The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-06-20
REP UBL|CAN
PARTY IS DEAD
A n D UNERAL
NOW UNDER WAY
tCor'1;rued From First Page


Will be another Republican National
! Convention where delegates from the
south. where there are Republicans in
small number. and where Republican
electoral votes can be obtained, cam
hoid the balance of power as those
delegates do in this convention There
| never viii be another Republican Ma
! tlonal Convention where there can he
! the preconvention manipulation and
contest and duplicated cotest there has
been in this convention. nor where 1t
VIII be possible to do what has been
done by the national committee at this
convention
Muny Coutests bogus.
say this without criticism of the
present committee. Many OF the con.
tests brought before that body were
bogus and trumped up for the politl-
cal effect What l mem Is that tho
people viii no longer tolerate u sys-
TEN that will give to the national COM
mittec the power to name q presiden-
tial candidate by selecting delegates
10 convention. They will no long
ca allow one man from each State to
set Il Judge and dictator. They
VIII do their selecting themselves, or
most Of them will.
The national committee as a determ
ming factor for candidates. has been
showed out of power. No national com
q
tionai committees have performed inl
the past even without enough prI-
mary states. II VIII be dcader than a
smelt in four years from now. The
, ola cry of stand by the organization"
has ceased 10 be u fetish. The people
VIII stand by no organization that
VIII not stand by them. And BY this l
d. not mean that the protest Is pro-
roosevelt. tor IL is gr=ater than that.
Mr. Roosevelt adriotly seized a move
incnt Tor Eis own ACKNOWLEDGMENT that
's much greater than he is, great
though he may be. He capitalized a |
cause that existed before he thought
u selling 1t, and that VIII continue to
grow even after he has retired from
view. Mr.. Roosevelt projected him
! SELF into a leadership. He did not in
cite the rebellion. nor did he ever do
much toward supporting it,
Ro"sr'cit Merely symptom.
The condition is not a Roosevelt
idea. He is merely the Incident symp-
tom of the condition. II is a vide
spread. deep down movement that has
worked with much rapidly in the last
four years and Will work with even
greater rapidly in the coming fourl
years.
| This convention, with its contests.
its struggles for delegates. its parlia-
mentary see-sawinE, its lack OF de-
termination. its almost equal division
between the old order and the new,
its creaking, rusty Enchnery. itsl
petty politics and its petty politicians.
IT. reliance on patronage and Federal
titiceholder. it's coercion and corrup-
ton. its methods OF twenty years ago
when the people were complainant in !
stead Of contentious. it's bosses and it !
sossed-this convention is the last of
its kind, there never VIII be another
like It.
1t is quito likely there never will |
be another OF any kind except as a |
ratification meeting. but certainly !
there never will be another where |
national committee will have so great |
power. Those days are gone.
moreover. to get to the second pro- !
position. the Republican party. as
such. no longer exists, It is dead. The |
old Republican party of high protec- |
'ion, of war memories of notable |
achievement has passed. No further |
proof of that is needed than the con- |
wention now in session in Chicago.
The opening day and tho second day. |
as we'll as the preliminaries. gave
ample proof of this. Imagine n Re
publican convention of so recent q
date as four or eight years ago, when
not one-tenth OF the delegates knew.
even by sight. the men who have d.
rected the affairs of the party for two
decades; imagine q RepGbl' can Ma
tional Convention OF even four wears.
or eight years ago. where James =
watson. of Indiana. was floor leader
and the great leaders We're Boise
penrose and Murray Crane and VII
liam Barnes on the one hand. and
Herbert 6. Hadley and William Finn
and Francis j. Henry on the other.
Imagine Republican convention
where Serene E. Payne and William
Bradley ha Noe
be put forward to defend a proposi
ton on which the whole structure of
the organization depends; imagine a |
republican convention where the
organization candidate. who is Presi-
dent, has few adherents and no
trends. and whose supporters arc
supporting him for purely pcrsonaI
selhsh. ana political reasons, and not
Tor patriotic or party reasons
Imagine convention where scores of
Republicans from all parts of tho
united States. men who have been
active leaders in years gone by, are
on hand merely as spectators. and
where scores of other men active ns
leaders FOR years are not resent at
az. me a, new order has passed by !
| them. They are not considered.
One Relic, Other n Foundation
NO matter what kind of a platform
Us adopted no MISTER who is nominal
CO. no matter whether Mr.. Taft is
named, no matter whether Mr.. Roose
volt is chosen or bolts. no matter II \
third candidate is selected to save tie
rarty'-the party tina: follows Taft.
that follows Roosevelt or that IA
saved" by compromise will be
new party. or 1t will be two parties.
one relic and the other n founda-
ton. All this is clearly apparent to
any person who has watched the two
sessions of the convention thus far
held, who watched the preliminaries.
both in the States and before the ma
tional committee. This uprising that
mas wrecked the old Republican party
isn't due to Mr. Roosevelt. 1t came
netore Mr.. Roosevelt took advantage
OF It, 1t will grow with or without