El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-29
DEMOCRACY IN
TEXAS BADLY
DIVIDED
Progressives in Lead For
Federal Appointments and
Are Claiming All.
OLD LEADERS ARE
SENT TO SCRAP HEAP

A USTIN. TEN, March eft is now
n evident that there is to be no
L \ early healing of the breach that
exists in the ranks of Texas DemOc-
racy. on the one side of which are the
progressives and on the other the So
called reactionaries.
The effort OF former governor T NJ
Campbell and the SO other Texas dele
gates to the last national Democratic
convention to secure the adoption Of a
re feree system for distributing patron
age Of the party in this state instead
o. allowing the congressman to name
the men for office, as has been the
Democratic custom heretofore, has ere
ated a profound stir among the mem
beers of the faction against whom the
plan is directed. According to the
claims of the 40 Democrats who signed
this petition, u Of the 16 Texas con
gressmen are reactiOnaries and were
opposed to the nomination of president
Wilson. While postmaster general Al
bert 3 BurieSOn was one OF the rev
progressive congressman in the Texas
delegation, he has signified that he
does not sanction the proposition which
Mr.. Campbell and others sought to have
adopted 1t IS expected, however, that
the federal appointments of the state
Will go to pTOgressives with possibly
a few exceptions. 1t has been a long
time since Texas Democrats have had
access to the federal pie counter, and
1t happens that the men who for many
years were leaders in the party's al
fairs of this state belong to what is
now known as the reactiOnary ele-
ment.
COIquitt still n ReactiOnary.
It was only last year that the new
blood which enthusiastically and earn
ell rr-H.a a e
candidacy came into power in the state.
The prOSr essives Ousted all of the old
time party men from office with the
exception OF the chief executive. Gov
eTnOr COlquitt and his state appointees
are the only members Of the reaction
ary' faction who now hold office 1t
IS claimed by the prOgreSSiveS that but
for the fact that the masses of the
Democratic voters were not favorable
to the idea Of Overturning the second
term precedent COlquitt would have
been defeated for governor by as large
q majority as were his satellites on
the state ticket When the declaration
of former governor Campbell and the
other siSners of the petition for con-
troll of the federal patronage in this
state was made public the ire OF the
T6actiOnary leaders was aroused and
there has been engendered a bitterness
between these two factions that prom
ises to be felt in many future po-
Itical contests in the state
According to the statement Of Mar
shall Hicks, of San Antonio, who is one
Of the signers Of the referee memorial
and who was in Washington at the time
Il was presented to president Wilson, 1t
was approved by senators Charles A
CulbersOn and Morris Sheppard, and
also by Cato Sells, the Texas national
committeeman. It was with no little
surprise to the prOgressives who are
seeking to be given a monopoly of the
federal patron distribution in this
state, that they learned postmaster
general BurlesOn does not approve of
the memorial
The new political deal by which the
prOgressives were placed in power in
this state relegates to the political
scrap heap all of the former leaders in
the party. Among these are former
former governor J. D. Sayers, J. F.
WOlters, who was recently defeated
for the United States senatOrShip, and
a host of others These old time men
of influence so much resent the meth
DDS the prOgressives have adopted to
control the distribution of federal
patronage that some OF them refuse
ID make any recommendations for the
appointment Of men to office.
The progressive element OF Demo-
Gratis in Texas is made up chief
" of young men. The sOcalled
reactiOnary leaders are not disposed
to accept the changed conditions and
the fight between the two factions
which IS now on will probably be felt
IN the next state campaign An EFFORT
is to be made to defeat the u reac-
tionary members of the Texas con-
gressiOnal delegation next year and
to make clean sweep of the state
offices. Some Of these congressman
who were not supporters of Wilson for
the nomination did what they could to
aid in bringing about his election.
They made speeches in several of the
states during the campaign and con-
tributed financially to the expense
fund.
It is understood that the United
States customs collectors in Texas as
well as the United States marshaIs will
be named by the two senators from
this state. It is announced in this
connection that senators Culberson and
Sheppard have agreed upon the ap-
pCintment of DR.. A. II. Evans for col
lector of the Eagle Pass district. Frank
Rabb for collector of the Laredo
Brownsville district and Zach L
Cobb for collector of the FL Paso dis
trict Thad Thompson viii probably
be appointed United States revenue
collector with headquarters at Austin
succeeding Gen. Webster Flanagan,
who has held the office for many years