The Washington herald., 1912-10-27
HERBERT KNOX SMITH

| The Republican party In its latter days
had attracted. as the party Of strong
Federal power. the support Of the larger
property interests This was entirely
natural. Up to about 1900. tho Fedaral
power. so far as 1t had relations to bust
ness. was directed toward the mere ad-
vance Of material prosperity. with little
or no regard to the proper distribution
thereof. or to its effect on the citizen.
But the events Of 19Ol-1e0e resulted In q
deep cleavage in both parties, and espe-
cially in the Republican party. The re-
volt of the large property interests
brought on by the Roosevelt administra-
ton was the beginning Of the split. 1t
was really a division along the underlying
Progressive-C Conservative line: and 1t took
place in both parties. though in differing
degrees. In the Republican party it Wild
bened steadily, though under the surface
during the Roosevelt administration
President Taft's course. though the op-
posite Of his predecessors. increased the
breach Why he took the course he did
Is to me one of the unsolved political
mysteries. Whatever his reasons, he
adopted from the start a new policy. 1n
fact. to those of US who lived in Washing
ton and were in the service at the time.
mere change, for the sole purpose of max
ing a change. seemed to be in the atmos-
phere Of the White House after March 8.
1902 He did not. as did President Roose-
welt. call to his support public opinion.
and rely on 1t in his relations with Con-
gress, which was then far behind public
opinion. He apparently preferred to deal
with Congress alone. to play the game
with them. their own game; and with the
best of motives he must have failed, and
did fail. The old Cannon-Aldrich machine
mastered him, fooled him, and practically
committed him to an alliance. from which.
by the summer Of 1910. and after the sign
ing Of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill. there
was for him no escape. The old guard
Iregained complete control of the govern
ment machinery. Then came the Progress
| sive revolt from the Western Progressive
Congressman. the overthrow of the Can
non regime in the House and an open
| chasm in the Republican party. President
Taft took the side OF the old guard in
this division: by this time he was too far
committed to do anything else. He openly
opposed and read out OF the party the
Progressives. and the division within the
party became irrevocable.
To discuss the political future requires
prophecy. We Progressives believe that
in the election next November our party
will become. if not the first, at least the
| second party. leaving the Republicans a
bad third. In my view. that outcome, at
iedst, Is no" CERTAIN SnOuld thlS De tne
case, the Republican party will substan-
TALLY disappear SHORTLY after November.
1872 II. with all the prestige OF the past.
with fun control Of the machinery, II can
not maintain itself even as second. II is
doomed when once these facts are ex-
posed to the public. The Progressive party
Will then grow swiftly stronger. because
our people are progressive That is TO
say. the protection of property rights.
vested interests, the influencing OF gov
ernment by special interests. has IN this
country been carried to an extreme and
| the swing OF the pendulum Is now in the
other direction as is in fact the case all
over the civilized world. The Progressive
party will therefore leap forward. once
its mere political strength is demonstrat-
ed There will remain. by 1914, only two
great national parties, Progressives and
Democrats. While the Democrats prob
| ably will not be by that time avowedly
the conservative party, the rise Of their
opponents. the Progressfves, will tend to
| force them toward that position. More
| strongly still. however. will the basic
States rights doctrine work in that direc-
ton. As have already stated, the prop
| erty interests, the corporations. began
in 1901 to leave the Republican ranks.
against them. rather than for them. as
had been the rule heretofore. In their
minds, their one bulwark against the new
Federalism will be State sovereignty, a
change OF venue, the appeal to a local
power that they know influence, and have
little fear of. the retreat from the strong
Federal power behind the shield Of the
more amenable, or at least less potent
local. and State power.