Life, 1928-06-28 · page 5 of 35
Life — June 28, 1928 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Will Rogers column satirizes the 1928 Democratic National Convention. Rogers criticizes the party's infighting, particularly Southern delegates' concerns about slavery and race relations. He mocks Mencken (the journalist H.L. Mencken, referenced as someone attempting to influence the party platform) for his literary pretensions while claiming ignorance about political reality. Rogers appears skeptical of the party's nominee selection process, noting numerous candidates and platforms under discussion. He's particularly critical of the South's demands regarding racial issues, suggesting their political demands are unreasonable. The cartoon below ("Mencken Proffers The Brows") likely mocks Mencken's intellectual posturing during convention debates. Rogers employs his characteristic folksy criticism of political hypocrisy and backroom dealings.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Democratic Conventio Watt we are still here, I wrote you last week that I was here to show my touch with the common people, by coming and mingling right with "em, and it has even turned out to be more truth than I thought. They are commoner than I figured. But | don’t care how common they are —they ain't any commoner than I am. Since I went into Politics I have just lost what little dignity and self respect I eer had, and I’m even beginning to look lke a Deligate. 1 don't know how much longer we will be here. Nota word has been heard from Al Smith saying whether he will choose to run if nominated. But his sup- porters are hopeful. Course soon as that over we can go home. Things have gone off mighty quiet down here, The heat and the Protestatism got to a few of them, but a few of the coler headed Infidels carried them out and a couple of swigs of “Jack Brandy” revived “om. There has been more talk here about {Bthe Platform than there was about the (fan, That may be on account of there oaly being one man, and many platforms. Iam just a sitting tight waiting to sec what they do, and things look mighty bright for the old Anti Bunks. I think we can pick up everybody at Candidate Cold by WILL ROGERS this convention that don’t get anything themselves, just like we did up at the moneyed Convention. I hear an awful lot of kicks about that guy Hoover the Republicans nominated, and you will hear a lot after this is over about this one. In fact, there seem to be a lot of people around here named Heflin who ain't entirely satisfied with the way things have been going. These Southerners all want to know how my Anti Bunk party stands on the slavery question. So I am coming out in n MENCKEN. PROFFERS Leaves Our favor of it, I told ‘em if the South wanted to practically own and make Negroes do the work down here that I thought they had as much right as the North do with the Whites. So I think that stand will get us some votes. Mencken has kinder been nosing around trying to get into our Party, He claims that he is at the head of a bunch that have never landed anywhere yet. He says there is less against our Party than either of the others for we haven't had the chance to make the bloomers they have. He claims he can give us a Literary standing that would read like a Ugene Oneil first night. Now he has got some smart people allright. They read everything that each other writes. But the thing that I told Mencken was worrying me, was, Do they know anything? He said he dident know that they did, But that they were a harmless bunch, and that if we ever did land them like he did, they would never know enough to leave us. Henry is a nice boy and he wouldent be a bad man to make our Keynote speech, He would have so many big words in there that the people that fol- lowed it would think we at least stood for Webster anyhow. THE "BROWS* comicbooks.com