Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1920 — DESPOTS AND DYNASTIES [ARTICLE]

DESPOTS AND DYNASTIES

The senators who controlled the Republican convention do not particularly object to despots and dynasties if only they are allowed to pick the despots and dynasts. The methods used at Chicago were those of men determined to control at any cost. Their idea is that, while the senate should be free from dictation at the hands of the president, the senate should be in a position to dictate to the president and to parties. By their action they have taken the vitality out of the issue that it was sought to make against the president as a usurper of power. Such a charge on the lips of men who rode roughshod over the people of their party, disregarded their expressed wishes, and gave them a candidate for whom few of them voted, and who . could not have been nominated in any state of the Union by a majority vote of the Republicans —such a charge coming from such a source affords one of the grotesque spectacles of our politics. No one can tell what sort ,of president a man will make, and it is quite possible that Mr. Harding,

should he be elected, would bitterly disappoint the senatorial clique that nominated him. But there is no question as to what is expected. The senatorial bosses chose a colorless candidate, one who has never given any exhibition of independence, because they sought to strengthen the senate at the expense of the executive. That was their purpose, and is their expectation. They want for themselves and their colleagues something of the power that they wielded at the convention. All competent observers agree that never was boss power more boldly and arrogantly used than at Chicago—it was also used unscrupulously, as is beginning to appear. The welfare of the party was very far from being the first consideration. What was wanted was power, and assuming that success was certain with any candidate the cabal rode roughshod over the party. The people understand the situation pretty well, and they are not all of the opinion that senators should play such a decisive part in the nomination of a president, that one department of the government should be even in part the creator of another. —Indianapolis News (Rep.)