Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1920 — AS ONE EDITOR VIEWS IT. [ARTICLE]

AS ONE EDITOR VIEWS IT.

Standpatters and progressives will again lock horns —and this will be the death struggle. That the old guard will be the victor there is in my mind not a single doubt, I am thinking this man Hoover is not to be trifled with. He is a man of action rather than of words, and had the progressives in 1912 had such a leader as Hoover they would today be a great party in strength of numbers. But Roosevelt was the leader then, and while he was ever ready with a line of “big talk” yet it is now becoming apparent to all thinkers that “fuss and feathers” was the main make-up of that gentleman. With Hoover, though, the old guard or standpatters, as they call themselves, will have an entirely different sort of man to deal. Hoover is manifestly a man of deliberateness, of coolness, and with the courage to go over the top with colors flying. He has already served notice that if the Republican candidate and platform do not suit him he will lead an independent party, and he serves this notice long be-

fore the nomination is made. Not so with Roosevelt, who was perfectly willing to be the Republican nominee on any old kind of a platform and bolted only after he was defeated. Then, too, he came back begging, like a gypsy, and it was generally conceded, had he lived, he would have been the Republican nominee in 1920, no matter what the platform was. A matter of principle after all was not so deeply rooted in the character es Roosevelt as his “big talk” Indicated. You will find an entirely different man in this fellow Hoover, who really does big things without' much talk, and when he once goes In it will not mean that he will so easily surrender what he considers to be principle. You will recall that two years ago this sarnie Herbert Hoover openly declared for a Democratic congress to back up President Wilson and, judging from the deplorable mess ot things in which the present congress finds Itself, that declaration of Hoover’s proved his wisdom and his patriotism, rather than partyism and indicates the ruggedness of character of the man. That the old guard standpatters will control the Republican national convention to the extent of naming the nominee and the writing of the platform there can be but little doubt, judging from the masterful manner in which they have played their candidates into the state having a large number of delegates, such as Indiana, Ohio, etc. These states have primaries and under their law some one candidate must receive a majority of all the votes cast or else the delegates from such state go uninstructed. In the । small states with but few delegate votes the old standpatters are permitting the progressives to yell themselves hoarse. Take Indiana —for a few months General Wood had as smooth sailing in Indiana as a boy in a watermelon patch, but«when the standpatters got in action they swing in ‘ Harding and Lowden, and now it is a safe bet that under the cunning hand of James Mulhall Watson there will be no instructed delega-« tion from this state for any one. The same situation exists In Ohio and Illinois.

The Pacific coast states appear to be alive for Hoover and it looks as though Hl Johnson, by his foolish attitude on the league of nations to, prevent war, has killed himself in California, Washington and Oregon, whose principal cities are on the coast, where they are continu-

ally In fear of invasion from Japan, "and word keeps coming from that section of the country that with those Republicans Hoover is now their Idol. This will let Hoover into the Republican convention with a following of delegates that will fight to the last ditch and then some, and, they displayed In 1916 an independent spirit that would not down with honeyed promises.—Lafayette Times.