The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-08-11
THE PROGRESSIVE MOVE
REMINDS EDITOR OF PAST

In an editorial Colonel WatterSon,
the ''Ty Cobb of editors" recently
delved into past history to draw a
parallel to the present history max
ing of the Progressive party move
ments. The editorial is headed, THE
Progressive Dilemma" and runs:
The poor Progressives! If the
Courier-Journal were not the most
considerable of mortals and pious of
newspapers it would risk the profan-
ity and suggest that as a matter of
fact, really and truly, they find them
selves betwix He'll and the Iron
Works, or words to that lurid effect.
They'll be dam'd if they do. They'll
be dam'd if they don't. That is what
they get trying to keep up with
Teddy.
And that reminds us. Away back
in the twilight of the gods of New
York politics, a person by the name
of Seward-William H. Seward
played much the same role just play
ed by Theodore Roosevelt. There
came a worthless son-of-a-gun OF a
b%ricklayer from Virginia to the town
of Batavia in the western part OF
INSW 1OIh. lllo udliO "oo "OAo :"
William Morgan. He attached him
self to a local lodge of Free Masons,
with many of whose members he
quarreled, and, out of revenge, pro-
posed to print a book revealing the
secrets of that honorable and benevo-
lent order. There o a pretty
howdy-do. One day this Morgan dis
appeared from the hauntsN of men and
his W haunts-mainly the village
doggery-and people began to say
that he had been put out Of the way
by the fraternity he had so outraged.
The whole of western New York
was in uproar. Murder was charged.
One or two Masons were indicted, ar
rested and brought to trial. But there
was no conviction for the capital Of
tense. No dead body that could be
identified as the delinquent, was ever
found. The likelihood is that Nor
gan was induced to efface himself.
But, Mr.. Seward and his Ffdus
Achates. Thurlow Weed, quick to
detect the golden apple in the green
of the tree, found in this Morgan ex-
element the chance of political ad-
vantage. They got up an anti-Mason
party just as Roosevelt and his man
Perkins, stealing Bryan's clothes and
having them d%rycleaned and reftted,
got up the Progressive party.
For a while anti-Masonry went
even as hot cakes. 1t fourished like
a green bay tree. 1t put a pres1den-
tial ticket in the field. Seward ode
it to his very good profit. Then see
ing it begin to decline, he and Weed
had no further use for it, or, as John
Quincy Adams stated the case they
transferred themselves and their fol-
lowers. without reservation of body,
or soul, to another party, "a BASE
compound of Royal Arch Masons and
Hartford Convention FederaEsts,
held together by no bond but that OF
a common hatred for better men
than themselves"-that is, as old
Jerry Black put it, they fostered the
growth of anti-Masonary until 1t was
big enough to sell just as a dealer
in livestock fattens a calf until it Is
fat enough for the market and then
let's it 60 for what it will fetch
How like the recent Roosevelt
Perkins episode. 1t will be remem-
bered that it was Thurlow Weed VINO
said of a dead body fished out OF
Lake Ontario and sought to be iden-
tilted as the missing bricklayer OF
Batavia: ut is a god enough Morgan
till after the election" In like man
ner the Progressives We're a good
enough party until after the conVen-
tion-the late Chicago convention
which turned Teddy down and nom
mated Hughes.
And now what shall the poor Fro
gressiyes do? Where shall they go!
Shall they condone the treason OF
Teddy? Shall they confirm the deal
of Perkins? Whatever they tlnally
conclude, which of the c~ontendlng
parties will they help, which hurt?
Suppose they stand pat, complete the
ticket fractured by the detection OF
Teddy, what then? =
And that again reminds us. some
thing less than a century ago a we'll
known Kentucky turfman of those
DAYS, who happened to be attending
the races at Algiers just across the
Mississippi river from New Orleans,
was approached by a seedy sport and
asked for a dime to pay his return
ferry fare. The K~entuckian automa-
put his hand in his pocket.
Then he paused: Have you any
friends on the other side?" he asked.
The man admitted that he had not.
Nor on this?" persisted the turfman,
to which he received the same
answer: THAT being the case,' said
the Kentuckian, taking his hand u
Of his pocket and turning on his heel,
what difference does it make to you
which side of the river you are on
The poor Progressives; can they
see the point of the joke