The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-06-28
La TOILETTE ON THE
R00REVELT CAMPAING
Senator Declares the Colonel Is Re-
sponsible for Dividing of the
Progressives.

Washington, June IS. Senator La
Toilette has written the following edi-
torial in the current number of La Fol-
lette's Weekly:
| "Until Roosevelt came into the open
as a candidate for the presidency five
months ago, there was strong and rap
idly growing progressive movement with
in the Republican party. 1t was based
upon clearly defined principles. 1t stood
forth as the representative of modern
political thought on fundamental democ-
racy. 1t had assumed national proper
tions. 1t was united
Into this movement. when it gave
promise of national success, Roosevelt
projected his ambition to be president
third time He spent weeks carefully
planning a spontaneous CALI for himself.
He. responded by announcing that he
would be receptive candidate. His
candidacy began to drag. He and his
friends were in despair Then came his
defeat in North Dakota. He became
desperate.
AN enormous campaign fund was
raised. Headquarters were opened in
New York, Washington, Chicago and
states East and West. Newspaper writ
ers were engaged at large prices to boom
his candidacy. Special trains were hired
and the receptive candidate started in
frantic pursuit of the nomination. In
the history of American politics, there
has never been in a primary campaign
for presidential nomination an approach
to the extrayagant expenditures made in
his campaign. Men notoriously identified
with the steel trust and the harvester
trust became his most active. supporters.
Leading reactionaries, stand-patters, and
political bosses of the Hanna and Quay
sort became his closest political friends
and representatives in many states.
"a number of the new recruits to the
Republican progressive cause, men, who
before 1909, with three or four excep-
tions, had either been Indifferent or OPP
posed to the progressive movement be-
came the noisiest supporters of Roose-
welt the Winner 1t mattered not to
them that Roosevelt had co-operated
with Aldrich on legislation during the
entire seven years he was president.
They forgot that it was only when
Roosevelt was out of office and in Africa
through the united efforts of men who
for years had been fighting special inter
ests that the progressive cause became
a national movement That Roosevelt
was for Taft in 1910, when Taft was
denouncing all progressives as pirates
and traitors, that he waited until little
more than year ago, balancing the
chances before deciding whether TO cast
in his lot with the progressives in this
presidential year, counted for nothing
with the class of progressives who want
ed to 'win'-not real progressive vic
tory-just victory.
''And they did win precisely that kind
of victory They carried overwhelm-
ingly the great standpa states of I'LL
nois and Pennsylvania. That stamped
the Roosevelt candidacy with its true
character. No real progressive could
have secured anything like such vote in
either of those two states. II had, how
ever, the outward seeming of success,
the sort of success that intoxicates-th
catches the crowd II enabled Roosevelt
to win in two or three really progressive
states. Fortunately, it did not enable
him to secure the nomination which
WOuIu nave compromised the progressive
movement and defeated real achievement
for years.
Upon Theodore Roosevelt and his fol- |
lowers rests the responsibility of having
divided the progressives in their first
national contest. Stimulated by an over
desire to win, they denounced |
loyalty to conviction and principle as
stubborn selfishness. In the convention |
they put forward no platform-no is
sues. They made no fight against the |
platform adopted. They |
vulgar personalities and the
coarse epithets of the prize ring for the |
serious consideration of great economic |
problems and for the time being brought |
ridicule and contempt upon great cause.
But the progressive movement does
not consist of few self-constituted lead /
ers. 1t consists of millions of thoughtful |
citizens drawn together by common |
belief in certain principles. They will per-
NIT no combination of special interests |
and political expediency to secure con-
troll of the progressive cause, which is
TO redeem democracy and re-
store government to the people,