galleries may hold 20,000 spectators. "The room

resounds to the music of giant organs, and bands play in the intermissions. At the mention of the various prospective candidates the spectators break into wild cheering, which in recent years has grown more or less competitive with each faction believing that its approval, as a test of loyalty, must be noisier and more ‘prolonged than that of any other. At the Democratic Convention of 1932 the Roosevelt contingent paraded 43 minutes, while the Smith contingent felt obliged to continue their demonstration for 52 minutes." But the actual balloting? Party business is attended to firstthe appointment of party officers for the following four years, including the National Committee, and the drafting of the party platform. The candidate for President must receive a majority vote, and if the President in office is a candidate, the choice may be made at once. If not, balloting may go on for a long while. Usually nine or ten ballots are sufficient, but in the Democratic Convention of 1924, when a two-thirds vote was required, 103 ballots were held. Behind the scenes there is great activity. The party managers are powerful. Their aim is to choose a man who will win the election, and to this end they consider many factors. One is the State from which candidates come. They like a man from a State that sends a large contingent to the Electoral College. Two strong candidates may bring about an impasse, and a compromise be sought with a third candidate. One of these "dark horses" was Harding in 1920. To break the deadlock on that occasion a little group of men met "in a smokefilled room of an hotel and named the. next President of the United States," And the Vice-President? Is He Important? ‘ The candidate for Vice-President is balloted for after the President. Normally the Vice-President of the United States is not a very important part of. the political system, though ex officio. he is Speaker of the Senate. But if the President dies, be becomes President. That was how Mr. Truman reached White House. The Convention usually chooses a candidate who has influence in States where the presidential candidate is weak. Or the fact that his political views "balance" those of the other runner may count. ~Theodore Roosevelt was deliberately side-tracked into the Vice-Presidency by the party managers, because he was a troublesome man. The President died, and Roosevelt took his place. He proved one of the strongest Presidents in American history. When it is all over, a "notification committee" is appointed, composed of one delegate from each State, and five or six weeks later the group travels to the home of the successful Presidential candidate, and with great ceremony informs him of his nomination. But surely he knows this already? Of course he does, but England isn’t. the only country where picturesque survivals are to be fuund. This American custom originated in the days of the horse transport and no telegraphs, but it is still solemnly kept up. And after this? : A furious nation-wide campaign till early in November, when the popular voting takes place. The new President, if he is new, takes office, early in the following January.

NATIONAL FILM UNIT haem! tec has a unique club — the City Mission’s Darby and Joan Club, opened recently for elderly men and women. Just how well the club looks after its members is shown in the National Film Unit’s Weekly Review No. 353, which will be. released on June 11. There is no subscription for the Darby and Joan Club, the only condition | of membership is age. A well-cooked meal pleasant surroundings, comfortable sitting rooms, a library, and a games room are a few of the amenities the club offers. In the pretty sitting room old ladies may entertain their friends to afternoon tea. Nothing is forgotten that could help to brighten the lives of old people. In this way the Rev. Harry Squires, City Missioner, who brought the club into being, has sought to solve the greatest bugbear of old age-loneliness. The other item on the reel is "Open-Cast Mining," showing mining of coal that lies near the surface instead of deep underground. This open-cast mining is being done on the West Coast.