Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1912-11-22
THE FUTURE OF THE PARTY.

The defeat of the Republican party
in the recent election was to have
been expected. 1t was expected by
nine-tenths of it's adherents long be-
fore the day of voting came. Those
who remained steadfast to it's prin-
ciples did so in the full realization
that they were affiliating with for
lorn hope. They knew they were
doomed to defeat yet they made the
best of losing fight. With the party
weaker than it has been in any cam
paign since the civil war, it never
theless cast a total vote in the coun-
try approxmating between 100000
and 100000. Fully 100000 of its
normal votes were cast for Roosevelt
and probably half as many more for
Wilson. The majority of these men
who strayed away from the Republic
can ticket are not permanently d.
Vorced from the party, and only vot-
ed for Roosevelt because of his great
personal popularity, while others
supported Wilson rather than take
the chance of Roosevelt's success.
Any political organization which
can muster 100000 votes is far
from dead, and even the activities
of the discredited leader of the Pro-
gressives can not mislead the people |
in this regard. Many who supported
the Progressive cause in the late
campaign did so because they belev-
ed in the principles enunciated in its
platform. They declared that the
Republican party was the organiza-
ton of the reactionares and had for
&c
ments and ideas. They thought that |
the most effective way to purge the |
party was to punish it's leaders by |
eliminating them and wrestling from
them the control of the organization.
But other prominent progressives
such as LaFollette, Borah, Hadley
and Kenyon, declaring that the re-
juvenation of the party could only
be brought about within it's own or
ganization, refused to follow Roose-
welt but remained passively loyal to
the former party. Already they have
taken steps to rehabilitate the party
and they are receiving the support
of thousands who voted for Roose-
welt in the recent election.
The protestations of the Colonel
and of Bill Finn, and of Perkins and
the other alleged progressives, will
have little weight with the real pro-
gressives-with the men whose hon
est desire II Is to wrest control of the
Republican party from the domina-
tion of the reactionaries. Thousands
of Roosevelt's followers now realize
what was apparent to the hundreds
of thousands of others who refused
to bow to his dictation-that the
progressive movement with him was
a movement only because it offered
him the only possible opportunity to
continue as the dictator of the coun
try and another term in the presiden-
tial chair. All but the most rabid
Roosevelt partisan will admit this.
The COlonel's attempt to continue the
existence his personally conduct
ed political organization. only serves
to emphasize this assertion. Had the
oyster Bay statesman been honest
in his protestation OF fealty to the
people and their interests, forgetting
all about his own advantage, he
would have agreed to compromise
at Chicago which would undoubtedly
have resulted in the election of Re-
publican successor to President Taft
The Observer has stated this self-ev-
ident truth before-it is plainly ap-
parent now. When his warmest po-
litlcal supporters informed him that
he could not be nominated. and i'm
plored him to agree to compromise,
they We're actuated by the loftiest of
motives. They really desired the sue
cess OF the progressive movement at
large, rather than the triumph of the
personal ambition of its self-inspired
leader. The opportunity was at
hand Had Roosevelt agreed, the or
ganization of the Republican party
could have been delivered body and
breeches to the progressive element
therein and an impending Demo-
cratic triumph averted But their