The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-31
ORGANIZE AGAINST MIR. TAFT
ALL PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICAN
 SENATORS IN NEW LEAGUE
With Aid of Insurgent Representa-
 tives and Outsiders Will Try to Gain Control of National Conven- ton-WouId Name Progressive No Concession to "Solid South."

Washington, August 31-A progress sive Republican organization, embrac- ing in it's membership, the thirteen Republican progressive Senators, most of the Republican insurgent members of the House and a number of prom inent men throughout the country, has opened headquarters in Washington, for the purpose of making a fight for control of the next Republican Na- tional Convention which will nomin- ate President and a Vfce-President, and make national platform for the party next year. Inferentially, the organization will oppose President Taft's renomination. w. L. Houser, ex-secretary of state of Wisconsin is ing of the organization to-day, Mir. HouSer said:
 ''The object of this organization is to promote progressive Republican policies, and to nominate a Republi- can who can be elected President next year. Our information Nainly indi- dates that, if this is not done, the country will be compelled to face the disaster which usually accompanies a Democratic national Administration. Our campaign will be one of princi- ples, and not personalities, and we propose to make a fight in every State We do not, for instance, concede the
 
 organization has nothing whatever to do with Senator LaFolette's personal affairs or his political welfare, ex- cept in so far as he is a member. I am willing to say now that I am con- fdent we shall control the next Re- publican conv ention."
 MT. Houser said that the progress sive organization had not yet been named, but indicated that it would take the place of or absorb the Na- tional Progressive Lea que, of which Senator Jonathan Bourne of Oregon is the president He said that the organization would be extended to pre- cincts in all States, except those hav- ing a primary for the expression of Presidential preferences, and in those States a Statewide organization would be immediately perfected. Candidates for delegates to the national conven- tion will be put in the field in each district. MT. Houser said the organ ization was already in possession of a and-file Republicans throughout the country indicating that a full-f1edged progressive Republican must be nom mated by the national convention next year or the Democrats would win. The inference conveyed by this cor respondence was that the President could not possibly be reelected.
 ALL THIRTEEN SENATORS
 AGAINST TAFT.
 Pressed as to the actual position of each of the thirteen progressive Sen- ators, at least some of whom have been suspected of leaning toward the of President Taft, MT. Houser declared that all of them had committed themselves to the organ ization. Asked speciaf1callyz concern ing Senator Borah of Idaho he said that Borah would be found among the most prominent workers. The same could be said of Senator Dixon of Montana, who was head of the speak ers' bureau in Chicago in the last Taft campaign. MT. Houser declin- ed to commit himself as to RepubH- cans outside of Congress, but it is ur- derstood that such men as Clifford Pfn- chot, Louis D. Brandeis, James R. Garfield, Rudolph Spreckels, ex-Sena- tor A. J. Beveridge of Indiana, Chas. T. Merriam, Charles R. Crane, and MediM Mccormick of Chicago will be found in the open later.
 Nor would MT. Houser discuss the probable attitude of Theodore Roose- welt, who, while not signing the plat form of principles of the National Progressive League last spring, scoop ed' it by publishing an editorial in the Outlook, embodying the same prin- cipIes it espoused. As to the outlook in various states, MT. Houser said:
 'In Illinois our campaign is already under way. There the national dele gates must be chosen by the precinct and we propose to make fight all along the line. In Octo- Der or November we will have four or five United States Senators and a of members of the House speaking in that State. While State Senator W. C.. Jones the Progressive candidate for Governor, cannot be said to be the candidate of this Or ganization for Governor, he is the head and front of an expression in Illinois of the principles for which we stand.
 ''We do not concede any candidate for the Republican nomination for President to the solid South. There is ample room for a progressive fight in Tennessee and Alabama. Missouri and Kansas and Oklahoma, at least, and I can safely say now that Oka- homa will send progressive delegates to the national convention
 "In New York there is an excellent to divide the delegation. I have @ letter here from the editor of one of the largest agricultural pa- pers published in the East, in which he says that with a fair primary at least 40 per cent. of the delegates from thaa State can be captured for pro- gressive candidate for President North Dakota will hold the first Pres idential preference primary next March. and we shall make a fight there Oregon, Wisconsin, Nebraska and New Jersey have similar laws, and California and Kansas may have within a few months. In each of them we shall make a strong campaign. We intend to do everything in our power to control the next Republican Con- vention, and I am confident we shall do so.''
 MT. Houser said that he expected to "stay on the job'' until the conven- ton nominated a President. Litera, e, including attacks on Canadian is now being distributed.