Pueblo chieftain., 1921-06-18
BLOC SYSTEM NOW NOTICEABLE
iAPARTY ORGANIZATIONS RESULTS
FROM A LACK OF LEADERSHIP
Comes From Centrifugal Disintegraton That Arises
From Lack of Strength In Party
Organization

enough party discipline either in the
Democratic organization or the Repuh-
lican Organization to hold them in line.
The same is true of the so-called labor
Bloc and the ex-soldiers Bloc and the
prohibition Bloc
1t all represents the centrifugal dis
integration that comes from lack of
strength at the center of party organ
ization. There is in Washington today
no Aldrich. no Dalzell, no Roosevelt.
Wilson and Cannon are here in the
flesh. but they are not here in power.
The times that everybody is now look
ing back to for comparison were the
periods when men followed leaders.
Tho way things were done years ago
is illustrated by a story of the Illinois
Senator who filled portion of the pub
lie eye some ten years ago under the
name OF Lorimer.
Il, used to be said that Lorimer took
little interest in the debates of the
senate and didn't spend much time on
the floor. When the buzzer in his Of
fices rang to notify him that there was
a bill to he a roll call. he would stroll
leisurely onto the senate floor. In the
roll call his name came about the
middle. II followed directly after La
Toilette and Lodge.
1t used to he said that Lorimer's way
of making up his mind how to vote
was to try to he in time to hear how
I.aFollette voted and how Lodge voted.
all three of these being Republicans.
altho as everybody knows LaFollette
was really an Independent. II. as was
usually the case. LAFollette voted Yea
and Lodge voted Nay. or vice versa
then Lorimer's task was easy. He
voted the way Lodge had voted and
won't back to the comfort of his once
with a sense of duty well done. Those
were the days OF leadership. Lodge
and LaFoilettc are both still in the
senate. Lodge. in fact. thru the pas
sage Of time and his talent. 4 not un-
himself reelected more continuously
than any other senator. is now Repub-
lican leader Of the senate.
Oficially Lodge Is everything there
is in the way OF leadership. He is the
cniciai Republican floor leader. he Ia
committee. and he is chairman OF the
Republican cAucus But Lodge has no
such grip on the other Republican SEN
ators and no such power to discipline
them as men like Aldrich used to have
and used to practice
This lack Of powerful and aggressive
personalities. backed up by strong
noticeable feature of both the senate
and the house. In the house the Official
Republican leader is Mondell. and from
ono philosophy of leadership he il an
extremely good ono. The theory upon
which Mondcll goes is that leader
should not have strong will Of his
own. hut should be so to speak. the
spokesman OF th~- aggregated will of
the ma jority.
Mondell is the easiest of the easy
bosses. His method of leadership Is
to move about the hoor himself. and
to have other members Of the steering
committee move about the floor and
sound out the members and get their
aggregate sentiment and then let his
position AS leader express that agEre-
gate sentiment.
From some points of view. and from
one conception OF the philosophy of
leadership. this is ideal. but in times
of stress, when the waves run high
and tho winds begin to blow. II lacks
the cohesion and force of strong dis
cipiine. These arc the conditions that
have given riss to what is undoubtedly
tho apprcctab,e beginnings of sys-
tom of Bloc" voting, In which men
vote not according to their party af-
hilliations nor according to the wishes
OF tho party leaders. hut according to
the interests of the geographical or
that they happen to have.
II will be interesting to see how far
this Bloc idea will go. and what part
1t will take. II any. in the coming tariff
debates. Tho logical effect of Bloc"
voting on a tarifY measure would seem
to he an exalted log-toiiing. in which
each group gets what IL wants and
let's every other group &c! ~t.t Il
wants. with net result Of about the
highest tariff that ever happened.
Copyright. 1921. by the New York
Evening Post. Inc.)