The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-12-08


Excerpts from paper delivered before
the FOrtnighuy club Of Minot n.
1t is now some I'VE years since the
demonstration at Chicago Of the abn-
ity Of a minority OF party TO do its
will through the party organization
regardless Of the wishes or feelings
of the majorlty,-sincs the represen-
tatives OF the majority Of that party
which might be more responsive to
their convention at the same time as
that OF the Republicans. After a full
discussion Of the situation this
course was generally agreed upon
and the two conventions were called
to meet at Chicago in June. The
Republican convention met at the
Coliseum and the Progressive con-
vention at the Auditorium. Both
buildings were damned to the roof
with men from all parts OF the coun-
try, the Progressives bound and de-
termined to nominate Theodore
Roosevelt, the Republican delegates
with the exception Of some 112 dele
gates just as bound and just as de-
termined to nominate anyone other
than Roosevelt. The delegates to
these conventions arrived Monday
and for the most of the week strug-
clusion. The general impression
among the Republican delegates was
that the Progressive convention was
simply a gathering Of Roosevelt sup
pOrters for the purpose Of coercing
his nomination by their convention
and this they determined to prevent
at all hazards. On the other hand u
majority OF the leaders Of the Pro-
gressive convention believed that 1t
might be possible to obtain Mr..
RoOsevelt's nomination at the hands
Of the Republicans. even though 1t
might be done at q nominal sacrifice
OF principles. for. they argued that
Mr.. Roosevelt was a platform In
himself and would rewTite the plat
form TO suit the Progressive ele-
ments were he nominated by the Re
publican convention. A conferences
committee was appointed by each
convention, Mr.. Perkins headed the
committee for the ProgresSives and
Murray Crane for the Republicans.
After one OF two conferences John
NJ Parker Of Louisiana and Hiram
Johnson OF California refused to
meet further with the committee for
the reason that they did not feel
that they could sacrifice any or the
principles for which they had been
struggling through these years of
political strife and TO which they
had in a large measure dedicated
their lives.
With the courage Of a martyr, Mr..
Perkins kept on fighting and for q
long time he thought he would win.
Said he. Il win surely win this game.
We are holding the ace, the king, the
queen, the right bower and the left
bower of q trump hand and by
wFEwas - -
win without US we win surely
euchre them out OF the nomination
as soon as the hand is played. Fri
day afternoon. however, Mr.. Perkins
began to have doubts and on Sat-
urday he came to his friends and
said I'm a flnereaI voice: Il have been
sitting here all the week holding the
ace, king. queen, right and left bower
Of a trump and / thought ] would
surely win, but they have just In
formed me that we are not playing
euchre, we are playing poker and
my hand is a bob-tail flush"
The Progressive convention, when
IL found 1t impossible to secure the
nomination of Mr.. Roosevelt in the
other convention, nominated him to-
gether with John n. Parker OF Louis
lana for vice-president, and sent him
a message to that effect. Mr.. Roose-
Welt declined the nomination. Those
who had more cooliy followed the sit
uation knew that Mr.. Roosevelt could
not accept the nomination IL Mr..
Hughes were nominated by the Re-
publicans and IL his declaration Of
Americanism were reasonably strong
and certain. When Mr.. Hughes was
nominated he issued q statement
which could be construed in no other
way than satisfactory to the most
ardent believer In a strong and ag-
gTessiye nation. Mr.. Roosevelt's add
dresses and his frequent statements
during the pre-convention campaign
that he would be willing TO support
any good man who would stand for
these things placed him in a posi-
ton where he could In no way ac-
cept a nomination against Mr..
Hughes with any degree OF honor TO
himself.
This left the Progressive party ut
teriy disorRanized. The national
committee met and agreed that as an
organization they should support Mr..
Hughes. A majority Of the COM
mittee, led by Matthew Hale Of Mas
sachusetts. were AGAINST this pro-
ceedtng and declared that the party
had no right to support the candi-
date Of another party. Eventually
most Of these men supported presl-
dent Wilson for during the latter
days OF his first administration
forced down the reluctant Threats Of
the Democratic majority I'm congress
q great deal Of legislation outlined
and advocated by the Progressive
platform OF 1915.
Victor Murdoch. the chairman oE
the party. left the country and went
on a mission to China. Mr.. Hale ag
vice chairman. called q convention
OF the party to take place at ST.