Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-11-04
HONEST AND
UNAFRAID
Frank II. SOmmer, a Progressive Republican Of National
Reputation, Tells Where the Truth Has Led Him
Every Patriotic American Ought to Read and Thoroughly
Consider These Words Before Casting His Vote

Why have not deserted it and entered the ranks Of a party newly
created, and have no hesitancy in answering
an the past | and my colleagues have said everywhere that we
we're making our A.ht With the ranks of the Republican party, and
so far as am concerned will adhere to that policy. do not re-
tract from what formerly advanced.
81 have heen told that / should desert the old standard and
rally round the new because of a fraud in Chicago. l have exam
ined page by page and line by line, in an effort to ascertain the
truth. the records of that convention, and | freely say that In all ex-
eept two instances l would cast my vote in the national committee
and voted in the convention precisely as a majority of the members
east their votes.
eff the men in that convention are to be branded as thieves, I
an ready likewise to accept the brand.
"who makes the charge? Those who have calmly investi-
gated the proceedings Of the convention? No. They are those
willing, to accept the Judgment eta. Of q defeated asass pa party s.a and s DO o1 not
inal1y helped to raise and enlist under another.
Zone Of the reasons advanced to convince me that should
DO so .h is 1 scrImer my B party tBe IS pa D9ssl th6es them ane ot IS lax u rem
"what Of the new party? There is Finn, Of Pennsylvania,
and young Quay Y, So r. Of old !, Quay Riy Of fn psnn 5 van Sos sRd SE ting
descendants of bosses, but by some magic have become sanctihed
and / next reject the claim that it is b~oss-idden. >
~when l came into the Republican party many years ago. l
came into it because l believed in its governmental and economic
principles.
II believed in a strong central government strong Federal
goyernment-with the power to do those things that could better be
done by a central government than by the States acting separately.
At the same time 1 believed in the States being independent SOW
ereignties, with the power to do those things they could do better
separately. That is still the theory of the Republican party. Why
should l go into a new partgsthat advances another theory?
"This theory places the State subservent TO the central govern
ment believe in the States as independent soyerelgnties | am
opposed to reducing the States to mere geographical areas under
isnt feudaIsm / refuse to enter a party, the theory Of government
"The men who stood by me in the past are not in the newly
formed party. When | was advocating the abolition of child labor.
sno5ssr nou asd f IL. T i%nToysm @Gme on WORKING 19s Pe snd bo@si6 :. d paSfd Os
for the poor, the leaders of the new party, with one or two excep-
platform crying for social justice were in opposition to me then.
who leads the movement now? Perkins. God save the marx.
Perkins, a leader Of the cause of social Justice. when the most de-
--I~L .o-IsEA-. .-s-& - ta ofalr n;1a IF tLn nnunfrv H. H.
you he is merely a director and not responsible. Who is response
Die, the men or the foremen over them or the superintendent over
the foremen? No. Then who but the board of directors? Hail
him as a leader in the cause OF social justice? No! Desert the
banner l helped to raise and follow that raised by him? MOI
in,o 1T II. has 1smb been n said 5ss- that nth the f ee eEadSloD party ar gh has i.g put no Tb heart r
"william Howard Taft has put heart into the laws.
"He created a bureau of child labor. He created a bureau of
s1aes it to ,b f9v ssast%sD the Of d Isags : G tSst boa On in t t6e e6 mines ta white as
slavery under the flag that floats over the nation for all time, and
They talk Of trusts. What Of it? Lets be fair, absolutely
s saT daey say Tb t1syt tfus grown The up Rf fFSB pPnsti Sifet 5ha5 tss Dsss faf
Of the Sherman anf.trust. act 1t was in force during the admin
i isnsts 1.s Of D shs ifsd'F to If inc tRs new H ga[ ID n 9f5 The eHg naTser on ST
the other hand there was at least partial official sanction Of the
United States Steel Company an action which today everyone
regrets.
ZION that the era 81 competition is not at an end. 1t says there
shall :, aaddvOose.SSps opportunity . ,1nss e for fTss and d q 11 besar. Play cgrS Of composition DFai on
action to regulate trusts so as to insure competition.
"The new party advocates a Federal commission similar ia
power TO the Interstate Commerce Commission. The latter body
regulates interstate railroad traffic and has the power to fix rates.
would have the power to fix the prices of commodities that enter
into interstate commerce. That is an idle dream. The idea of
giving a commission of Ave or ten men supervision over all in
dustries and the power to fix the price of bread, the price of the
wheat that goes into the bread, the price of meat, of potatoes, of
lumber, steel and brick.
Il am now and TO the end shall be opposed to the creation of
such a commission, for back of il lies the licensing of monopoly.
II means nothing else. The standard-bearer Of the new party per-
ceived that this would be a legitimate criticism Of his proposed
new commission, and has said that he never contemplated that it
should have the power to fix prices. Whenever you scan what he
SAYS he did contemplate you will find that it was precisely the
same as what is proposed in the Republican platform-precisey
the same as what is advocated by the man to whom owe more
than to any other in public lfe-'Batting Bob La Toilette, of
Wisconsin. 1t is idle to talk of regulated monopoly. Whenever
the leaders of the new party seek to take a middle ground they
stand on a thin coating-a coating so thin that their followers
eventually will break through it to their disaster
"The members of this newly-formed party continually bark
back to the Sermon on the Mount. Let me tell you that the Ser
mon on the Mount is not the property Of the new party. Ii is
the property Of all of us. Neither is the Son Of Jehovah the prop
erty Of the new party and neither is He running for Office on the
Progressive ticket
Something that | resent in this new movement is the claim
that it is lifting the American workman up, up, up out of the CRIME.
The American workman is not down in the CRIME. He needs no
political party to raise him up, for ne is raising himself up.
81 stand for social justice, as always have been. | am for
every plank Of the Progressive platform that stands for social JUS
tce, but resent the insertion of terms that appeal to the emo
ions. That is the height of demagoguery. The appeal should
be made TO men as men.
"Pye made my answer. Sometimes wish were a candidate
Pm not. may be again. Some people are urging me to make a
fight on the old lines once more. Here's the question propounded
and here's the answer given.
sit is up to you to go to the polls next Tuesday and ask your
sorting the standard Of the Republican party. When you desert
the party you desert its governmental and economic principles.