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Show The Fable of the Man Who Forced Himself In Without an Invitation (Copyright 1912 By John T. McCutchcon) ONCE? there was an Office Holder prominent In avoirdupois and official of-ficial life. His name was Will and he had such a genial smile that helpful friends boosted him up from one job to another until he found himself him-self precariously near the top. At this time the Top was fully Occupied Oc-cupied by a Rugged Type who .had Boosted himself up and was pulling the Country up after him. He was a Glutton for Work. Every night when the Whistle blew he had pulled the Country at least a foot higher out of the mire of Political and Com-I Com-I mercial Corruption. He was a Hu man Alarm Clock that kept the Public Conscience awake. He dusted the Cobwebs off of the Moral Law and introduced the Revolutionary Idea of the Square Deal. The Kings of Finance, accustomed to servile compliance to their wishes, i Were told to Behave. It was the firot time anybody had dared to give them Orders and they didn't like It. They were used to being jumped on just before be-fore Election, but to be jumped on between be-tween Elections was a Rude Surprise. They perspired freely and wrathfully. Prominent stock jobbers and Crooked Financiers called the Rugged Citizen a menace who was trying to overthrow Old and Dishonorable Institutions. As the term of the Rugged Citizen neared Its end the Nation was with him stronger than it had ever been with a living man before. His Policies Poli-cies pleased the people and they wanted them continued. So he looked around for some one to continue the Good Work and his eye lighted on Will. "By George!" quoth he. "He's made good as a subordinate, why shouldn't he make good as a Leader? I'll try to Boost him up to the top." The Rugged Citizen could have had the job again if he had said the Word, but ho didn't want another term. All he wanted was to have his Policies continued. "Now hero's Will," qouth he. "Ho will continue along the Lines that I've laid out. He'll carry out my policies. Won't you, Will?" "Sure," quoth Will," "I'll carry them out." "All right," said the country, 'if you say he's all right, we'll take him." And so the Rugged Citizen boosted Will up to the Top. Will went into office as the executor of certain splendid splen-did Policies. Ho at once became the exeoutioner. He put the 'tory" in Victory. He put the " can" in Republican. Repub-lican. His genial smile melted his backbone The old Gang which had been kicked all over the White House lot came back and put their feot on the Executive Table. They gave instructions in-structions as to how the Policies were to be carried out, and in a short time he Policies were carried out and dumped into the Potomac. In three months the country Was Fighting Mad. Will was not delivering deliver-ing the Goods according to expectations expecta-tions and agreement. In three months a great invincible Party was shattered by Revolt and Disapproval. The Old Guard was back again in the Saddle. The people awakened abruptly to the fact that they had been tricked again, and they were soro clean through. "Don't mind them, Will," said the Old Guard, "it's three years till Election Elec-tion and they'll forget it long before then. Give 'em a few genial smiles now and then." Then they went out and laughed in their sleeves. Senators laughed, plutocrats plu-tocrats laughed, but the genial smile of Will lost much of its spontaneity. In the meantime a robust and hungry Vampire known as the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill rested joyously in the pock-etbooks pock-etbooks of the people. But for some reason, which alarmed the old politicians,, the people refused to forget. They had been fooled once too often. They nursed their resentment resent-ment and with a grim smile looked forward to 1912. Then the Rugged Citizen returned and found hio invincible party split into a million pieces. The G. O. P. had loBt the G. In two short years the great structure which he had solidified so-lidified had been undermined. He was heartbroken. Ho was sad, and then by slow degrees he got Mad. He saw his pet Policies moss covered and neglected. ne-glected. He saw the Executor of his Policies enshrined in the camp of the enemy, smiling genially while the Party crumbled to pieces. "He played you false!" quote the Rugged Citizen to the People. "I trusted him, but he was weak. By George! I don't want to got in this fight again, but I've got to." With that he threw his Hat in the Ring. Will was mad. He knew that ho hadn't the ghost of a Show in a fair fight. He knew ho had disappointed the people who had trusted him, and that they were waiting for him with teeth set. So he turned in despair to the Old Guard to save him. "Well," said the Old Guard, "the people are pretty sore. Wo can't do anything if they get a chance to express ex-press themselves. But in the South you have your Office Holders. It's no trick at all to line them up, so you're sure of tho southern states. That makes nearly half of the votes necessary neces-sary to nominate, and If the people were against you 100 to 1 they couldn't keep you from getting those Delegates. Dele-gates. "Then there are the states that we control by patronage and party machinery. The people can't prevent our getting those Delegates unless they have primaries, and we must see that they don't get their primaries. Then we've got the National Commit tee, and with that as a club we can win in spite of the people." So they fought the Primaries and Froze out the People. The latter had no chance to express themselves except ex-cept in ten or twelve states. BUT HOW THEY DID EXPRESS THEMSELVES THERE! Will was snowed under. One state after another snowed him under with frightful unanimity. He was mad. "I'm in this fight to the end," quoth he, regardless of tho humiliating significance sig-nificance of the Primary Votes. The big Republican states buried him under un-der an avalanche of disapproving votes. "If Ohio declares against me," said he, as the truth dawned upon, him, "I will consider that decisive." And Ohio buried him under in a Landslide of Repudiation. So he changed his mind aoout getting out and built IiIb hopes on success by manipulation and strategy. He knew the party didn't want him, but why allow pride to Interfere with his ambitions? am-bitions? he had pride he would have witharawn after . Illinois and Pennsylvania had overwhelmed him. But no, not while the National Committee Com-mittee held the reins. 'So he stayed in the fight and tho Old Guard and the southern states and the National Committee and the Police rammed him down the throats of tho Party. Moral If you can't get an invitation to a party, get the janitor to let you in at the back door. |