The memoirs of Will H. Hays (1955)

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SHOOTING THE BULL MOOSE I43 every area of human activity. But the convention carried through its work to a logical conclusion, nominating a full state ticket and electing Edward Toner as the new state chairman to succeed Ed Lee, who honestly wanted to turn back to private life. Although their campaign was carried through with vigor and the strong support of national speakers, the ticket ran third in the November election. The results must have been as disappointing as they had been in 1 91 2 to equally earnest Republicans. Democratic victories swept the nation as the Progressives slipped none too happily into third place. In Indiana the swing back to the Republican party started from the bottom up, with the winning of county, city, and township offices. It is worth noting that we elected 427 township trustees, the Democrats 549, and Progressives only 37. Whether or not we sensed it at the time, this election marked the beginning of the real recession of the Progressive party. A significant thing happened in Indiana in June of 191 5. Party determination to organize for 1916 cost the Bull Moose its state chairman, Ed Toner, who now felt the battle could be carried on better under the Republican banner. Jackson Boyd succeeded him. Party leaders sought every opportunity to stir up new enthusiasm, and big names still drew. When Boyd resigned in December, Lee returned to head the state organization and pushed vigorous plans for 191 6. Many counties went ahead organizing and naming tickets for the campaign and delegates to the 1916 convention, despite a thinning of the ranks. After the State Convention in July, which was really carried through by a relatively small group of "ardent, uncompromising idealists," as current accounts called them, disaffection in the party ranks was increasingly pronounced. They went into the state campaign with a full ticket, but the November vote— 4,000 as against 162,007 in 191 2— told the story. The party, if not the principles, had succumbed to Republican victory. While we had been welcoming and encouraging assimilation, it had been ruled out as a policy by the Bull Moose, and its oppositedisintegration— had inevitably been going on. Some of the Colonel's ardent supporters of 191 2 had soon begun leaving the ranks. In March of 191 3, Senator Kenyon of Iowa returned to the Republican fold, offering hope to us that others would follow suit. By early 1914 we were getting hundreds of encouraging letters from ex-Progressives all over the state. Commenting on the tone of this mail, I wrote Jack Henley somewhat optimistically: "This indicates a general movement among the Progressives to return to the old Party and again vote the ticket. I believe nearly all of them will be in line when election day comes." At that moment such a forecast may have had an element of blind faith, but things that encouraged us went right on happening.