Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-14
KNOX RENOVATES
G. 0. P. IN ILLINOIS
Party May Turn to Publisher
as Leader in '36
Campaign.
CONTINUED From First Page.)


should be held during the Summer
and Fall in other sections of the couu-
try. He believes, too, that the mask
has efectually been torn off the real
intentions of President Roosevelt and
the New Deal, and that the country
has before it an issue the people can
understandable issue of concentra-
ton of more and more power in the
hands of the Chief Executive in Wash
ington.
THE grass roots conference at
Springfield" said Col. Knox today,
was in reality a political revival char
acterized by an almost religious inten-
sity of feeling. 1t afforded the people
of this region their first opportunity to
express their convictions on the issues
of the impending campaign. 1t is
not unnatural that the Republicans of
the Mississippi Valley should have
more intense sense of loyalty to the
Lincoln traditions than that of the
people of any other region Of the
United States. The name of Lincoln,
of course, is most closely associated
with the thought of the preservation
of the Constitution and the institu-
lions that flourish under it, and 1t
was the effect of the Supreme Court
decision on the N. r. A, and the
Presidents subsequent declaration that
the Constitution, as it is now written,
stands as a barrier to the achievement
of social justice, that loosed this
sentiment in such vigorous fashion in
both the speeches and the declarations
of the conference. 1t was a fortunate
circumstance that the conference fol-
lowed so swiftly on the heels of this
development in Washington because it
provided the opportunity to emphasize
the Importance of the Federal prin-
ciple in the government of nation
80 great in area, in population and
30 varied in interests as ours.
ANY man who calmly sits down by
himself and soberly faces actualities,
ASuSt recognize that there must al
ways be the greatest flexibility in our
form of government if it is to con-
tinue to be the Government of
people who vary so greatly in their
local interests as do the people, for
instance, who live in New England
with the people who live in California,
or the people who live in Michigan
with the people who live in Louisiana.
1T is a real contribution which the
conference supplies at this time to
straight thinking, to point with pow
erful emphasis to the necessity of pre-
serving this Federal principle of
sovereign States tied together under a
central form of government of dele
gated powers. The men who wrote
the Constitution recognized from Bit
ter experience that the threat to pop
ular liberties comes always from too
great concentra ton of executive au-
thority and they carefully guarded
against this danger in the expressed
terms of the Constitution.
The Main Issue.
The declarations of the Springfield
conference make it inevitable that
this issue shall be the principal issue
in the fight ahead, and for the peo-
pie who live in the region still don1i-
mated by the Lincolnian philosophy
this issue is welcome.
1.-The conference did not overlook
the collateral issues provided by the
record of the administration for the
past two years and half. They de-
clared for sound money; they declared
for balanced budget; and they de-
clared for an economical adminiStra-
ton of affairs, but all these latter is
sues may be found cogently set forth
In the Democratic platform upon
which Roosevelt was elected.
ut is not without significance. po-
sized at Springfield rise far above
partisan lines. They will appeal not
10 Republicans alone, but in some of
their essentials, they will appeal even
more powerfully, to members of the
Presidents own party. 1t is my ex-
pectation that the campaign of 1886
will be conducted on level far above
the ordinary partisan campaign of the
past"
Beating the Democrats in Illinois
next year will be a tough job. They
have developed strong organization
and control in majority of the coun-
ties. They have the Governor and
two Senators and 81 of the 81 men,
bers of the House delegation. There is
Q senatorial election in 1886 with
Senator James Hamilton Lewis up for
reelection. He has always been a
resourceful campaigner.
Veteran of Two Wars.
It Is too early yet to predict how
far Col Knox will get either with the
unification Of the Republicans into a
fighting party or how far he will go as
a presidential candidate He has as
background in politics his work with
the late President Theodore Roosevelt
during the Bull Moose campaign. He
had served with Roosevelt in the
Rough Riders during the Spanish
American War.
In fact, he is a veteran Of two
wars-that with Spain and the World
War. When this country entered the
war in 1917, Knox, then editor of the
Manchester Leader, enlisted as a pri-
vate in the LIST New Hampshire In
fantry. Because of his Spanish War
service, he was sent to an officers
training camp and commissioned
captain, and went overseas with the
18th Division. He was promoted to
major and served with the 153d Ar
tillery Brigade of the 18th Division.