The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-02-27

QueSIlOnS OF pOilcy IN a contest Indt
no one will ever misunderstood and
at time when there can be no mis-
take as to the issues.
ITO my way Of thinking, politics
is the most serious thing that can
engage the public attention of men.
1t is In the last analysis the state,
the government. burdened and
freighted with the concerns of an en-
tire people. The family, the home,
the social and physical wellbeing of
the citizen are, after all, anchored
in politics, and political parties are.
therefore, the only effective instu-,
ments through and by means Of
which the people Of representative
democracy can effectuate their pur-
poses or realize as citizens their
highest aspirations. The fact that
some men prostitute. these instru-
mentalities of government to selfish
and ignoble ends, the fact that polic-
tical Pharisees ami barren aesthetics
draw back from the stern conflicts
where the fundamental rights of men
are hammered and fashioned into
laws and institutions does not in the
least change the proposition that
through and by means of politics and
political organizations do the people
preserve their rights and maintain
their government. We can therefore
afford to be patient so that when the
party records its policies it will be
under such circumstances that though
all men may not accept them, no one
will doubt their genuineness. We
can afford to stay out of power for
another season, but we cannot afford
as a party to face the tremendous
problems which are before us until
we face them right.
1.-THE next republican national con-
vention will be in the hands and I'M
der the control of the voters of the
party. Those who believe in the
republican party, who respect it's
traditions and have helped to make
it's history, those who cannot but feel
quickened pulse and livelier sense
of Give pride at the mention of the
names of the great leaders of the
party, and, above all, those who, look
ing to the future, hope to take up
again the great problems of human
ity and the tasks of government,
may now direct its course and mea-
sure its destiny. If, as I believe,
the vast majority of the voters of
the party are fully alive to the de-
mands and needs of our present citi-
zenship; if, as | believe, they are in
sympathy with the reforms which
conform to the best interests of our
common country, then nothing can
prevent the party platform and the
party candidates from becoming the
embodiment and the representative
of those principles and policies. This
is the contest to which I look for
ward with hope, yes, with an abid-
ing conviction that when the great
body of voters have spoken and had
their views recorded, we will have
an untrammeled and unfettered
party, alert to the duties and capable
of meeting the responsibilities which
are now before us and upon us. /
speak plainly but I speak just as I
feel. I am not one of those who be-
lieve that the republican party has
made no mistake, but I am one of
those who have no doubt that under
a full and free expression of the vot-
ers it will again become a powerful
instrument for good.
LET us, therefore, have no plat
form of compromise, and no har-
mony that is not based upon COM
mon conviction. We want a plat
form made at the immediate time, a
platform which speaks of battle and
conflict and which will record in the
harsh language of truth the actual
convictions of the majority of the
republican voters. If the republican
voters are not progressive in the true,
sound sense of the term, then the
way for some of us is clear If, on
the other hand, they are, then so far
as I am concerned, no mere question
of organization shall be permitted to
stand in the way or to drive me
out of the party. There can be no
compromise which will prevent us
doing less than our full duty toward
the problems which are before us
and the millions Of our countrymen
whose interests should be our con-
slant concern.
"Mr. President, when we plead for
progressive republican party, we
do not plead for fancies, for abstrac-
TONS but for nothing more and
nothing less than the sincere and