Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-11-15
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER IS, 1919.
THE PROGRESS IVE PARTY'S
GREAT FIGHT AND GREAT
Err FUTURE.
New York Evening Mail.

Without the power of Office, without
the persuasive influence of traditions,
without any impelling force other than
that of the Cause for which it stands,
new political party has become an estab-
lished factor in our national life. 1t has
accomplished the heretofore impossible
in a single battle-it has won the right
to recognition as the Opposition party in
the nation. The Democratic party, soon
to take office, alone outranks it.
1t was marvellous achievement-th
rallying of 4,500,O0O voters to Cause
that had no organized advocacy four
months ago, that had few channels to
public attention at any time, and that
had to meet the powerful and vindictive
trenched in our public life whose de-
struction is avowedly its leading pur-
pose.
There can be no true estimate of the
substantial and enduring character of
this triumph, no real appreciation of the
heavy odds that were faced, unless one
takes into account the tremendous
powers that concentrated their full
strength against the Progressive party,
viewing with Indifference the success of
either of the old party machines. They
saw real foe in the Progressive plat
form, not a pretended one, and acted
accordingly.
Despite this desperate opposition, de-
spite the absence of all the elements
usually regarded as essential in poll
tical campaign, derided and scoffed at
because of its unorganzed and naked
appeal to the country, the Cause never
theless stirred the nation more deeply,
more intensely, than, any other Cause
ever did in the same space of time
1t went straight to the hearts and the
conscience of the people. 1t sought no
intermediary and had none. 1t rested
its hope of success not on political COM
mittees nor in political bosses, but on
its faith in popular recognition of its
purpose, if given power, to serve the
public interest before and not after all
other interests.
No man could have won such victory
only cause. Roosevelt, the man,
matchless as he is in all the qualities
that spell popularity, would have failed
had he not had Cause back of him,
just as Lincoln, the man, would have
failed when he went before the people
in 1864, had he not had Cause back OF
him.
In each instance what the man stood
for was far greater than the man him
self. The votes each received were not
merely tributes to individuals. They hac
much deeper significance; they were
evidences of peaceful but infexiblt
determination to have government freed
from selfishness and greed, and to insure
an equal opportunity to all.
With Lincoln dead the Cause he typi
fled lived.
Roosevelt may now step aside, but tn,
Cause of which he is the first, the his
toric, leader will endure.
No one would resent more quickl,
than he the thought that the great dec
laration made at Chicago last Angus
was merely the purpose of one man
That convention saw and planned beyonC
one mans vision. The party tina
sprang from its loins and that has sine,
grown to $4,000, 900 voting strength ha
its purposes rooted in principles no
in men. Its true dimensions are not t.
be measured by single campaign, no
by one mans proportions. They will b.
found in history yet to be made.
That history, we firmly believe, vii
be as glorious for the Progressive party
and as full of achievement, as is tn
history of the Republican party for it
first fifty years. The whole world pay
homage to that half century of un
paralleled national progress and pros
perity. The strong, patriotic men re
sponsible for it are the nation
cherished memories. Contrast wit
them their successors Barnes, Pen
rose and Lorimer
Under such control the Republica
party had to lose its ideals, had to ceas
to be party of the people. Its host O
voters, seeing in the Progressive plat
form the true application of Republca
principles, have rallied to the ne,
party and at the first struggle hav
made it permanently one of the tw
great parties of the nation. Strength
ened by the great vote it has polled,