New Britain herald., 1916-07-21
COLBY WILL LEAD
 FIGHT ON HUGHES
Will Tell New York ProgreSsiyes
 Few UnVarniShed Facts


 the progressive county committee. He will go to Syracuse today to attend the meeting of the state committee,
 which is scheduled for tomorrow af-
 ternoon. MT. Colby will lead the fight 1 against the proposal to have the com
 mittee indorse the candidacy of | Charles F. Hughes and Governor
 Whitman.
 i MT. Colby in statement declared that he would tell the state committee a plain, unvarnished story of the pro- 1 ceedings in Chicago when the progress | sive national committee met there and voted to indorse Hughes. That MT. Colby will make an exceedingly bitter l fight is expected. Some progressives 1 opposed, like MT. Colby, to the so- called ''Perkins program have urged 1 him to be moderate lest in an attempt tc save the progressive party organiza- ton in this state he might deliver a ceath blow to it.
 Tn his statement Mr. Colby made reference to the post card canvass of enrolled progressives in this city which has been conducted by August F. Schwarzler, progressive leader of the Bronx, with a view to ascertaining the sentiment in local party circles as be- tween Hughes and President Wilson. A firm of certified accountants is tabu- lating the returns.
 Perkins a Grave Digger
 "I don't know" said MT. Colby, "how many committeeman MT. Per- kins will succeed in rounding up. If he had shown the same zeal in con- sulting the party before he damned through his national committee pro- gram that he now shows in stemming the flood of repudiation, he would | have saved himself and his grave digger progressives a good deal of ] labor and discontinue.
 'I see that he has brought in a | firm of certified accountants to certify 1 the state of the progressive mind and | consciencein some of the boroughs of l this city. I am not sure but that cer- tified public accountants, with maybe | a sprinking of cash registers, auto maGo weighing machines, and a pho EOgraph or two, would about meet the requirements of progressive national recent performance.
 "Certainly no one who attended the meeting of the committee in Chicago saw in it's machine-made action any ymptoms of the Ideals or feelings which we have supposed our party stood for. I have always supposed that the progressive party was pri- marily a revolt against machine rule And yet Perkins and Finn are falling ack upon the rankest machine methods, but with slight success, l m ust add, in their attempt to deliver | our party to the republicans.
 Revolt Growing.
 NO wonder the revolt is growing within the progressive party against it's betrayal. State after state has the national committees action.
 Michigan has recalled it's national committeeman, and elected his success sor
 "Indiana has censured it's national committeeman, and repudiated the in q oorsement of Hughes. Kentucky like wise.
 And Massa chusetts, and New Jer sey, and many other states, including the very significant refusal to indOrse by California which we have always regarded as the leading progressive state in the Union.
 Tn Pennsylvania, at the recent meeting of the state committee in Harrisburg, the majority in actual at tendance was against endorsing Hughes and Bill Finn only succeeded in jam ming through a resolution by a very close vote through the use of bunch of proxies.
 'In Minnesota, with fine disregard for consistency, proxy voting was not permitted, and thus a, clear majority ] against indorsement was converted into close vote in favor of the com mittee's action. Such notifications can deceive no one, much less profit any cause.
 q propose to relate to the state committee at Syracuse the simple story of the national committees meeting. The majority of the na- tional committee included a number of paid employees, a number of com- mitteemen who had already declared their aftiliation with the republican party, and there was also a large number of proxies, which had been gathered up from committeeman rep- 1esenting remote states, who had be- come tired and sickened of the party's management, and had ceased to care what action it's committee took. A number of votes were cast in direct opposition to authoritative instruc- tions transmitted from the state ganiza tions of the party.
 ITO ratify such action is to falsify end negative everything we have said and done as progressives for four years"
 Robert H. Elder, leader of the pro- eressives in Kings who are opposed to the Perkins program, sent an open letter last night to members of the state committee, in which he urged them to use moderation. MT. Elder maintains that instead of indorsing the candidate of any other party, the pro- g1 essives, without a presidential non1i- nee of their own, should be left unfet- tered by any party obligations to vote