Evening star., 1925-02-25
Politics at Large
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

ed at last. Its proportions are not SO
large, however, as to stir Chairman
William NJ. Butler of the Republican
national committee from an attitude
of cold Indifference. Nor have the
Democrats evinced any particular
degree of awe.
The new party-which, by the way,
has not yet been officially baptized.
although it Is supposed ii will be
named "Progre scarcely be-
yond the crysalis stage. A commit
tee was named in Chicago by rump
meeting growing out of the conven-
ton of the Conference for Progressive
Political Action, TO, make plans for
organizing throughout the States, and
for a national convention to be called
later.
A demand for a new political al
lignment in this country-with all the
conservatives in one group and all
the liberals in another-was voiced
with considerable vigor last Summer.
The La Toilette Wheeler ticket party,
call it what you will, was expected
to be the forerunner of this new
alignment. But the election came, 1t Is
over, and for the time being the peo-
pie are thinking about things other
than politics. AS matter of fact,
new Congress has just been elected
and a President has been newly elect
ed for term of four years. The in
Clination Of the people at present
seems to be to give the new admin
istration and the new Congress
chance. If the engine falters. then IT
will be time to tinker with it.
So the time chosen for launching
a third party movement was, to say
the least, ill-timed. The third party
people had full warning They had
before them the action of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor and Of the
executives of the railroad brother
hoods and unions in favor of nom
partisan political action and against
starting new party now.
X \ X x
A new party needs an fssue-some-
thing about which it may rally the
people. 1t has to be tangible issue,
If possible, like slavery, which gave
the protective tariff, which served
to keep the Republicans and Demo-
Gratis apart for many years after
the slave issue had passed The
Progressives have attempted to make
"the interests" domination of the
Government by big business" an
invisible government" such an issue.
The great difficulty has been that so
many Of the people are mixed up one
big business. The people work for
these interests; they draw their pay,
their livelihood from them, and they
are getting a pretty good living. Peo-
pie don't get fighting mad when they
are comfortable. It's when something
hurts them they get into action, wit
ness the formation of the Populist
party in the Cos, and the Farmer
Labor party in the Northwest a cou-
YN1a Of on xa-h q a r (
were going bankrupt.
Nor is the cry of special interests"
entirely new. 1t lacks the quality of
being novel For years the Demo-
Gratis have been hurting 1t in the
teeth of the Republicans. They will
continue to do so. and by that much
will the efforts of the Progressives be
paralleled.
Furthermore, both the Republicans
and the Democrats have da5bled more
or less in "progressivism." The for
mer point with pride to Theodore
Roosevelt, when the term is used, and
the latter to Woodrow Wilson.
The new party's issue may develop
II the interests become obstreperous;
II the Republican administration goes
over horse, foot and dragons to them
x
Several interesting things hap
pened in Chicago at the convention
of the progressives-in addition to
the appointment of a. committee to
go ahead with plans for the third
party. First, the effort to form an
American labor party, patterned after
the British Labor party or the Labor
parties in continental countries, got
another jolt. The big labor organiza-
tions will have nothing to do with IT..
They do not see why, just because
abroad labor has seen fit to form a
political party Of its own, they should
follow suit They prefer the Amer
ican plan, with labor organizations
working along non-partisan poiiti-
cal lines.
Second, the Socialist party showed
its hand. 1t sought to bring about the
formation of an American labor
party which should be the Socialist
which might tremendously swell it's
ranks. With all the big labor or
ganizations standing aloof. the pro-
posed American labor party would
have been something like Hamlet
! with Hamlet left out
Having failed in it's efforts, the So
cialistS held a convention of their
own in Chicago and decided to go
ahead with their own knitting. It
seems clear that they went into the
La Toilette movement to boost their
own game, and they failed.
With the big labor organizations
on the one hand and the Socialists ON
the other turning thumbs down on
| the new party plan, the ranks, tenn
porarily, at least, have been reduced
materially in number. Furthermore,
| the farmers of the country and their
organizations apparently took little
| interest in the convention or what 1t
did. Out Of the 800 delegates to the
Chicago convention the farm repre-
| sentatives did not constitute a cor
poraPs guard.
x X X *
The steps proposed toward the for
nation of a new liberal party, whether
they promise much at the present
time or not, are along sound lines.
| They are in accordance, too, with the
views of Senator La Toilette. whose
great ambition has been to aid in the
founding of liberal party. 1t is
proposed to break away entirely from
| the group plan, which was used to a
| large extent in the recent campaign,
and to have the new party based on
geographical lines, conforming to
State election laws. 1t is proposed to
have the new party organize from the
ground up, with county, district, State
and national organization, as in the
case of the Democrats and Republi-
cans. What its proponents are ask
| ing is a liberal party, to which all
classes of people who are literally
minded may belong. 1t is the only
kind of party that has ever made
a dent in the political history of the
| United States up to date.
1t is presumed here in political
| circles that Senator La Toilette has
| definitely abandoned thee Republican
party-that he will cast in his lot
| with that Of the new party-since 1t