Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-06-12
HUGHES FAILS TO
WARM HIS PARTY;
DOUBT STRENGTH
New Yorker Named Against Better
Judgment of Leaders to Prevent
Nomination OF Roosevelt.
SHERM4N EXECUTES WISE PLAY
Starts Break for Justice and Gains
Close Position to Candidate-Spec-
ulatien Over Ticket.
By ]. VI. C0LLIGAN.

bl j. VI. tUILlUANs
The fact that Hughes and Fairbanks
were nominated by the republican ma
tional convention at Chicago last week
is no longer news TO the public. Meth
er is the action of the progressives' /
gathering in choosing Roosevelt and
Parker. But Just what the colonel
will do is still a subject OF specula-
ton. There is no doubt that he will
support Hughes He has eStranged
himself from the progressive contln-
gent by his hesitation in accepting
presidential nomination at the hands
OF that party. The progressives say
he is ungrateful. Four years ago they
followed him to the brink OF Armaged-
don and they have been singing and
shouting his praises since. He took
them from under the banner which
they had been following all their years
and made them believe that the repub-
Hcan party had outlived its useful
ness They swore by him and his
policies. They came to Chicago last
week with one object in view-the
nomination of Roosevelt They could
see nobody but him and hear no other
NplCS SACtpI that VI lllIAl Ll4SFOISA ~
You could have better appreciated the
state of mind of the dyed-in-the-wool
bull mooser if you had met him face
to face after the adjournment OF the
progressive convention on the day
that it selected its national ticket. 1t
was face that you would never have
forgotten. 1t was d picture OF man
who had been betrayed at the shrine
h over which he had wept and prayed
and promised.
The average person not on the IN
side of the political story al Chicago
is asking why the republicans chose
Hughes when there were so many
other good men with states back OF
them; men who came closer TO rep
resenting the true voice of Old-time
republicanism than the supreme court
justice. Il had been common knOWl-
edge for months that Elihu Root OF
the Empire state was the choice OF
the republican national organization
The national organization, TO a large
extent, controlled the majority Of the
Coliseum votes. II Roosevelt had not
doomed SO strongly in the latter weeks
of the pre-conyention campaign, I'M
doubtedly Root would have been the
republican presidential candidate. 1t
was difficult to fathom for certainty
the effect the Roosevelt propaganda,
which was carried on through the
magazines and the newspapers, in CO.
operation with his local organizations
over the nation, was having upon the
favorite sons delegations who were
to do the voting in the Chicago con-
l.
Hitchcock, who was postmaster gen.
erai in President Taft's cabinet, show
ed up in Chicago two weeks in ad-
vance Of the assembling of the ma
tional convention. He personally
launched the Hughes boom. The
writer said in his convention story of
last Thursday that it was generally
confessed by republican leaders that
Hughes had been sprung to put a qui-
etus on the Roosevelt wave and that
there never had been any serious in
tention of making him the nominee.
After Hughes had served the part he
had been chosen to play the organiza-
ton sought to eliminate him, and a
snag was hit. The organization both
hated and feared Roosevelt His
wishes were consulted, not to please
him, but to bait the element in the
republican convention that still sym
pathized with his policies and to hold
in line, if possible, the members Of
the progressive party.
Steam Roller Operated.
One significant feature Of the repub-
lican convention this year was the ST.
lence of Roosevelt over the steam
roller. Four years ago he never ceas-
ed condemning it and those who en-
gineered it in the convention hall
The old machine was in its accustom-
ed position last week, and, with few
exceptions, there was no difference in
the personnel of the crew. 1t had a
full head Of steam on and was oiled
so that it would pass along without
betraying a squeak 1t made its initial
trip Friday morning. The first indi-
vidual to be fattened out was none
other than Theodore Roosevelt. If he
ever realized his insignificance as an
aspirant for place on a national re-