The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-19
old GUARD
HIT BY WIN
OF PINCH0T
Progressives See Chance
to Control Republi-
can Party.
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
copyright, 1922, by The Argus }


Washington, D. c., May 19.-The
more information that trickles into
Washington as to. the why ana
wherefore of the victory of Clifford
pinchot in Pennsylvania the more
convinced are the political leaders
of both Republican and Democratic
parties that a political upheaval of
far-reaching proportions is in the
making.
The Democrats interpret the
signs as favorable to them; the
Republicans, depending upon wheth-
er survivors of the old progressive
movement or conservatives are in
terviewed, look upon the Pennsyl-
yania result as party evolution
and therefore as presaging Repub-
lican unity instead of division.
Irrespective of what may have
been the true cause of the Pinchot
victory over the old guard of Penn
sylvania, the part that the women
played not only in nominating a
progressive as governor of Penn
sylyania, but in preferring another
progressive, Albert Beveridge, for
senator in Indiana instead of Har-
ry New, the organization candidate,
has aroused fears concerning the
woman vote in the nation.
Credit Woman Vote.
To the woman vote in both Penn
sylYania and Indiana is being at
tributed the decisive influence.
Relatively speaking, few women
have voted in the primaries as
compared with the last elections,
but those who did vote showed hos
tility to the machine and organiza-
ton candidates. The Republican
women have aligned themselves
with the progressive wing OF the
party-that's the conclusion being
hopefully drawn by those Republi-
can leaders here who have been
praying for change of control in
side the Republican party. Indeed,
these Republicans insist that there
is a parallel to the situation which
existed in 1910, in the middle of
the Taft administration. when the
progressive and conservative wings
of the party came into conflict. The
struggle for control ended in a di-
vision. The progressives say the
struggle now will end in progress
siye ascendancy which will avoid a
divided party or any third party
movement. The progressives have
better chance to get control this
time, too, they contend, because
women are voting now while they
didn't in 1912, and therefore the
regular Republican organizations
could have things their own way.
Regulars Disconnected.
All this talk of progressive con-
troll is disconcerting naturally to
the regulars identified with the
Harding administration. They had
imagined the Republican party was
firmly convinced of the necessity OF
conservative control. President
Harding had ventured to speak
publicly what SO many regulars
had only been whispering, namely,
that the primary system was a mis-
take and should be abolished in ia
vor of the old convention system.
Right in Mr.. Harding's cabinet,
however, is a man who just before
entering the cabinet as secretary
of state. publicly lent his influence
TO the movement for the perpetua-
ton Of the primary system in New
York state Charles Evans Hughes
has maintained his fidelity to the
primary system and so far as ma
tonal politics is concerned has
conducted his job on foreign rela-
tons without mixing in interna-
tional politics. So has Herbert
Hoover, another member of the
Harding cabinet, who leans toward
the progressive side of things.
The division in Mr.. Harding's
own cabinet as between progress
siYeness and conservatives is not
accidental-it was Mr. Harding's s
Idea of gathering together at the
cabinet table representatives of all
factions of the Republican party
aut it was on the assumption that
tne regulars were recognizing the
minority-the progressives = and
mat the Republican national or
ganization and local organizations
would retain power everywhere.
See 1924 Cloud.
Should the progressives gather
enough momentum to start boom
ior one of their own number for