Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1914 — BRYAN TELLS WHY MOOSE LOST OUT [ARTICLE]

BRYAN TELLS WHY MOOSE LOST OUT

Failure of T. R. to Win Personal Following One of Causes Ascribed by Commoner. Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 21.—W. J. Bryan says in the Commoner these are the three chief causes for the “decadence” of the progressive party: First—The failure of Theodore Roosevelt to wni a following on his personality alone. Second—The failure of the progressive party platform to present any new and clean-cut issues; and Third—Too much activity on the part of George W. Perkins, whom the people associate with trusts. “No permanent party,” Mr. Bryan adds, “can be built up on any man. A man may make an effective protest against something done by another man or group of men, but mere personal influence is .necessarily temporary. ‘The progressive party did not present any new or clear-cut issues. No one could tell by reading the platform what tariff reduction to expect, what changes to look for in the currency or what anti-trust remedies to prepare for. “Mr. Prkins was a liability instead of an asset His contributions to the party's campaign fund could not overcome the odium which his intimacy with Mr. Roose velt brought upon the party. ‘The progressives leaned toward reforms, and had they joined the democratic party they would have strengthened the reform element in that party, but Mr. Roosevelt denounced the democratic party as bitterly as he did the republican party."