The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-11-27
/. R. IGNORED IN
REBUILDING PLAN
OF REPUBLICANS
Leaders Feel That Roosevelt
Forced Hughes Into
Wrong Position.

=
Forced Hughes Into
Wrong Position.
EsSQrnsSsA Nov. 27.-The Republi-
cans, who are beginning to exhibit
e=ss. ss recovery. from the jolt they
a-Ncved on Nov Z. when an apparent
rsa~ssy was turned into an actual de-
saat, aaves begun to speculate as to
rno quture OF their party. A good
many are inclined to paraphrase the
sagacious comment made by the late
Lambert Tree when the was asked If
he could remain a member Of the
Democratic party following the NOM
ination Of Mr.. Bryan in 1885,.
There amt no Democratic party"
said the Chicago lawyer, land Will
liam Jennings Bryan is its leader"
Blame the Colonel
The Republicans invest this classic
OF political axioms with pertinent ap-
plication by substituting the name OF
Theodore Roosevelt for that OF Mr..
Bryan, for while the Republican con-
gressional leaders arriving for the
coming session advance many reasons
for the defeat Of their presidential
candidate, they accord TIE major part
of the credit or discredit for it to the
Colonel. Their grievance is that he
sowed in 1912 the seeds of the whirl-
wind that they reaepd four years
later. by teaching the voters of the
West to think away from the Repub-
lican party,
Another cause for their growing
animosity toward the Colonel is that
he jockeyed Mr. Hughes into the at
titude OF being in favor OF war, where
as everybody knaws that the defeated
Republican candidate is as mild a
man as ever sat on the bench or ran
for Once. \. "a ,,s
1t is apparent from the attitude of
these men that the leaders in the
national Republican organization are
just as antagonistic. toward Col.
Roosevelt now as when they fattened
out his delegates In 1912 and shut the
door 70 him at Chicago Ave months
Reorganization Plans.
6 Some Of the ColonePs friends made
B no secret Of their Belief during the
campaign that the defeat OF Mr..
Hughes would open the way for an
actual reunion Of the Repu blican and
Progressive forces. They expected
there would be widespread demand
for the Colonel to take command of
\ affairs of the Republican party with
view to whipping them into shape
four years hence.
From present indications there is
little prospect of such an occurrence
coming to pass. The Republican
machine still is controlled by the men
who headed off T. r. on two occa-
sions. Instead Of rejecting any de-
SIRE to have him undertake the work
OF party reconstruction, they have
singled him out as the goat. Hence
1t il not improbable that the first ac-
tual move made in the direction of re-
ORIGINATING the party will be charac-
terized by determined effort to elm
mate him entirely
Disappointed In Hughes
Within thirty days after the nomi-
nation OF Mr.. Hughes, Republican
leaders were convinced that it would
require an unusual amount Of ability
& ana money to elect him. Few, if any,
regarded him as a suitable candidate.
They were not in sympathy with the
programme he decided on, but. as
4evcry State leader throughout the
country knows. they, were unable to
impress him with the necessity for
making any change in it.
His selection Of Mr. Wilcox as Ma
tfonal Chairman was regarded as a
tactical thunder. Men who became
associated with the National Chair
man learned to like him personally,
but they soon realized that he was
nothing more or less than the per-
sonal Representative Of Mr.. Hughes
and that he essayed no venture with
out the sanction of his sponsv~.
Since the election a few. Of Mr..
Hughes's intimate friends have tried
to make it appear that he conducted
the sort, of campaign that the ma
tional leaders mapped out for him
and not one Of the kind he person
ally favored. The leaders who were
brought into personal contact with
Mr. Hughes and Mr.. Wilcox and who
urged the adoption of features that
in their wisdom and experience
seemed desirable know that this state
ment is not true.
Old Advisers Ignored
Mr.. Hughes personally mapped out
his own campaign and rigidly adj
hered to it regardless Of protests and
suggestions from seasoned politicians
like Crane, Penrose, Johnson, Hitch
cock, Warren, Hilles. Vorys, West,
Brandcgee, Heating and other men
of influence and ability in the party
councils.
Two cases in point are cited by
members OF Congress familiar with
the working out of the details Of the
Republican campaign. One was the
Hughes visit to California during the
fight between the Progressive sup
porters Of Hiram Johnson and the
er-Keesling regular machine.
A majority of the leaders urged that
Hughes keep out Of the state at least
until the primary row was over He
refused to heed the advice, and the
suit in California, and it is generally
held primarily responsible for the re-
ssult in California, and it is generally
c, coded that the Democratic cam
paign was less a factor in deterrnin-
ing the. result there than johnson
himself. This, they say, is proved by
the figures. which show that, while
Johnson won by more than $4,000.
Hughes lost it by almost 1000.