The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1916-07-14
T. r. WEEPs, BUT STAYS PARTY
WHICH PUT ITS TRUST IN HIM

WHICH PUT ITS TRUST IN HIM
The New York Times, in a recent
editorial thus discussed Col. Roose-
velt's desertion Of his party:
Tenderly but inexorably Mr.. Roose-
welt draws his cruel steel along the
throat of the Bull Moose. He intro
duced 1t to the political fauna. Now
he bids 1t join the dodo. The animal
was his. For him It must die. He Ii
the most gregarious Of men. He is
unhappy in a minority. His letter to
the Progressive National Committee
might aptly be entitled II Must GET
Back Into the Republican Party" To
enable him to accomplish that task
will the Progressive party, which
came "to stay" disrupt, dissolve, fall
upon the impenitent bosoms of the
crooks" of 1912? He weeps over
1t before he knifes it:
Before speaking of anything else
l wish to express my heartiest and
most unstinted admiration for the
character and services of the men
and women who made up the Pro-
gressive National Convention in
1916. The platform put forth In
1912 was much the most important
public document promulgated in this
country since the death of Abraham
Lincoln"
Suppose the Republican party beat
en- in 1856, had given up in 1850 its
fight against the extension of slav'
cry? If the platform in 1912 wal
"the most important public docu'
ment promulgated in this country
since the death of Abraham Lincoln,
why doesn't Mr.. Roosevelt stick t
it? But where is that platform now
1t has been thrown into the ashheaI
of history? 1t was forgotten even b!
the Progressives at their Chicago
convention. Where is the recall o.
judicial decisions? Where is ere
sponsibility to the people, secured b!
the initiative, referendum, and re
call?" Away in the Ewigkeit.
The party made its platform
covenant with the people," Thu
covenant is torn up. The ABUSES
have not been swept away. ut Il
impossible" says Mr.. Roosevelt in ;
delightful passage, "for US Progress
sives to abandon our convictions.
He has abandoned them. His pro
gressive convictions are like the goot
intentions of Mr.. Macawber's young
est son. He never carries them out
Perhaps conscious of the weak
ness of his defense, Mr.. Roosevelt
turns to the more congenial job o
lamb-skinning Mr.. Wilson, whose ad
ministration Is ION an even lowe
level than the administration O
Buchanan" A rehash of favor
lite phrase of his unbiased criticism
He is the incarnation of Lincoln. Con
sequently Mr.. Wilson must be tn
avatar of Old Buck. When Mr.. Roose
welt comes to deal with hypheniza
ton he makes mess Of it. II man
children of the hyphen supper
Hughes, it is not because they low
Hughes, but ON account of their IAN
tagonism to me. They were boun,
to defeat me for the nomination.
Yes, and they are bound to defeat MI
Wilson because they despise him, an,
Mr.. Roosevelt is going to help them
With what he says about Ameri
canism and the loyalty Of the grea
body of citizens of German blood NO
body but the disloyalists will disa
gree; but the country can not forge
that it is exactly Mr.. Wilson's Ameri
canism that has earned him the hos
tility of the alien group, the YER
men, mainly Republicans, who loath
both Mr.. Wilson and Mr.. Roosevelt
Mr.. Wilson's acts are the ampl
proof of his Americanism. Withou
doubling Mr.. Hughes, it is hard t