The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-05
PR0GRESS|VES
TOF|GHT FOR
BONUS
Congressman Nelson Outlines
Plans for Opening Session
Of New Congress.
BY CONGRESSMAN JOHN M.
NELSON OF WISCONSIN.
Leader Of the Republican Progressive
in tho House Of Representative.

(Written for Cosmopolitan News
service.)
The next Congress, the Sixty
eighth, which meets in December,
will be marked by showup and
q showdown.
The Progressive Republicans
are banding together in an effort
to prevent an almost certain |
defeat in the Presidential year Of
1924. They aim TO take the com
troll Of the Administration from
conservative elements ard inter-
ests which have been in the
party saddle since President
Harding's nomination.
La F'0IIetto Followers.
The front line Of the attack viii
be held by the ten Republican pro-
gressives from Wisconsin. They .are |
veterans of many . political battle,
comrades in arms Of Fighting Fob
La Toilette. and when the barrage
begins by the entrencl1ed conserve
tives, they. can be depended on not
to run away. They are assured the |
support Of fifty ether Republican,
progressives, while more than TWEEN. |
ty have given their written or per-
sonal pledge.
The corning contest will have q |
decisive effect on the careers III
public men and the course OF pOliti. |
cal parties. Nothing ct present |
seems more certain than defeat tor |
all representatives In Congress who
defy public sentiment, which today
a.. - vaNkAuak1NY vAVaNeppMmmfWA
We shall force d show down on
tax injustice, railway rates. profit
eering. Presidential primaries, sol.I
der bonus and other issues. Con.
1ressrnen who are tied to special IN.
terests or to reactionaryisn will be
shown up. There will be no com.
promise on principles.
Hold Balance 81 Power.
we are now having . breathing |
spell, but there will be an irrepres-
sible conflict when the next Con-
gress assemblies. The balance Of
power has passed from the Presi-
dents staIwart supporters to the
much advertised and more maligned
radicals" the progressive members /
OF both political parties, nOnprogreG.
sive Democrats and rogresaave |
are now nin0rities in i
both the House and Senate. Preai-
dent Harding seems, on the surface.
to have lost control OF the course of |
irretrievaby.
: There is no mystery about 1t all.
There il simply q reawalkening OF
civic and moral American citizen.
shop. Fundamentally. the prOgreg-
sive movement today IL determined
group aiming to restore economic
Justice to the masses Of the common
people.
In the ethical darkness that en-.
CULTS this materialistic age, AmeFi.
can thinking men and women have
become dimly aware OF the fact that
America has been led into evil ways. |,
They now begin to see that the light I
they followed was not that Of sin
certify and truth but Of nauseating
hypocrisy and profiteerlng propa-
ganda.
At once It viii be admitted that
leaders are also fallible
guides. Doubtless time servers"
and ''trimmers' may be found
among them. Doubtless. too. many
legislative proposals are
wise or otherwise. But conceding
all this freely, to whom can the
American electors, in their sore
and dilemma. turn for
There IL evidence in abundance
that Senator Bob LaFollett0 has
done great work for the people In
and Senator Hiram
johnson In California. These pro-
gressive senator's, with Borah, Nor.
ris and Capper. to mention only q
few Of the many nationally known
names Of this school, Of political
thought. have been tried in the
halls of congress in years Of ardu.
Differences between them there
are: Mistakes, not many nor Of
may have been made by !
one or more of them In the hurry
and welteE Of legislation. but these
and mistakes have come
from fallible minds and not from
hearts. Progressives make
nos claim to freedom from human
error. But as a guiding principle
In official station, they much pre-.
fer to vote right and so be de.
nounced as insurgents and radicals
than to vote wrong and, yolxed to
the interests be called regulars.
Responsive TO Opinion. II
COncreteIy, the progressives are
xeenly alive to the general welfare
and to the wishes Of the folks back
home, while the conservatives are
xeenly sensitive to the selfish In
terests and the barometers Of big
business. "The regular put
emphasis primarily ON property
rights, the radical upon human
rights. No one enters Congress
without facing at once this Chal.
Ienge to his loyalty and service.
If the elections last fall signify
anything, it is that the American
voter is beginning to understand the
obvious fact that the progressive
is the public good and
the non.progressive is special priv.
ege. II we may believe that the
American voter has at last awakened
10 the fact that the progressive
cause represents his bread and
butter, his life and liberty, there is
no place for pessimispQ in American
politics.
The world war and what has fol.
Owed has reawakened the latent
shirt In eVirile Amert-