Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-03-06
WOOD WILL FIGHT
c. O.P. OLD GUARD
r;,s+ Two Phases Of His Cam
,aign Failures, He EmuIates
Roosevelt Of 1912
ORGANIZATION IS STIRRED
n, CLINTON w. GILBERT
s,.s correspondent Of the Evening foo''c
o"' Ledger

,,.s correspondent OF the Evening fopn'
o''" Ledger
U,sb;nrton, March 6.--The Wood
M,;Jacv for the Republican nomina
canuf, e; for tbe presidency has again chang
tipn n,actics. IL has entered upon the
td e. l stage. In the first stage It was
Ilor Inliu tbc management of John Il. King
unu.,, III guord member. n candidacy
auth az J sought the goodwill Of the ma
wnrn sh;ne This >plan failed. John IT.
King was dismissed
The second stage began. Wood can :
J;iocv became then an appeal to the
uonie u,uai Int not necessarily unfriendly
peVth tthn machine. The general would
" how ~ The machine that he had much
ro snvm 'nopular support than his rivals
InviV MI trust to the machine to make him
n sbs Republican candidate on that dem
onstration.
That plan was unsuccessful, or, at
orv rote, It has been abandoned for a
much more aggressive program. The
.h;rd stage has been reached and Gen
oral Wood has become the anti ma =
eh;ne candidate. His campaign is no
ionger friendly to the organization. His
nlan Is no longer to prove his strength
- ibe organization and leave It con-
Sdently to the organization to do the
rost His purpose Is to force the or
rreonizotion to nominate. It Is express
ID in the announcement Of Colonel Will
liam Cooper Proctor. his manager, that
General Wood is going to make fight
upon the "standpatters' everywhere.
Recalls Roosevelt's Revolt
This announcement has huttered the
Republican Democrats as no announce
ment ever has since the news of 1912
that the seven little governors had ask
sd Colonel Roosevelt to be a candidate
mon the standpatters of the Republican
machine. There Is at least as much
bitterness today In Republican circles
over General Woods latest change OF
tactics as there was over Colonel Roose
volts entrance into the race in 1912.
The 1912 trouble went on and on
until the party split at the convention,
but in the beginning men perceived only
that Colonel Roosevelt was making the
kind Of fight that had never been made
before. The organization Thought at
FIRST IL was losing fight on his part
and did not grow thoroughly angry till
Il saw itself in danger. Now it knows
the possibilities of anti machine fights,
resents the injection of the standpatter
issue into the present campaign and
is thoroughly angry at General Wood.
How the issue will develop no one cap
foretel, though no one expects to sec
il 20 to the lengths of 1912.
When any one tries to guess to what
lengths the fight will 60. it would be
well for him to keep in mind just what
kind Of a fighter General Wood is, for
there Is little reason to doubt that the
general is conducting his own cam
paign. In the first stage the cam
paign was in the hands Of John Il. King.
In the second it passed into the hands
Of Senator Moses and certain Pro-
Uessives who were more used to ap-
pealng to the people than Mr.. King
was, Now General Wood is running his
own campaign.
Doesn't Fear Politicians
The enmity Of the politicians seems
to the general only trifing addition
to a long score. BY this it Is not meant
that the general has made enemies for
the sake Of making enemies, but merely
that be has never been deferred from
course be felt to be right or wise
or expedient by its consequences meas =
ured in enmities. He Is the purest
fighting tyne that has ever entered poli :
ties. Roosevelt was fighter, who was
at the same time a politician who was
mindful, except in 1912, that when the
battle was over there must remain no
hard feelings. Wood belongs, TO a pro
fession which buries those who are left
on the field after the battle is done.
It is the, sense OF how hard fighter
Wood is and how regardless of
enmities he is, rather than fear of his
success that has moved the machine to
bitterness against him. The machine
is filed with anger at a fight conducted
in the Wood manner, ION the stand
patters," all along the line. The coun
try may or not want military Presi
dent, but the machine does not want
militant candidate.
What has Wood gained by his change
Of tactics? In the first place, he has
lost nothing. The King plan had failed
Equally its successor, what may be
called the progressive plan of campaign
was failing. Tho machine roiected Mr.