Imperial Valley press., 1916-06-15
THE FUNERAL SERVICES AT CHICAGO.
(San Francisco Bulletin)

4
"The real and important development OF this cOnven-
ton with all its backings and filings and futy and fat
osness and bogus pretensons of harmonious thought
and action is that inevitably there will be reagnment
Of party affiliations and revision of party names IN or
der that there shall be radical party and conservative
party and that the future lie OF the repplc
is ure"-Samuel G. Blythe.
There isn't much difference between these words OF
Sam Blythe and good deal thai said four years ago
The essential difference is that enough has happened IN
four wears to prove that they neXOraby true. The
old party machine1y-that in which Barnes, Penrose'
Crane Root and Smoot less respectable e-
vers and which existed primarily to hold once ana pass
out favOrs-has broken down.
The struggle at Chicago both within the conventions
and between the conventions turned upon one dete oo
idea, opposed to mass OF new ones Inc ola dea was
10 do anything-no matter what-tO nominate anyone
no matter who-if such action made it possible to turn
out Democratic oiceholders and put IN republican ones
or TO keep Republican ocehoders in and Democratic Of
cehoders out. The two great partles-recenty great
only in size-had become office holding prlvege-gvlng
corporations The politicians who manipulated them
though necessarily the public men whom they nom
nated were in the government business frankly as
he United States Steel Corporation is in the steel and iron
business. u ~'sEHEf%s~ =,
AS the parties ceased to represent living issues the
professional politicians gained in power Wherever living
issues forced themselves upon the parties as they dd IN
California and other states types OF men got con-
troll and the lines of party allegiance weakened
In California, for example, logical result OF the po-
tca rebellion so spendidly led by Hiram johnson was
wears there have not been Democrats and Republicans IN
the internal politics of California but pro-Johnson men
and antiJohnson men, pro-progress men and ant-pro
gress
A similar fight had been going on in other states,
though in few was it so well led did it work remark
able revolution When the veterans of these state fights
went to Chicago first in 1872 and again in 1916 they
were thoroughly dsgusted with the methods still en-
poyed in national politics. So they went to work to swing
national politics into step with the radical movement
which was going in the states. In 1912 they made
remarkable showing.
But between 1912 and 1916 there came the European
convulsion, which temporarily paralyzed the radical
movement in this country. Foreign policies and prepar-
edness policies which are essentially foreign policies We're
made an issue Domestic reforms slurred over by
Colonel Roosevelt and by others Of the evry men who had
lust based new party upon them. Here confusion
Do what Roosevelt could he could not set his extreme
theories of preparedness into the splendid program OF
Frogressivsm.
But preparedness the Rooseveltan scale, did ap-
peal Republicans and to who had once backed
up the reactiona1y Republicans with money Prepared
ness therefore, blurred the line between the Republicans
and the Progressves 1t made use Of not alone by
those who sincerely believed in it, but by those who hoped
that it would be the of putting Republican office
holders in the place of Democratic oceholders 1t was
also made use by persons with money interests IN Mex
leo and elsewhere which money interests would be en-
hanced if this government ntrvened in Mexico or as
srmed an aggressive foreign policy elsewhere.
The result is that Blythes vision of ceany-divided
conservative and radical parties has not yet true