The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-16

nrecedent. Hitherto the vice chair
| man has always been appointed o.
/ the chairman. The selection OF
| vice chairman Immediately after tne
national election. when no vice chair
| man was appointed before the cleo
tion. the forcing of the appointment
| Ia an issue over the protest OF the
: chairman and three other promlnen'
| members OF the committee and the
refusal TO allow the national com
mittee itself to pass on the appoint
ment were for distinct purpose.
"The purpose was two-fold. First
these men wished TO keep the con
troll of the machinery Of the repuDii
can party, present and prospective ~
the hands OF their own little coterie.
Second, they wished to shift inc re-
sponsibility for Mr.. Hughes defeat
from their own shoulders, where ~
righteuIly belongs, to the shoulders Oh
MIR. Wilcox.
"These men took no chances. Tney
nronosed to see that vice chairman
of their own selection was installed,
that the permanent headquarters
were to be in the city which best
served their personal purposes that
they could control the publicity and H.
nances of the party and that the va
cancy in the District OF COLUMBIA was
filed, in fac that everything OF I'm,
portance that was to be done, should
be done before the question or CAIN
paign committee was considered.
I'm other words, they performed
every act they could think OF to bat
ton up as tightly as possible in the
hands OF their own little clique, the
entire organization of the party.
THE men who did this were Hem
enway. of Indiana. leader Of the CO.
terie; Martin, of Virginia, Estabrook.
OF New Hampshire, who were mem
bers of the executive committee and
Gillette OF California
holding the proxy of Executive Com
Croker Of California, Mr..
Macarthur OF Oregon. with the proxy
of Executive Committeeman Williams
of Oregon and LATE Gleason of New
York, voting the proxy Of Executive
Committeeman Perkins OF Washing
ton.
mo one Of these three last men
toned men was = member OF the ma
tional committee Of the republican
party. Mr.. Gleason is the acknowl-
edged representative of William
Barns Jr.. Of New York. Mr.. Gillette
is a pronounced reactionary republi-
can OF California and the bitter OPP
ponent OF Hiram Johnson.
"Hemenway and his associates were
careful not to trust these proxies to
republicans. Although
Mr.. King. the republican national COM
mitteeman from Connecticut, and Mr..
Hays, the brilliant republican state
chairman of Indiana. were in New
York yesterday, they were ignored.
''Hemenway and his associates have |
for . long time been secretly circulat- |
ing stories reflecting on Chairman
Wilcox and charging him with re-
sponsibility for having lost the ma
tional election whereas they them |
selves are solely and wholly respon- |
sible for the defeat Of Mr.. Hughs. Mr..
Croker Is VIGOROUSLY responsible fo-
the loss Of California. Mr.. Sam Per-
kins. by his short sighted and stupid
cement c. affairs &: e ~ the state OF /
lost that state to Mr..
Hughes.
These men in yesterdays meeting, |
BY sighting Chairman Wilcox, by at
tempting to shear him OF his power, |
SO to humiliate him as to |
force his resignation and allow their |
man to assume the craftsmanship"