The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-01-30
REPUBLICAN BOURBONS
WILL NEVER REFORM
Continued from Fourth Page,

order an experience meeting in the
guise of a convention and to furnish
an opportunity whereby things of
moment could be settled and a fight
ing force constructed from the de-
pleted and defeated ranks
They couldn't see it, however.
They wanted to hang on. They
hoped for hard times. They croaked
over business depression. They
cheered when Smoot and others told
of disaster TO the business of this
country, which they claim is coming;
and they were positively hilarious
when it was intimated that soup
houses were not far away, and for
every soup house there will be vast
return to the republican party.
They were not patriotic or repub-
lican enough TO eliminate themselves
and start new deal They prefer
red to trust to future hard times for
1 which they were all hoping and
thought to retain themselves in
power until dark days and misery
should come to maintain them and
to elect their candidate for the pres
idency.
They do not intend to reform No,
indeed! What they intend to do is
to hang on and pray that events will
help them, when they figure they can
go along in the old ways; because, as
they put it, the people will be glad
enough to turn from the democrats,
who will be charged with hard
times, to republicans, who will prom
Use them good times.
| That is the inside of it ALL There
will be no convention to reorganiZe
and revive the republican party, be-
cause such a convention would sepa-
rate most of these national commit
teemen from their petty places as
such.
However it was observed they
were very conciliatory toward the
progressives. Not a person present
had any unkind words for those who
left the G. o. P in 1912 and follow
ed Theodore Roosevelt into the Bull
Moose contingent. The hardest thing
said about them was that they are
erring brethren and must be urged
to come back home.
Also there was great apparent
consideration for the good opinion Of
the plain people. The republican
party, as represented by these ma
tional committeeman, must not be
called the party of the classes. 1t
is severely proletarian.
For example, Chairman Hilles
gave the committee a dinner on the
| night before the meeting. The din
! ner was given at the most exclusive
club in Washington, and cost a good
sum a plate; but the committeeman
mess dress and not in evening
clothes.
\ Could there have been neater or
more tactful appreciation of the
are paramount? A genius thought
i that out. No more can the republi-
can party be called the party of the
classes. Why, its national commit
teemen, highest Of dignitaries, go to
a formal dinner at a fashionable
Iclub in sack suits.
A Little Boom for Mr.. Root
1t was decided at this dinner that
there should be no convention. That
was settled. However, in order that
there might be a semblance of dis
cussion over the matter and in order
that the old line bunk might be con-
tinued, there were several hours of
speeches, wherein various orators
pleaded for convention or protest
ed that convention is not neces-
sary All those speeches were hot
air, for every man in the room knew
there was no doubt as to what would
be done.
The committeeman from Indiana
told the truth about the whole affair
. when, in a speech just before the
vote was taken, he said that not a re-
publican in his state or a republican
!. newspaper, from the Ohio river to
the Lake, had spoken against hold
ing a convention; and most of them
were in favor Of it. The only per-
son from Indiana who protested
against a convention to him, he said,
were two men who were in that room
he meant former Senator Hemen-
way and former Representative Jas.
Watson, both members of the old
crowd.
1t was the old crowd that put it
Iover, barring William Barnes and
Senator Crane, who had no alterna-