Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-06-27
OUR TRENTON LETTER.

H.
paramount interest this week among
politicians throughout the state is the
probable effect of the result of Chi
cago Convention upon the Republican
party in thit State. With the State
strongly for Roosevelt at the presiden-
tial preference primary polls on May
2Sth, and a solid Roosevelt delegation
at the Convention, the denomination OF
Taft and Sherman places the party in
this state in a peculiar position. OF
course, the denomination of the presi-
dent will again inspire the stalwarts
here and will bring renewed prestige
to this faction. On the other hand,
the prospect of third party with
Colonel Roosevelt at its head is far
from reassuring to the regular
leaders, and hence, the situation is
very much muddled.
sN4
It is certain that some of the New
Jersey Roosevelt followers will bolt
the nomination. In fact, some of them
are already beginning so to do. For
mer Governor Stokes. one of the pio-
neer Roosevelt men in this campaign,
has, as yet, refused to state his posi-
tion. Former Governor Fort also has
not definitely announced himself on
the question of boiling President Taft
and standing by the Colonel The
New Jersey delegates to the Conven-
ton are pretty nearly solid for the
Roosevelt new party movement. 1t is
believed that former Governor Fort as
the Chairman of the delegation will
stand by the Colonel. Assemblyman
John E. Gill. of this city, who was
one of the delegates, has come out
squarely against President Taft and
says there must be a new party which
shall stand for Progressivism. The
work of building the new Progressive
Party in this state is to begin at once
That an entirely new alignment will
be necessary was clearly shown when
Borden D. Whiting, the new elected
National Congressman from this state,
abstained from taking his seat in the
National Convention when it met in
Chicago for organization. The Taft
men control the committee. One of
the new rules is that members of the
National Committee in order to remain
in il, must pledge loyal support to the
party ticket He is for Roosevelt.
This means that the National Com
mittee will, in all probability expel
him and put a New Jersey Taft man
in his place. The expectation among
State House politicians is that former
Governor Franklin Murphy, who was
displaced from the committee by Whit
ing after the Roosevelt victory in this
state, will be the man selected in
Writings place.
Some of the regular Republican
leaders profess to believe that the bolt
in this state will not amount to much
and will be confined mostly to few
men such as Whiting, George L. Rec
ord and a few others among the dele
gates, but others see in the prospec-
tive new movement a serious menace
TO Republican, success at the polls in
this state next November With new
party started in the state formed very
largely from the Republican ranks,
the first thing that the Republicans OF
the state would have to contemplate
with reasonable certainty would be
that not only would the state be lost
in the presidential ticket, but also that
both Houses of the Legislature would
be Democratic, and that a Democrat
would be selected to succeed Frank O..
Briggs, as United States Senator. With
such consequences and contempla-
tions, it would be a matter Of poor
consolation, even to the Roosevelt men
if in their third party movement they
succeeded in ruling up more votes in
New Jersey next fall than the vote
cast for the regular candidates, the
net result being that united demo-
cracy had captured the prizes. This
view, however, does not seem to give
great concern to the real partisans
among the Progressives. They claim
that a great principle is at stake and
that to re-elect President Taft would
he to tread this principal into the
dust. Therefore, they are for new
party without regard to it's immediate
results in this campaign.
If the new National Progressive
party shall be launched in this state
the Roosevelt men could not, under
the New Jerseys primary law, identify
themselves with third party move
ment in national politics and at the
same time maintain their membership
in the regular Republican party in that
state. The result would be that they
could not participate in the Republi-
can primaries next September, and
those of them who desire to be candi-
dates for office would have to get their
nomination as independents through
the filing of petitions and not through
any open primary. The New Jersey
election laws provide for open primar-
les only in case of the two parties who
cast the highest and next highest
number OF votes in the proceeding ell
ection. The National Progressives,
therefore, would be on par with the
Socialists and the Prohibitionists in
regard to making nominations.
M%*
For the first time in the political
history of New Jersey the voters will
have the opportunity next fall of nom
mating their candidates for Congress
by direct vote at the open primary. Il
fzoyernnr Wilson shall be nominated