Evening star., 1915-05-12

enterprise or not, they are quite sure
they are going to materially assist in
the election of republican President,
which now they regard as a foregone con-
clusion, subject to possible Unforeseen
conditions arising out of international af-
fairs.
Former Vice President Charles W. Fair
banks Is the man the Indiana republicans
hope to induce the national convention
OF the republican party. Tho judgment
OF thoughtful republicans hero Is that
Indiana will designate Mr.. Fairbanks as
the republican choice. and that this will
be concurred in by the rank and file Of
the former bull moosers
Former Senator Albert J. Beveridge
Is not expected to join very joyfully
In the shouting, but even he Is expect
ed, though perhaos with a wry face,
to follow the procession Otherwise,
1t is said. he may be lonesome.
Not an Organized Boom.
Now. at the outset, I desire to dissi-
pate the idea that there is any or
ganized boom under way for Mr.. Fair
banks-yet. On the contrary. his
friends desire to soft pedal on the
suggestion. They do not want him
put up now for every wolf to howl at
Fairbanks organization nor machine,
and very little being written about
him.
But he Is being talked about every
day by republicans, the men who mold
the opinion of the party. and there IS
not a party follower Of Importance port nee
know what's in tho wind. Whei: the
proper time comes his boom will be
formally launched. and among Its
sponsors will be found former leaders
of the so-called progressives.
The next most salient fact in Indiana
republican politics at this time is the
return to the party fold Of the bull
moosers. They have not come back,
mind you, in any spirit Of the prodigal
own fatted calf with them and pro-
pose to make joint feast with their
former associates
And they are not finding tho party
that they left, either. They are not
coming to standpatters and to reac-
with progressive republican ideas. They
want a protective tariff, though not
the kind of tariff that the standpat-
ters of five years ago, would make,
want that kind of a tariff now.
An observer cannot be long in In
diana without discovering the widely
prevailing desire for a return to pro-
tectionism. This state has been hurt
by the hard times, and much of the
damage is laid to the tariff. Indianap-
oils had bitter experience during the
past winter with Its unemployed. Little
was said about it, and the city took
care of it's own, but one can see people
on the streets today whose faces show
the pinch.
Surfeit of Democratic Legislation.
Tha hull r,ooeare ,ra cor,Jno boc
because they have had surfeit of
democratic legislation. both national
and state, and they are in sympathy
with the movement to hand the reins
of government over to the republicans
Some big democratic business men, it
is said, share the same feeling. The
better informed democratic leaders
know this and admit 1T in private con-
versation.
The bull moosers who are returning
to the regular republican party include
throughout the state-such men as
Horace Stillwell, who was one of the
floor leaders in the bull moose ma
tional convention: Mayor J. o. Batche-
lor of Marion. Mayor Thomas Bauer Of
Lafayette, former Bull Moose Chair
man Wilson Roosa of Elkhart. Samuel
Crumpacker of Evansville, John F.
Wied of Indianapolis. former treasurer
of the bull moose state committee. and
B. r. Inman, head of the Bull Moose
Editorial Association.
Reconciliation between the former
warning factions was expedited by the
attitude of the regular republican state
committee. The democratic legislature,
in an effort to keep open the breach
between the republicans. provided in
the primary law recently passed, that
bull moosers II challenged could not
vote in republican primaries. Never
mind,' said the republican state COM
mittee. come on and vote in our pri-
maries. and we will not challenge you"
The present organization of the reg
ular republicans Is in control of a
group of htgh-class mon. under the lead
of Will Hays of Sullivan. crowd of
forward-moving young men took hold
of the state committee, and a similar
movement is spreading among county
committees. They are described as a
clean-cut set of competent and ambi-