Reconstructionists

To Manhattan one evening last week went two of the 25 Republicans who still survive in the U. S. Senate. They were there by invitation to address New York's liberal Republicans to whom Theodore Roosevelt Jr. appealed fortnight ago (TIME, Dec. 17). The two Republican Senators, Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota and William Edgar Borah of Idaho, spoke their pieces at Mecca Temple whither all important Republicans of New York and neighboring states had been bidden.

Senator Nye spoke first: "The Party's future must be that of the liberalism which some Republicans have been voicing for years, only to have their voices drowned by the jeers of Republican leaders who cried: 'Reds.' 'Insurgents,' 'Traitors,' and those not-to-be forgotten terms of 'Spokesmen for the Backward States' and 'Sons of the Wild Jackass.' The Party needs . . . to turn its back upon that which has been its undoing, namely the private money bags. . . . The Party need not become a party of opposition to wealth as such, but it must become a party willing to direct wealth and a profit system into paths which give larger recognition to those who create it. . . ."

Then Senator Borah made the effort of the evening. On the platform, almost at his elbow, sat Charles D. Hilles, Republican National Committeeman from New York. Once more Senator Borah took up and quoted a letter that Mr. Hilles wrote after the election:

"The Republican Party cannot stagger to the left. No. . . . We are not going to stagger, but we are going to the left as sure as I am alive.

"The Republican Party should continue to stand its ground. . . . Yes, stand its ground until the last battalion has deserted the flag. The most successful maneuvers of Napoleon were not when he stood his ground, but when he carried the war into Egypt."

Unblinking and placid Old Guardsman Hilles kept eyes front, did not even blush. Then Senator Borah went on to take his fling at Republican Chairman Fletcher:

"He is not in favor of moving forward. If he moves at all it is backward. I ask you in all candor, my Republican friends, will that attitude save the Republican Party?"

"No! No!" shouted voices in the audience.

"If it did save the Republican Party with its minority power, would it be rendering a proper service to the people of the U. S.?"

"No!" roared the audience.

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