The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-07


the convention of the national pro-
gressive party today by Theodore
Roosevelt: IL embodies all his ideas of
public policies aud virtually win tie
the platform on which he will make
his campaign:
To you, men and women who have
come here to this great city OF this
great state formally to launch a new
party, a party OF the people of the
whole Union, the national progressive
party. ! extend my hearty greeting. |
You are taking a bold and greatly |
needed step for the service of our be-
loved country. The old parties are
husks, with no real soul within either,
divided on artificial lines. boss ridden
and privilege ge-controlled, each a jun !
BILE OF incongrnous elements. and
neither daring 10 speak out wisely and |
fearlessly what should be said on the |
vital Issues of the day, This new
movement In movement Of truth. |
sincerity. and wisdom. movement |
which proposes to put at the serv-
ice Of all our people H. collective
power of the people. through their
governmental agencies. alike In the ma
tion and In the several states. We
propose boldly to face the real and
great questions Of the dav and not
skillfully to evade them as do the old
parties We propose To raise aloft n
standard 10 which all honest men can
repair and under which all can fight.
no matter what their past political df-
farences II they are content to face
the future and no longer 40 dwell
among the dead issues Of the mast.
We propose to nut forth n platform
which shall not he platform Of the
ordinary md insinoere kind hut shall
he contract with the people: and.
~ tho peon,e accent this contract nv
uniting lie In rower. we SHAH hold our
selves under honorable obligation to
eu'fil, every promise " contains rs
,ovallv rs " " were nctnallv enforce
able under the penalties of the law.
No Hope From Old Party Machines.
The prime need today Is to face
the fact that we are now In the midst
of a great economic evolution. There
IL urgent necessity of applying both
common sense and the highest ethical
standard to this movement for better
economic conditions among the mass of
our people II we are to make 1t one
of healthy evolution and not one OF
revolution. 1t Is, from the standpoint
OF our country. wicked as well as fool
ish longer 10 refuse to face the real
them can we go forward: and TO do
this we must break up the old party
organizations and obliterate the old
cleavage lines on the dead issues in
herited from 80 years ago. our fight
IL a fundamental fight against both of
the old corrupt party machines, for
both are under the dominion of the
plunder league of the professional poll
itIcians who are controlled and sus-
4 ul,.A t,xy hAnnrtntnrtna
privilege and reaction. How close Is
the alliance between the two machines
is shown by the attitude Of that por-
tion OF those northeastern newspapers,
including the majority of the great
dailles in all the northeastern cities
Boston. Buffalo. Springfield. Hartford,
philadelphia. and. above all. New York
which are controlled by or repre-
sentative of the interests which, In
popular phrase, are conveniently
grouped together as the Wall street
interests. The large majority of these
papers supported Judge Parker for the
presidency In 1904: almost unani-
mously they supported Mr.. Taft for the
republican nomination this year; the
large majority are now supporting
Professor Wilson for the election.
Some Of them still prefer Mr.. TAFT To
Mr.. Wilson. but all make either Mr..
lax OF MI NlIHoH ~ 'H'i'''
and one of the iudicrous feature of the
campaign is that those papers support
ing Professor Wilson show the most
Jealous partisanship for Mr.. Tart
whenever they think his interests are
jeopardized by the progressive move-
ment--that for instance. any electoIs
will obey the will of the majority OF
the republican voters at the primaries,
and vote for me instead of obeying the
AZ I..r ia
Guggenheim combination by voting for
Mr.. Taft No better proof can he
given than this of the fact that the
fundam mental concern of the privileged
interests IL to beat the new party.
Some of them would rather beat II
with Mr.. Wilson; others would beat
IL with Mr.. Taft: but the difference
between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Taft they
consider as trivial, as Il mere matter
of personal preference, Their real
fight IL for either, as against the pro-
gressives. They represent the allied
reactionaries of the country. and they
are against the new party because to
their unerring vision II js evident that
the real danger to privilege comes
from. the new party. and from the new
party alone. The men who presided
over the Baltimore and the Chicago
conventions, and the great bosses VII"
cOntrOlIeu tue tWo cotiNou'io'i', sN' :
Root and Mr.. Parker. Mr.. Barnes and
Mr.. Murphy. Mr.. Penrose and Mr.
Taggart. Mr.. Gnggenheim and Mr.
Sullivan, differ from one another of
course on certain points But these
are the differences which one corpora
ton lawyer has with another corpora
tion lawyer when acting for different
corporations. They come together at
once as against common enemy
when the dominion OF both Is threat
aned by the supremacy Of the people
OF the United States, now aroused to
the need of national alignment on
the vital economic issues of this gem
Grafton.
Neither the republican nor the DEM
ocratic platform contains the slightest
promise of approaching the great
problems of today either with under
standing or good faith; and yet never
was there greater need in this nation
than now Of understanding, and of ac-
tion taken in good faith, on the part
OF the men and the organizations
shaping our governmental policy.
Moreover, our needs are such that
there should be coherent action among
those responsible for the conduct of
national affairs and those responsible
for the conduct of state affairs: be-
ca,aa our aim should be the same in