The Washington times., 1912-06-25

er. are not % enthusiastic about COM
Fear New Party.
That is because the thought of the
new party vaunts itself 70 big and sig
| nificant before them. The bosses at
Chicago did not believe the prosressives
would go so far as to start an independ-
ent movement, They set II down as
BLUM and made their own blur in re-
turn. They we're called. Here at least
the bosses have the advantage OF know
ing that the talk of a possible new party
Is not bluff. They know that the
mated the man most popular With the
mass Of voters; that II is going to make
an appeal as broad as the Independent
citizenship OF the whole nation.
Yet they seem determined to go ahead
with their program. On the eve of the
opening night In the convention, every:
thing has indicated that they. would
win. Parker, the bosses candidate for
Just as Root won at Chicago. Every
thing points to defeat for Bryan and
his liberal element.
There is indeed one big difference be-
tween the situation here, and that
which obtained at the same stage in
Chicago. The election of Root as tenn
porary chairman foreshadowed the nom
ination Of Taft more conclusively than
that OF Parker foreshadows the choice
of reactionary Democratic candidate
for President. because in the Repub-
lican convention II took only major
lty to nominate, while here It requires
the traditional two-thirds vote that has
ruled Democratic conventions for two
generations and that at least once
marked for defeat a candidate who on
tirst ballot mustered an actual ma
1ority Of the votes.
But with Parker winner for chairman,
there will probably be no stopping the
tuggernaut. The Republicans nominate
by majority vote, but on the other
hand they make their convention more
democratic by refusing to apply the
unit rule to State delegations. The
Democrats have the two-thirds rule, but
they modify It very much by the adop-
ton of the unit rule in delegations.
Enforce Unit Rule.
In order to convert the mere ajor-
| ity for Parker into a two-thirds ma
jority for Clark or some other candidate
favored by the bosses, the unit rule is
| being enforced in every delegation that
the organization can control. The ma
chine organizers claim that II they win
with Parker-and they fully expect to
do that-they will translate that sue
| cess into the bigger one of naming a
Presidential candidate Of their own sort.
| Two victories for the bosses will mean
tile overthrow OF bossism. That Is the
ilti,natum that the .prosressires here
are delivering to the leaders Of the ma
chine. with both the old parties
turned over. Organization, ational COM
rnitt.es, platforms, and candidates-to
the reuctionary forces, the new party
will stand In A position t. appeal ef,
| factively 20 the real progresstvG5 OF
whelmlng majority OF the country.
1t is no overstatement of the facts to
gay that three. .fourths OF the people
In both parties are really progresslyes
In beth there are, "f course. many who
while progressive at heart, will refuse
to doff their regularity in order, to fol
low their convictions. but OF the gen
str' strcngth tfS0 Of the Coz country Try has to b.
divided between Republican tory ant
Democratic tory. while the procres
sive strength has the chance TO line ~
peaS1 pens ts %asis sRs "t @
need be no grave uncertainty.
Tie movement for new polittcl
party Of true progress Is receiving ne
impetus with every hour that bring
the Democracy nearer to commissto;
Of the same fatal hlunder that IN
bosses at Chicago forced upon the Re
publicans.
Bitterness Intense.
The bitterness between the radical ant
liberal factions developed to acute pitc1
during the last hours before the con
: vention was called to order. Support
ers of Parker for chairman made ever!
appeal on the ground of regularity. tt
stand by the national committee. The
protested that a quarrel over temporary
chairman would be useless and worse
and would increase the danger of {
} still worse state of feeling later
But the regularity argument mad
. poor progress The rank and file. ever
, in States that were for Clark. grumbled
Illinois had a split and 1t was decided
that IL Bryan were a candidate, n
would poll a majority. A proposal 4
use Senator OGorman of New York a
a compromise candidate was put ou
from illinois. The New York delegation
was told that II could have the namin
.. a chairman. II It would only nam
one more satisfactory to the progress
, sive wing. New York was not disposed
to yield anything and stood for fight
The middle West delegations that ar
e instructed for Clark early went to piece
= on the Parker plan and intense feelin
developed among those of Nebraska
Kansas, Iowa, and other States. TIL
1, oldd Bryan sentiment Of that sectiol
burst forth to worry the leadings VIII
9 had arranged the Barker plan.