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Show DEMOCRATS IN I FAVOROFFUSION Fifteen members of thc state executive execu-tive committee of thc Democratic organization or-ganization yesterday authorized the statement by Democratic State Chairman Chair-man Samuel R. Thurman that the Democratic organization favored a combination of forces with thc Pro- 1 gressivc party for the fall election. 1 The statement made public by I Judge Thurman yesterday is the first I authoritative announcement of a I party organization of either the Pro- I gressIvcB or tho Democrats In favor 1 of a fusion In thc approaching cam- n paign. For weeks such a combination has been favored by Individuals, but 1 there has been no authoritative an- I nouncement of a party expression, H based on the sentiments of the vol- I era of the party. P The first suggestion of a combina- ffl tion of forces came from the Pro- H gresslves. It seemed to be agreed 9 that neither the Democrats nor tho fl Progressives could hope to win alone, H while there was a fair chance oC vie H tory if tho two could unite on candl- H dates for state and congressional of- H flees. It was Quietly noised about I among Democratic and Progressive loaders that such a combination was H possible. 1 Atvthe state-wide conference of the I Progressives last month the plan for a combination of the parties on cer- I tnln candidates waB boldly broached H by Lewis Larson of Sanpete county, 11 and vaguely hinted at by several oth H er speakers. At the meeting of Dem- W ocrats in Ogden this week the Demo- cratic stamp of approval was placed I upon the scheme by Tillman D. John- U son of Ogden. m With the general understanding that a combination was probable, the details of the plan have been informally infor-mally discussed for the past few weeks by leaders of both the Democrat Demo-crat and the Progressives. Severn! meetings of the Democratic state executive ex-ecutive committee have been held at which the subject came up for informal in-formal discussion. It was finally decided de-cided to call a conference of the members of the Democratic political organization for each precinct In tho state to be held In Salt Lake early next month. This conference will undoubtedly discuss the advisability oft fusion and possibly ratify the action ac-tion of the members of the state executive ex-ecutive committee in welcoming such an arrangement It is possible that no formal action with reference to combination of thc two parties will be taken by either of the two parties, except at the nominating nomi-nating conventions when each party will indorse the candidates of the other, dividing the offices according to an agreement, rather understood than expressed. With the expression of the executive execu-tive committee of the Democratic executive ex-ecutive committee in favor of fusion, which comes with practically the force of an official declaration of the party, par-ty, there is little room for doubt as to the position of the Democrats of the state relative to a combination with thc Progressives. The cxpres- wan the Progressives. The expression expres-sion of Individual Progressives on this subject would indicate that thc Progressives Pro-gressives will not be backward In joining with the Democrats, and leads to the conclusion that it is almost a certainty that the Democrats and Progressives will unite in support of a ticket in opposition to the Republicans Republi-cans this fall. The expression of the Democratic stile executive comniittee may be regarded re-garded as more than the expression of the Individual members, since an effort has been made by them to secure se-cure the opinion of party leaders of various sections of the state on the subject of combination. Statement Authorized. Judge Thurman yesterday authorized author-ized the following statement with reference ref-erence to the state executive committee: commit-tee: "The state executive committee takes the position that the Democratic Demo-cratic party this fall will welcome a union of thc progressive forces In Utah to redeem the state from its reactionary position. Fifteen mcm-bors mcm-bors of the state executive committee wish to express It as their personal opinion and the opinion of those of the Democratic party with whom they have discussed the question, that It would be a patriotic movement that would unite those opposed to a continuation con-tinuation of the rule of reaction and to take this state out of the Vermont Ver-mont class. "Progressives profess to be pleased with tho achievements of thc Democratic Demo-cratic national administration and with its progressive principles. The Democrats surrender nothing In joining join-ing with the Progressive's to do for Utah what the national administration administra-tion has done for the country. Tho members of the executive committee bellevo that thc rank and file of the party will approve of a union of progressive pro-gressive strength that would put an end to bos3 rule In Utah." Judge Thurman declined to discuss the details of any proposed plan of combination or fusion. He suggested suggest-ed that he did not believe there would be any quarrol ovor the spoils, and that all any party to the combination would desire would be that the candidates can-didates named would bo strong, progressive pro-gressive and able men, well qualified Tor the positions for which they were nominated. "Unwritten" Agreement. Under tho terms of an "unwritten" agreoment to Tvhlch leaders of both parties have agreed, there are the following features: (a) The Democrats shall nominate a candidate for United States senator, sena-tor, whom the Progressives, shall Indorse, In-dorse, provided that he subscribe to a program of progressive legislation. (b) The Progressives shall nominate nomi-nate the candidate for justice of the supreme court, whom thc Democrats shall Indorse. (c) The nomination for state superintendent super-intendent of public instruction shall be rnade without reference to thc politics of the candidates for the place. (d) The Progressives are to have their choice of congressional districts while tho nominee of the other district dis-trict shall be a Democrat. (e) Tho question of union of forces for-ces in the various countie.3 will bo left to the local organization, with the recommendation that, wherever practicable, such a combination be effected ef-fected aa to insure thc election of progressive members to the state legislature." leg-islature." (f) The parties will maintain sep- aratc organization and conduct separate sepa-rate campaigns, even though the two tickets be Identical. Approved by Leaders. This plan in its entirety is said to have the approval of the leaders of all parties and no serious objection (o it lias been made, so far as can be learned, by any member of either party. In some cases local differences may prevent a combination of Progressives Progres-sives and Democrats on county tickets. tick-ets. A case in point is In Carbon county, where the Progressives are in power and where there will probably be a combination of Republicans and Democrats to defeat the Progres-1 sives. This condition has resulted from the efforts of the Progressive county commissioners to impeach a Republican county attorney and a Democratic sheriff. In Utah and Cache counties, where all of the county coun-ty officers are Democrats, there may be some objections to the proposal to have some of the Democratic officers offi-cers step out of the race to make room for Progressives who arc seeking seek-ing the offices However, it is pointed point-ed out that these conditions are only of a local nature and may easily be adjusted. In Salt Lake county. In the event of a combination of the two parties on stale and district candidates, the union will extend' all down the line and the offices ' will -bo as evenly divided di-vided as possible between' the Democratic Demo-cratic and Progressive candidates. Such a division will probably prevail in most of the other counties of the state The fact that the combined vote of Wilson and Roosevolt in Utah in 1912 was about 20,000 in excess of that of Tafl makes the proposed combination com-bination appear formidable. |