Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-10-11
Waganan WabbIy.

AaANOA s-lNOWt Wndl ICdly 10 LlIC
matter with our elusive friend, the GENTLE
man whose nativity, we are told. is of
Cavetown? We mean the Hon. Charles H.
Wagaman, who started. we understand, a
Taft man. and since has. like the accom-
modating chameleon, changed his color to
suit his environment with ease and rapidity
politically unrivaled, alternating between
the piratical hues of the Taftites and the
cerulean purity of the Teddycrats with re-
markable precision. So expert is the gen.
tleman that it is said he can now determine
and assume the exactly proper shade at a
squares distance.
But why won't he tell where he stands
The dispatches inform us that Mr.. Waga-
mans friends appreciate the embarrassing
position in which he finds himself and are
satisfied with his position"
So are we, if he is.
But surely, the gentleman reminds us of
those soul-stirring lines of Longfellow:
standing with reluctant feet,
Where the brook and river meet"
Only brother Charlie doesn't seem to
have made up his political mind as to
which is the brook and which the river
and ooh, the water looks cold
What spectacle for an honest partisan
of either Taft or Teddy to contemplate,
the honorable gentleman from Cavetown
presents. to be sure. He isn't afraid, but,
all the same, he dasn't. He blows hot with
Teddy. and on the other side of his face
he blows chilly with William Howard
That sort of wizard-like dexterity amuses
children. but doesn't appeal to men who
have put away childish things. These are
days of real fighting. Men who have
honor and reputation and standing to
protect stand at Armageddon and battle
for the Lord" and such political courage
and decision is not confined to any party.
always excepting the gentleman who de-
clines to tell where he is AT"
The American voter may make mistakes
sometimes; he may misjudge occasionally
but one thing he never dOes-warm to
shirk. Nor does he respect the man who
is afraid He likes the fighter; the man
of real red blood, who can take chance for
the thing he loves, and who is not embar-
raised by contingencies and remote posi-
bilities. The man who dwells in political
cave is not to an Americans taste. Such
a man is not made of the stuff we can
depend upon to face the shocks of legsla-
tive conflict He might never know. in
pinch, where he stood. There is nothing
in the world more pitiable than an irreso-
lutte man, Oscilating between two feelings
who would willingly unite the two, no matter
how irreconciable they be, provided he
thinks he can wiring a personal profit from
them; and who does not perceive that
nothing can unite them. Imagine such
man in Congress, set to guard the interests
of the two hundred and fifty thousand citi-
zens who live in the Sixth District of Mary
land. We want man in such a place
who is to be depended upon; one who
knows, and is not afraid to tell the world
where he stands. II Mr.. Wa9aman has
within him the stuff that men admire, he
needs to prove it, meeting the issue like
man. He may lose few votes that is
possibility But he will save his own self
respect, and the respect of the good people
of this Congressional District He may risk
the vote of the man who wants to be
regular" If he declares himself for the
new party, but what then Can the flutter
Of the ballot heal the hurt that honor feels
What do the Progressives. who have fol-
lowed Roosevelt out of the Republican
party who have set their faces to the
wilderness and thrown the ilesh-pots away,
think of the gentleman from Cavetown,
who wants their votes for his wabbly per-
sonality. as silent partner" in their red
hot revolt against their former party, and
at the same time to march in the ranks of
their inveterate foes, and to carry the ban
ner of the pirates" who captured their
craft last JuneY viii they stand for that
But what do the Republicans think of
tilCu iCCCil SuiNCiA' tuC BChtiCiiuh mum
CavetOwn Not so long ago. none so loud in
prOtestatiOn of undying loyalty to the in
nermost ideals of progressiveness and the
New Nationality. Is il not customary to
require something like a public profession
of faith when a man gets religion" so
quickly as has the gentleman from Cave
town Does he stand for the Republican
platform, or for the Progressive platform
He cannot stand on both. Has he changed
his principles in sixty days? What are his
principles. any howl
For what will Wagaman stand, if he
should happen to enter Congress- Is he with
the old Republican party which for fifty
years has steadily pursued one broad, con-
sistent TRAIL familiar to US all. or will he
be with the new Progressives, party with
its face set in quite n different direction.
IL they believe their own platform and trust
their own leaders Are these two irecon-
cilable schools Of political thought to be
harnessed together merely to secure the
personal profit Of a gentleman who insists
on cOyly residing in political cave, out
of sight and undiscoverable
MONTGOMERY.
GRAND DEMOCRATIC RALLY