Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-15
DEMOCRATS LOSE
Pep AS TEDDY
KILLS HIS PARTY
LONG FACES AND FORCED JOY.
BUSINESS MARK NATIONAL
MEETING At ST. LOUIS.
lBY w. H. POWELL

Thomas Marshall The faithful are
here all right, in droves. but 1t is diff
ficult to And one who can lay valid
claim to that other adjective they
have boasted so long and SO bravely,
"unterrifed."
Viewed at distance of three days
and some hundreds of miles, the
events Of Saturday In Chicago's audi
torium. when the Bull Moose dele
gates heard Roosevelts announcement
of the death of their party. assume an
aspect of pathos which was not realiz-
ed even by those who stood at the side
of the grave while the infant organi-
cations corpse was being lowered.
But 1t is amusement more than
pity that Is aroused by the sight OF
the democrats in st. Louis today. For
months they have been planning
jubilation. joyous gathering of the
clans. and a noisy ratification OF the
ticket which. thanks to Roosevelt and
his followers. restored their party to
power in 1912 after many lean and
hungry years.
When the army of newspaper men
who had attended the Chicago conven-
tiop filed out Of the Congress hotel
Saturday night to take trains for st.
Louis, they elbowed their way through
bowling, surging mobs of Hughes en-
thusiasts, and the echoes of republi-
can cheering remained In their ears
as they entered the Jefferson hotels
spacious lobby Sunday morning
But there was no cheering here. 1t
was as IL they had happened unbidden
on the preparations for funeral after
watching celebration.
It is putting it mildly to say the
democrats are afraid. Chairman Nc.
Combs issued a bold statement Satur-
day when he heard Of the two nomin.
atoms in Chicago, saying: That
makes 1t easy for u.s." But few hours
later, when he was shown Roosevelts
telegram of REFUSAL the feeling of
confidence evaporated like sun-struck
dew.
The democrats strove valiantly, and
are striving yet, to present cheerful
front to q watchfll world. but the task
is more than humanity possible. Hard
ened as they were to defeat, their vic
tory OF four years ago was such a
stunning one that In the recovery from
their surprise they lost the ability to
smile again while looking forward to
reverse.
The convention which opens tomor
row will. of course, he cut and dried
affair. That has been expected. But
1t will have, also funeral color that
cannot be effaced even by the parades
! Of silk-hatted Tammany platoons, the
blaring OF bands and the waving of the
stars and stripes
In other years the democrats have
had the fighting spirit Of the unterri-
fed loser to provide ginger in their
conventions. With the certainty of
eventual defeat they have enjoyed
scrapping among themselves over the
empty honors that were the usual por-
ton OF their party In 1904, the last
time st. Louis entertained national
convention. there was merry war in
which William Randolph Hearst spent
many shekels to lengthen his title to
William Also-Randolph Hearst. That
was the convention at which Alton B..
| Parker was marked for slaughter, and
then, as now, it was Theodore Roose-
welt whose shadow fell halfway
across the continent TO darken the
countenances Of the delegates.
Roosevelts action of Saturday,
when he dealt the death blow to the
party he had created, was only one OF
the series of surprising events in the
career Of a man whose vocabulary
lacks the word, precedent" Those
who witnessed the sudden collapse OF
the game spirit that had made the
progressive convention one of the most
remarkable political gatherings in his
tory. never will forget the solemn hush
that settled over the crowd in the
Auditorium when Chairman Robins
read the fateful message from Oyster
Bay.
Dust thou art. to dust returnest,"
might well have been the text. Hav-
ing been buffetted for days between
the fiery, rebellious loratory Of Victor
Murdoch and Hiram Johnson on one
side, and the smiling. suave but some
what supercilious reassurances OF Geo.
/ W. Perkins on the other, the body Of
delegates had kept the faith" relig-
iously, comforted by their feeling Of
certain assurance that their leader at
Oyster Bay would lead them again in
a campaign like that OF four years
ago
They had come to Chicago to nomi-
mate Roosevelt. Beyond that their
thoughts had not scared They were
willing to accept defeat with the
colonel as their leader Their faith in
him was supreme and, in many cases,
childlike. When the convention divid.
led over the proposal to appoint con.
ference committee, the no-surrender
faction nearly won the day with the
battle cry: "This better to have
fought and lost than never to have
fought at all"
! The first blow fell Saturday morn
ling. when the convention heard Roose
velt's suggestion that Senator Lodge
be made the fusion candidate
Screams of mo, no.. no. echoed
Through the big hall, as the religious
|fervor which had upheld the throne
Throughout a trying week moved the
shouters to an effort to bury the
Thought under a storm of vocal pro
test
But the spirit was broken. The
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