Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1915 — Will Progressives Support Democrats? [ARTICLE]

Will Progressives Support Democrats?

G. R. Coffin of Monticello, wrote the Indianapolis Star a few days ago on the much mooted question of where the Progressives will go in the next campaign. Mr. Coffin is the Progressive chairman of the Tenth district, and his remarks therefore carry more weight than those of the ordinary layman. Mr. Coffin’s letter in full to the Star follows; The success of the Republican party under its reactionary leadership would mean a setback of years to the enactment of progressive legislation. The one sure thing, the one wellknown thing, is that the leadership of the Republican party is safely and securely in the hands of the “old guard.’’ The Progressives who go back mention in a vigorous manner that they are going back to fight Penrose, Barnes and Cannon, but they are very silent as to Fairbanks, Watson. Hemenway and Wood. Those who have gone back do not represent the attitude of Progressives in the Tenth district. We recognize that it will be well nigh impossible to carry on a Progressive organization that can work with anj effectiveness. We still believe in Progressive principles, but we see no chance for them in Republican success. We do not care to be fat, sleek servants in the house of reactionary masters. We believe it is our duty to defeat the Republican party as long as it is under its present leadership. The one sure way to defeat the ’’old guard’’ is to work for and in the Democratic party. We can vote and work for Wilson and Kern with more self-respect to our beliefs than we can vote for Fairbanks and Watson. Most of our progressive legislation has come through the Democratic party. Within the Democratic party we need only to get the part> to pass a law enacting a nonpartisan tariff commission, which, in the light of past events, they are likely to do at the next session of congress. Our main point of difference wili then be eliminated and the Republican party will have no issue. We think that there is hope for our cause in the Democratic party and that wo can look for nothing from the Republican party. We Progressives of the Tenth district, seeing but one choice before us, prefer to trust to the progressiveness of Wilson and Kern rather than to a change of heart in the Republican reactionary leaders. A careful canvass of the Progressives of this district will show them to be in this frame of mind.