FACTIONS ORGANIZE AS CONVENTION APPROACHES

With the organization of factions, groups, and delegations and the development of plots and counter-plots the campaigns of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination at the mock convention next Tuesday are getting well under way. The various campaign managers and committees are working to secure support for Smith, Underwood, or Davis, and coalitions are already being planned to stampede the convention to a "dark horse" in case of a dead-lock. Conspiracy is rife.

The capacity of New Lecture Hall, according to Assistant Comptroller E. S. Emery, is 940. As it is doubtful that more than 150 delegates will be definitely pledged to any candidate, the victory of any one faction will depend largely upon its ability to bring a majority of the mass of unorganized voters into line. A well-organized group will be able to accomplish this where a much larger body with no plan of campaign would fail.

Committees to Plot in Classrooms

The six classrooms downstairs in New Lecture Hall will be used as committee rooms. The big committees of the convention, the Committee on Permanent Organization, the Committee on Credentials, and the Committee on Platform and Resolutions will have their headquarters in these rooms during the convention, as well as the campaign committees of some of the leading candidates. While the delegates are balloting in the convention hall, the campaign committees will be plotting in their headquarters.

The chairmen of the forty-eight state delegations are being picked now by the Committee, on Credentials, and will be announced as soon as the list is complete. These chairmen will preside over their state delegations, be responsible for determining and transmitting the vote of their states to the teller, and will be important factors during the balloting, especially in some of the western states where the state delegations will be small and easily influenced. The campaign committees will also be able to use the state chairmen to lead the fight for their candidates.