The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-17

FARMER: JANUARY II.
handed and designed to force Mr.
! Wilcox out of the chairma nship. At
ter reciting what had taken place at
the Century club meeting, the state
ment continues:
1.-THE election of a Vice Chairman
by the Executive Committee is with
! out precedent. Heretofore the Vice
Chairman has always been appoint
ed by the Chairman. The selection Of
a Vice Chairman Immediately after a
! National election, when no Vice
Chairman was appointed before cleo
| ton; the forcing of the appointment
to an issue over the protest of the
chairman and other prominent men,
| bers of the committee, and the refusal
! to allow the National Committee itr
kself to pass on the appointment, were
for a distinct purpose. The purpose
was twofold. First, these men wished
to keep control of the machinery Of
the Republican party, present and
prospective, in the hands of their own
little coterie. Second, they wished to
shift the responsibility for Mr..
| Hughes's defeat from their own
shoulders, where it rightfully belongs,
! to the shoulders of Chairman Wilcox.
"These men took no chances. They
proposed to see that a 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 fl
nances Of the party, and that the va
cancy in the District of Columbia was
fi11od. in, for oyorUf hing of
portance that was to be done should
be done before the question of a
campaign committee was considered.
In other words, they performedany act
they could think Of to button up as
tightly as possible in the hands OF
their own little clique the entire or
ganization of the party.
Place Blame for Hughes Defeat
'tThe men who did this were Hem
menway of Indiana, leader of the CO.
terie; Martin Of Virginia.; Estabrook
Of the Executive Committee, and ex-
Governor Gillett of California, holding
the proxy Of Executive Committeeman
Croker Of California; Mr. Macarthur
of Oregon, with the proxy OF Execu-
tive Committeeman Williams of Ore
gon, and Late Gleason of New York,
NOC1IIS tu0 pIOAy VI AAAOCNIi'N >|SAAA
mitteeman Sam Perkins Of the State
Of Washington No one of these three
aforementioned men was a member Of
the National Committee of the Re
publican party. They are affiliated
with the reactionary wing of the Re
publican party. Mr.. Gleason is >the,
acknowledged representative of Will
liam Barnes Of New York. Mr. Gillett
is a prominent reactionary Republi-
can of California, and the bitter oppo-
nent of Hiram Johnson.
"Hemmenway and his associates
were careful not to trust these proxies
to liberal-minded Republicans. AL
though Mr. King, the Republican Ma
tional Committeeman from Connecti-
cut. and Mr.. Hays, the brilliant Re-
publican State Chairman of Indiana,
were in New York Monday, they were
not consulted by the Executive Com
mittee. Hemmenway and his assOci-
ates have for a long time been Sc
cretly Circulating stories rejecting on
Chairman Wilcox, and charging him
with responsibility for having lost the
national election, whereas they them
selves are solely and wholly RESPONSE
BILE for the defeat of Mr.. Hughes
The statement went onto accuse
OTOChcT IOI IIlc lOSS VI
Samuel Perkins for the loss of Wash
ington, and Estabrook for the loss of
New Hampshire, and stated that they
endeavored to hhmiliate Chairman
Wilcox and to force his resignation
and allow their man to assume con-
troll: The statement continued:
THE real reason for the opposition
Of these men to Chairman Wilcox is
the fact that he has tried in every
way to liberalize the Republican party
and make it responsive to the wishes
of the rank and file Of the party.
These very men know only too we'll
that if Chairman Wilcox succeeded in
his endeavors, they, instead of he,
would be shorn of power. Therefore,
their action of yesterday was one of
pure self-interest, without the slight
est regard to the welfare Of their
party or their country.
Say Crane Bossed the Job
"The Executive Committee which
took this action yesterday was hand
picked by Murray Crane of Massa-
chusetts Immediately after the Ma
tional Convention in Chicago last
June. From that day to this he has
connived secretly in every possible
way to keep the machinery of the Re-
publican party in the hands of him.
self, Hemmenway,N Barnes, Croker,
Sam Perkins, and Martin"
Mr.. Perkins said the Progressives
strongly urged the immediate meet
ing of the Republican national COM
mittee to take up the whole question.
to name some committee of manage
ment that would be representative of
all elements opposed to the Democrat
fc party, outline policies and princi-
Piles for which the reunited party
should stand. and that will give us
some constructive leadership behind
which we can go to the voters with
some hope Of restoring the fair name
Of our country to a proper place
among the nations and redeem it's lost
prestige
When Mr.. Perkins was asked last
night if he did not believe that the
resolution adopted by the committee
earlier in the day would accomplish
that purpose, he said:
Give my compliments to Mr.. Hem
enway and say that I regard that res
olution as a mere scrap Of paper"
Mr.. Perkins made public a telegram
L., IL \ e