Nation: DALEY CITY UNDER SIEGE

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Against this pacific array of dissidents, Daley's security forces seemed ludicrously out of proportion. While no one in the mayor's office talked openly, his main fear was the ever-present possibility of rioting in the ghettos. Chicago is the most segregated big city in the U.S., and Daley has been stubbornly insensitive to the needs of the city's blacks—who form nearly one-third of his constituency. Some black militants claimed to be ready to retaliate the first time police moved into black areas in force. "If there is vi olence," said one, "it will be worse, much worse, than anything you've seen —worse than Watts, Detroit or Newark. The brothers are ready."

Conceivably, the mayor's tactics have increased chances of violence. In an at mosphere of tension, with hundreds of policemen drawn from regular beats, the ghettos on the south and west will be ripe for riot. "Anything could happen," says one worried city official who does not sympathize with Daley's orders. "The only thing that would surprise me is if nothing happens."

Purgatory. Even if the protesters suddenly vanished, Chicago would still be a kind of purgatory for conventioneers this week. A week-old strike had stopped 75% of the city's cabs, and drivers were threatening to walk out of city buses. Though a special agreement enabled 200 volunteer electricians to connect phones and television cables in the amphitheatre itself, a strike against Illinois Bell prevented candidates from setting up their own switchboards in hotel headquarters and balked plans by the networks to place live cameras at strategic spots around the city.

At the Conrad Hilton, which calls itself the largest hotel in the world, there were only 75 lines to handle incoming calls for 3,000 guests. Even last week, when only a few delegates had registered, calls were delayed.

A Strong Presence. For all its new paint and bunting—and the $500,000 the city is spending to beautify the area around it—the amphitheatre is inadequate for a party convention. Built in seven hurried months in 1934, the main hall is far smaller than the con vention center the Republicans had in Miami Beach (12,000 seats v. 18,000). Right next to the stockyards the odor can be overpowering. Two mountains of manure, 70 ft. wide and 10 ft. high, are only a few blocks away. Worried that flies might cluster around speakers, creating an unfortunate picture of Dogpatch decay for home viewers, party officials decreed that before any speaker mounts the podium, he must be sprayed with a bug repellent.

It may take more than bug-spray or billy clubs to keep order in Chicago this week. Not since 1864, when the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln in the Southern-leaning city of Baltimore—while federal cannon glared down from the highest point in town—has a national convention met in a city so nervously braced for disruption and violence. Even if the guns and helicopters manage to keep the peace, it seems unlikely that the Democrats will lightly consider holding another convention in Daley City.