Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1918 — Why Did Hays Change? [ARTICLE]

Why Did Hays Change?

No one will attempt to rob Will H. Hays of any credit that may be due him for the work he did as chairman of the Indiana state council of defense. He will get all the credit that is coming to him. His republican followers shower him with praise because he filled that position while, at the same time, he clung to the position of republican state chairman. But a good many citizens are saying that if Hays was so valuable as chairman of the state council of defense, why did he desert that patriotic duty to become republican national chairman, where all he will have to do will be to play politics the way Penrose, Hemenway and the other standpat republicans want it played so as to drive the democratic party out of power at Washington? It was not a patriotic call that coaxed Hays away from the war work of the state council of defense and caused him to take the chairmanship of the republican party. It was a case of party politics and nothing more than appealed to him. If the pro-Germans are pleased with the action of Hays in making this change their satisfaction may well be understood.