Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 179, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1914 — CONFERENCES WITH PROGRESSIVES HELD [ARTICLE]

CONFERENCES WITH PROGRESSIVES HELD

More Than One Hundred From All Parts of Indiana Talk Things Over With W. H. Hays. Indianapolis, Ind., July 30.—A political conference, of sensational character, wthich was expected to have an important bearing on the 1914 campaign in Indiana and Surrounding states, opened at republican state headquartens in the Hotel Severin at noon today. Of the one hundred and twenty-five mien from every section of Indiana who took part in this conference, every one, With the exception of Will H. Hays, and L. W. Henley, chairman and secretary respectively, of /the Indiana republican state committee, were leaders of the progressive movement in Indiana in 1912. Word of the assembling of this conference came as a jolt to the politicians opposed to the republican organization, as there had been no previous announcement made that a meeting of this character had been contemplated. The conference opened at 12:15 in the big ball room of the Hotel Severin. It was expected that the meeting would continue throughout the afternoon, and it was said that possibly a public appeal might be drafted, addressed to the voters of Indiana in the behalf of a re-united republican party. Among the most prominent men who were progressive leaders in Indiana In 1912 who now are actively at work in behalf of the republican party were J. F.. Wilde, of Indianapolis, who was treasurer of the Indiana progressive committee in 1912; Dr. A. 8.-Brown, of Indianapolis, Thomas Bauer, who was j elected mayor of the city of Lafayette as a progressive last year; Mayor J. O. Batchelor, of Marion, who was one of the big figures in the progressive movement in 1912; Mayor J. Leb Watkins, of Newcastle; L H. Wright, of Columbus, president of the Indiana State Grange; Dr. E. M. Wells, of Scottsburg; Jas. L. Wilson, of Brazil; Geo. W. Hanna, of Greencastle; Ralph V Sbllit, of Peru; E. C. Davis, of Crown Point; Daniel P. Flanagan, of Lafayette; E. E. Rodgers, newspaper editor of Williamsport; W. S. Montgomery, newspaper editor of Shelbyville; E. D. Bush, of Salem, and the following from Indianapolis: J. 8. Holliday, O. U. Newman, Theo. Stein, J. P. O’Malhony, Dr. John Kolmer, Marshall Pugh, Albert C. Metcalf, John Bowles, Orison B. Hayes, Chas. L. Dietz, Robert L. Dorsey. Geo. A. Snider, Orville Harrison, Ellsworth Heller, and John D. Carter. Every congressional district in the state was represented at this conference. Former progressive leaders were present from Vanderburg and Spencer counties in the southwest corner of the state. Lake, Po/ter, and other counties of the northwestern part of the state were represented by former progressive leaders; Noble, Allen, Steuben and other counties of the northeastern part of the state were represented as were Ohio, Switzerland, Jefferson and other counties in the extreme southeastern section of the state. "This conference at republican 'state headquarters with former representative progressives Who are now actively engaged in the advancing 'interests of the republican party,” said State Chairman Hays, “means that the republican state organization is carrying out to the letter the pledge contained In the platform adopted at the recent Indiana republican state convention, regarding the management of the