New-York tribune., 1911-01-08
tFrom The Tribune Bureau.I

personal, PROGRESSISTS."-
Of the methods Of the purely personal
proeressists" in Iowa and Wisconsin has
excited some interest in Washington and
turned attention once more TO the political
prospects of 1912. Senator La Fonette' III
Wisconsin. and Senator Cummins, in Iowa.
have been making eloquent appeals to their
followers to adopt popular Presidenua'
primary system whereby delegates TO tne
national conventions shall be named by the
voters without the employment or distric'
and state conventions, or the delegates
chosen In the old way shall be instructed
by the voters The Wisconsin Senator mas
solemnly informed the people of his state
that wall Street has already chosen the
Presidential candidates of the two great
parties for 1912" and while the Wisconsin
prophet names no names, the comparative
certainty OF Mr.. Taft's denomination by the
Republican party leaves little doubt as 10
La Follette's meaning so far as that party
is concerned. The Democrats in Washing
ton express surprise that the Wisconsin pa
triot should be SO much better informed re-
garding the candidate chosen for their
party than themselves, and are hoping that
when he returns TO the capital he VIII TAKE
them into his confidence. They also eX-
rress grave apprehension that after La FOL
lette's declaration both Governor Harmon
Of Ohio and Governor Wilson Of New Jer-
sey may feel some reluctance in accepting
nomination thus beclouded in advance
and intimate that in its extremity the
Democracy may be compelled to turn TO the
Wisconsin patriot himself who has voted
with the Democrats in the Senate so often
and who is so at variance with the views
of a ma jority Of his party mat his alleged
Republcanism can hardly be regarded as
a disqualification for leadership of the
party made famous by William Jennings
BRYAN and Charles F. Murphy.
GENUINE PROGRESS1VES.-To the
genuine Progressive Republicans the course
OF Messrs. La Toilette and Cummlns Is the
occasion of regret, as is also the sugges-
ton put forth by certain OF the extremists
in Washington that they may bolt the
ticket II President Taft is renominateo'
A "prosressist" according to prominent
member Of the House who votes with the
insurgents, is one who advocates progress
siye policies but who is so blinded by per-
sopal ambition that he is always seeking
20 nromote his personal ends rather than
tbe success OF those policies. A Progress
sive is one who places the progressive poll
cies first and his personal welfare second
The Progressives, while asserting that
President Taft has not been so progress
sive as they had hoped he would he, are
convinced that with the ground already
gained the first essential to the promotion
OF those policies is a continuance or Re
publican rule. They profess gratihcauon
with the progress Mr.. Taft has made and
believe that his leadership is becoming
more and more progressive. They reel
that opposition to his denomination would
so split the party as to insure a Demo-
cratic victory in 1912, and. therefore, they
will be for Mr. Taft in the national con-
vention Of that year. They fully realize
that success for the plans of Messrs. La
Toilette and Cummins would merely make
for chaos in the national convention and
defeat In the election. Senator La Toilette,
they believe would control the delegation
Of his state were II selected or instructed
by popular vote and they think Senator
Cummins would control the Iowa deega-
ton, but. they ask. to what good end?
They believe that the nomination OF La
Toilette would mean inevitable defeat at
the polls, and they are disposed to believe
that a majority Of the voters have not
made sufficient progress to be willing TO
accept Mr. Cummins President. They
assert that probably Governor Stubbs of
Kansas could control his delegation. that
Senator Crawford could control the South
Dakota delegation. that Governor Johnson
could probably control the California dele
cation, that Senator Beveridge might con-
troll the Indiana delegation and some of
them profess TO believe that Clifford Pin
chot could control the New York delega-
tion on popular vote But they realize
fully that no one Of these men has at
tanned Presidential size or could command
sufficient number Of votes in the Elec-
toral College TO insure his election, while a
convention made up of the personal fol-
lowers Of these enterprising and deter
mined progressists would more nearly re-
semble some Of the circuses which the
Democracy has been pleased TO term its
national conventions than anything for
which the Republican party has been re-
sponsibe since 1856
LOOKING FORWARD.-There is no
doubt that a majority Of the progressive