The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-07

w men you present TO US any cilOlSo,
upon whom you can unite as unanl-
mously as we have Joined ourselves
in the support of Colonel Roosevelt.
we shall consider your first choice;
then, if he does not suit us, we may
name you second choice or consider
your second choice"
Don't Dare Choose Root.
The Republicans have no first
choice whom they can unite upon and
they have no second choice They
would like to nominate Root. There
can be no question but that they would
nominate Root if they dared. But
they don't dare. They have the votes
to do it-but they lack the courage.
With Hughes they have the courage
but not the votes to do it. For men
like Penrose and Barnes and Crane
dislike Hughes deeply. With Roose-
vel the Republicans have neither the
votes nor the courage for his nomi-
nation.
Steam Roller Elements.
All the elements of the steam roller
I are here But they are not assembled.
The roller thus far has not been
steamed up. No one has authority to
put it together, no one has authority
TO drive. As the convention grows old,
as the Republicans feel that leadership
is wanting and create a demand for it,
leadership may appear. But at pres
ent the five men, Barnes, Penrose,
Smoot, Crane and Hemenway who
should be assembling the parts of the
steam roller and starting it down
Michigan avenue, cannot get the hang
OF 1t and the roller remains inactive
Inc Republicans don't know what they
want Half of them want to beat
roosevelt worse than they want to
beat Wilson, and the other half is di-
vlded into ninorities that has no def
| mite opinion about anything
| Roosevelt Their Greed.
| Against this group the Progressives
stand united upon a few simple ideas.
roosevelt is their candidate and their
! creed They care little primarily
doout the platform, if they can get
| thelr candidate. But if the Republic
cans do not take Roosevelt and nomi-
nate some weak man-like Burton or
weeks or Fairbanks-they have been
assured that the colonel will run OF,
| the Progressive ticket.
Resort to Platform,
They realize that thew NAV have to
take Hughes. If in accepting the Re
publican nomination he adopts the
| progressive creed, Hughes may make
a statement just strong enough to
keep the colonel off the Progressive
ticket In that event the Progressives
nave third line of defense into which
they will fall back: They will nom
mate a ticket without the Colonel
upon II and will write a platform as
dOiSdi lIley Qdf6 TO write and Dre-
sent the issue of preparedness and in
dustrlal reorganization of the country
pe!ore the people in a red hot cam
palgn of education. Such a campaign
would not be made primarily to elect
ticket but to impress upon the peo-
pie such issues as the government
ownership of railways, a progressive
income and inheritance tax, the more
stringent government control of cor
porationS and broader participation
al
In brief the Progressive program is
/ this--Roosevelt and a platform con-
tanning the points of essential agree
| ment between the two parties. Sec
ticket only, and the most radical plat
form he will endorse; third, Murdoch
| P1nchot, johnson, Raymond Robins
or CARRIED upon platform as radi-
write.
Cabaret of 1912.
With these ends before them the
| Progressives are as blithe as bluejays.
They are not doing the convention
worrying. Yet, it is a tremendously
serious place-this Michigan avenue
these days The singing, the bands,
the banners, the passions and emo
tons of 1912 are all missing here to-
day. That convention was not a con-
ventlon at all 1t was a cabaret! This
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the two as
one-seems to be more like a PRAYER
meeting or funeral than a conven-
ton.
Yet there is much more social dem
onstration this year than four years
ago. The women who are beginning
to appear in a dozen delegations in
each convention are giving a gay color
to the crowd. There are dinners and
receptions and all sorts of social do
ings this year-and the dead line be-
tween the parties is not socially
marked as it was at the convention
four years ago. Yet because the dis
play of emotions is wanting the hotels
lack interest that they had in the days
of the old dynasty. The truth is that
the old dynasty has fallen. 1t may
rise, but it has not risen.
Not a StampedabIe Crowd.
The Republican convention though
composed of handpicked anti-Roose-
welt delegates is. nevertheless the
freest convention the Republicans have