The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1914-01-09
REVIVING THE G. O.P.
nECDED IT IS NOT POSSIBLE OR LEGAL
FOR The NATIONAL COMMITTEE
TO MAKE CHANGE In ITS
CONVENTIONS.

n suppose you read in the pape1s the
o+ber day that the law committee of
the Republican National Committee,
ofter viewing the corpse from every
angle, decided it is not possible or
iagal for the national committee to
make a change in the basis of repre-
spntation in its. conventional is,
The national committee cannot pro
coed with the work Of reviving the @.
n P. All it can do is to open the
coffin and view the remains. The
work of reviving must be done by a
convention; and the plan is to have a
convention called to undertake this
important work.
Reform, jim, always comes after ad-
yersity. You never heard of a man
bowling along in good health and in
high prosperity who had any personal
IDEAS concering reform. Why should
he? He was getting his, and from his
vinwDoint there was absolutely moth
ing to reform. But wher the crash
comes, when the end OF the string is
reached, invariably these highfaIutin
nprsons are hot for reform. They are
willing to mend their ways in any
manner, in the hope they may get
back where Lney once WERE
Hence we find all the hardshell old
boys so humble and contrfte you'd
think they had permanent lodgings on
the mourners' bench. They are will
ing to reform and to be reformed
twenty-seven ways from the jack.
They are anxious to mend thei1 ,wn
ways-and fences-and equally anx-
iOus to have their ways mended for
them. Any person who can present to
them an even partly plausible plan
whereby there may be some semblance
of vitality restored to the G. o. 2. is
their friend. They hang on his words.
They are willing to undergo any pro-
cess, no matter how painful, if it
promises-after it is over-there may
be a look-in at the fields of power and
patronage.
For years Republicans who saw how
the wind was veering have been urg-
ing the party to reform it's basis of
convention representation; to make
impossible the control OF delegates
from communities where there are no
Republicans; to stop the officeholder-
delegate abuse-the owned and man
aged delegate abuse; to avoid the very
methods by which Mr.. Taft was re-
nominated in Chicago in 1912. They
have shown the absurdity, the reck-
Iessness, the politically
of it; have inveighed against the
massing of Southern delegates to
bring about any desire Of the bosses; ;
have held that states where there are
no Republicans should not have the
same basis of representation as states
where there are many.
The bosses steadily refused. They
knew the value of purchased and
purchasable delegates, and they allow
ed no reform. Now they are willing.
They are eager. They are so anxious
to reform themselves that they plann-
ed to put over the reform through a
medium that had no legal right to do
it under party rules, merely because,
to show the sincerity of their CONVEX
sion, they wanted to do it in hurry.
Moreover they are willing to do any
thing else-anythingi They have no
desires in the matter other than to re-
form. They yearn to be cleansed.
They want to show the people that the
party to which they are clinging des-
perately, because there is nothing else
to cling to, can be remade into a good,
clean, popular party, amenable to the
popular demands and representative
OF those demands, instead of typ1fylng
the autocratic and arrogant rule Of the
bosses.
I doubt whether there ever was such
a meek and amenable and thoroughly
chastened set of bosses in the country
as these Republican bosses who are
searching their souls for means or re-
Mobilization. They are humble and
contrite. They can hear a popular
whisper now, though short time ago
a popular tornado didn't cause single
vibration Of their eardrums. Formerly
they wouldn't take advice from any
body. Now they will take advice from
anybody-and il NO advice is offered
they will 60 out and solicit it.
So far as being progressive is con-
cerned, you will find these patriots SO
progressive apparently-that they
will outradical the radicals. They are
now zealously for the people. Tney
have no other wish or thought than 70
make the Republican party the engine
for the demonstration OF the popular
will. They crave confidence. Iney
ask aid They seek support They
are the greatest little gang Of new
leaf-turners the world mas aver
known; and il turning over one leai
won't DO Ll6y Will LuIA ONCA 49, -
hundred-any number-and Write
good resolutions on each new page
They are reformed-and naturally
they thus become reformerst
1t was ever thus. No sooner mas
sleek and well-fed person been turn
ed away from the table than ne Pc
gins scheming to get back again; ano
the more so if it happens that ne mas
been a long time alone with the
trenchers. Most of these reformed
and reformers, who want to make the
Republican party conform tc the eA'
pressed will of the people and thell
desires, had sixteen years at all the
political delicacies of the season; ano
the sudden and unceremonlous trans
fer to the husks was as painful as 4
was pronounced. They want TO ge'
back. They pine for the old power
and the old place. There isn't
thing-not a solitary thing in the way
of reform, Of promise, Of attention tc
the popular demand-they won't DO.
Watch them perform, jim 1ou
will discover them boiling over WITT
ideas for the veal OF the party as
coupled with the veal of the people
They will exude hot air by the thou
sand cubic feet, telling how sorry
they are for past errors and now
good they will be in the future They
will pin medals on themselves, ano