The Sentinel=record., 1916-12-09
REPUDIATE THOSE WHO
 JOINED THE REPUBLICANS
statement Declares They Stand Ready to Assist President Wilson at All
 Times And in All Ways in His Fight to Liberslize the Democratic Party.

Washington, Dec S.--A call for a conference of those progressives who are not in sympathy with former lead CTS of the party ''in asking the repub- lican guard to give us places on the republican executive committee" was issued here tonight by Matthew Hale of Massachusetts as acting chairman of the progressive national commit tee. The steps follow the oyertures made by Raymond Robins, Clifford Pinchot and others at a meeting in Chicago this week for voice in the management of republican party af. fairs
 The progressive organization com mittee and members of the old pro- gressiye national committee who have been cooperating with this com mittee are asked to meet in New York December 15 to arrange plans for the conference which is to be held in St Louis during the winter In his call Mir. Hale says that the liberals of the nation must organize regardless of their past party affilia- tions and regardless of their choice for president this fall' and that it is to form a nucleus for such new and broader liberal organization that the St. Louis conference is called.
 "We rrogressives have always been more interested in the success of the principles for which we are fighting than in the existence of our party as a separate entity" says the call, "We have always been ready to support either of the old rarties when either of them commits itself definitely and irrevocably to really liberal pro gram. Until then, however, we are not democrats, we are not republi cans; we are progressives.
 Many of us thought that President Wilson had gone far toward commit ting the democratic party nationally to such a liberal program; therefore We voted for him. We felt that the republican Iarty was committed to a policy of reaction and that the repub- lican candidate was committed to = policy of invasion, therefore we re- fused to follow those e our former heads who attempted to persuade us that the republican party had become progressive merely because a few of these former progressive leaders had been given prominent but powerless positions on a republican campaign committee. For the same reason we now refuse to join these progress i've republicans in asking the reDub- lican old guard to give us places on republican executive committee as proof of the liberalization of the party.
 "We are unwilling to compromise with the old guard of either party. We are willing to cooperate in every way with the liberal element of either party. We stand ready to help Presi- dent Wilson at all times and in all ways in his fight to liberalize the democratic party and we stand ready to help Hiram Johnson of California at all times and in all ways in his fight to liberalize the republican party.
 sooner or later the liberal ele ments of all parties and of all sO- cieties, north and south, east and west, will unite to form a really co- herent and a really national liberal garty-+perhaps under one of the old party standards, perhaps under a new standard-and will complete the work begun so splendidly by Woodrow Will son and Hiram Johnson. We pro gressives must be ready to devote our lives to this work. We must see clearly that success cannot come through compromise or through bar ter but that success can come through unfaltering loyalty to pro- gressive principles and through un- daunted courage in fighting those who oppose these principles