The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-06-20
THE FUNERAL
OF PARTY IS
IN PROGRESS
Blythe Says 1t Is Possible
There Will Never Be An
other National Convention
Of the Party.
Continued from Page One.)

ranged credentials committee can
have the last word on the confirma-
ton of that roll.
There will never be another Repub-
lican national convention where dele
gates from the South, where there are
no Republicans in number, and where
no Republican electoral votes can be
obtained, can hold the balance of pow
er as those delegates do in this con-
vention. There never will be another
Republican national convention where
there can be the preconvention mani
pulation and contest and duplicated
contest there has been in this conven-
ton, nor where it will be possible to
do what has bee1 done by the national
committee at this convention.
People to Do the Selecting.
l say this without criticism of the
present committee. Many of the con-
tests brought before that body were
bogus, and trumped up for political eff
feet. What l mean is that the people
will no longer tolerate a system that
will give to the national committee
the power to name presidential can
didate by selecting delegates to a con-
vention. They will no longer allow one
nan from each state to act as judge
and dictator. They will do their Sc
lecting themselves, or most of them
will.
! The national committee, as deter
mining factor for candidates, has been
showed out of power. No national
committee ever will perform as many
national committees have performed
in the past, even without enough pri-
mary states. 1t will be deader than a
smelt in four years from now.
The old cry of STAND by the organi-
cation" has ceased to be fetish The
people will stand by no organization
that will not stand by them. And by
this l do not mean that the protest is
pro Roosevelt, for it is greater than
that. Mr.. Roosevelt adroitly seized a
moment for his own ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
that is much greater than he is, great
though he may be. He capitalized a
cause that existed before he thought of
selling it, and that will continue to
grow even after he has retired from
view. Mr.. Roosevelt projected himself
into leadership. He did not incite the
rebellion, nor did he ever do much to-
ward supporting it until lately.
Not a Roosevelt Condition.
The condition is not Roosevelt
condition. He is merely the incident
symptom of the condition. 1t is a
widespread, deep down movement that
has worked with much rapidity in the
last four years and will work with
even greater rapidity in the coming
four years.
This convention, with it's contests,
it's struggle for delegates, it's parlia-
mentary see-sawing, it's lack of deter
mination, it's almost equal division be-
tween the old order and the new, it's
creaking, rusty machinery, it's petty
! politics and it's petty politicians, it's
reliance on patronage and federal Of
ficeholders, its coercion and corrup-
ton, its methods of twenty years ago.
when the people were complaisant in
stead of contentious, it's bosses, and
its bossed-this convention is the last
of it's kind. There never will be anoth-
Fer like it.
1t is quite likely there never will
be another of any kind, except as a
ratification meeting, but, certainly,
there never will be another where a
national committee will have so great
"a power. Those days are gone.
Old Republication Gone.
Moreover, to get to the second pro.
position, the Republican party, as such
no longer exists. 1t is dead The old Re-
publican party of high protection, of
war memories, of notable achieve
ment has passed. No further proof of
that is needed than the convention
now in session in Chicago. The open
the preliminaries, gave ample proof of
this. Imagine Republican convention
of SO recent date as four or eight
years ago, where not one-tenth of the
delegates knew, even by sight, the
men who have directed the affairs of
the party for two decades! Imagine a
Republican national convention of
even four years, or eight years ago,
where James E. Watson, of Indiana,
was floor leader, and the great leaders
were Boies Penrose and Murray Crane
and William Barnes on the one hand.
and Herbert S. Hadley and William
Finn and Francis j. Heney on the
other!
Imagine Republican convention
where Serene e. Payne and William 0.
Bradley were the best who can be put
forward to defend proposition on
which the whole structure of the Or
ganization depends! Imagine Repub-
lican convention where the organiza-
ton candidate, who is president of the
United States, has a few adherents
and no friends, and whose supporters
are supporting him for purely personal
selfish and political reasons and not
for patriotic or party reasons even!
Old Leaders Now Spectators.
Imagine a convention where scores
of Republicans, from all parts of the
United States, men who have been &C
tive leaders in years gone by, are on
hand merely as spectators, and where
scores of other men active as leaders
for years are not present at all. The
new order has passed them by. They
are not considered
No matter what kind OF platform
is adopted. no matter who is nominal