Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1916-06-16
THE CHICAGO CONVENTIONS.

The Republican and Progressive
conventions held in Chicago last week
have passed into history as nominal
ing bodies conducted by the delegates,
not BOSSES The former was noted for
an almost total absence of enthusiasm,
as was to have been expected. Lead
ers nor rank and file knew what they
were going to get. The result was
( in the hands of the gods. Fear of
Roosevelt prevailed until the last day,
when the Old Guard-who loved
Hughes but little more than T. R.
were forced to accept the former.
The nomination of member OF
the supreme court to serve party
exigency establishes a precedent that
is full of menace and danger. Here
after a seat on the supreme bench
will come to be regarded as STEP
ping stone to political preferment, and,
as natural result, the decisions of
that court will become more or less
the subject of suspicion. This danger
is recognized in the state of Wash.
ington, where the law makes judges
ineligible to a political office during
the term for which they were elected.
No doubt exists that Judge Hughes
is a man of ability and character,
but many view his nomination while
on the bench with alarm.
The Republican platform is notable
in that it fails to "denounce," de
plore" and "view with alarm" any Of
the great constructive legislation of
the Democratic party, enacted in the
past three years, such as the Income
Tax, Federal Reserve Act, Federal
Trade Commission, Clayton Anti
Trust Act and the Agricultural Elk.
tension Act No mention is made of
acts that have long been denounced
by the Republican press of the Pa
cific Coast, such as the Free Canal
Tolls and the Seamen's Act, each of
which we have been assured for two
years have been largely responsible
for depressed conditions on the West
Coast. AS Senator Stone remarked
the other day, this platform is a
"r'emarkabl Elimination" with one
half the legislation it demands al
ready enacted and the other half now
being worked out by the Democratic
party.
Progressves Are Disappointed.
The thousands who journeyed to
Chicago to attend the Progressive
convention had but one object in view,
the nomination of Roosevelt and the
adoption of a progressive platform
along the lines of that of 1872 They
were rudely awakened on arrival to
find themselves merely pawns in a
political chess game. The lavish ex-
penditure of printers ink just before
the convention date gave good reason
for the faith that was in them. There
was evidence on every hand that
ample campaign funds would be avail
able, and some $1,000 was subscribed
in the convention hall, so that the
earnest delegates had no doubt that
their idolized chieftain would lead
them, singing Onward, Christian
Soldiers
To say they, together with the
100000 voters who followed the
Moose banner four years ago, were
disappointed but mildly expresses
their feelings when their chieftain
tentatively" declined the nomination,
apparently choosing to sulk in his tent
regardless of the great principles he
had paraded before his followers as
the goal of his ambitions. 1t was
then revealed to them that they. had
been simple tools in the game Of pol
itics; that the convention at Chicago
was staged simply as club, by which
Roosevelt hoped to force his nomina-
tion upon the Republican convention.
While the personality of Roosevelt
dominated the Progressive party, it
does not follow that the members of
the party as a whole it was case of
the blind leading the blind. That
party was composed of millions OF
honest citizens who had become
wearied of the rule of an oligarchy,
whose sole mission had become to
distribute favors of government to a
privileged few, who in turn maintained
the oligarchy in power. The dis
appointment to these people is i'm
measurable, and it is unthinkable that
they should return to the old order
they had become disguised with, if
anything better offered.
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