TLS, three pages, 7.75 x 9.5, Outlook letterhead, February 14, 1913. Letter to National Committeeman of the Progressive Party Henry M. Wallace. In full, “I have written a letter to Mr. Watkins which I hope he will show you. Michigan is to elect a number of State officers and various county, city and township officers this Spring. I hope we shall have a straight Progressive ticket put up in the State and in every city and township. I see in the press that the regulars of the Republican Party are endeavoring to absorb our representatives. Now the Progressive Party stands for principles, not men. We have in our ranks many ex-Democrats just as we have many ex-Republicans. Our loyalty is due to both. The present Republican Party is under absolute control of the men who stole from the rank and file of the Republican Party last June their right to their own choice for President, when Mr. Taft was fraudulently nominated; and he and his supporters Messrs Barnes, Penrose, Guggenheim, Lorimar and company have no claim to the support of an honest man. The men who follow and support these men can have nothing in common with our plans and ideas of government. The Progressive Party was formed on principles which we believe to be eternal, which will live long after the men of this generation have been gathered to their fathers. We are the spiritual heirs of Abraham Lincoln. The feat accomplished last election was an extraordinary feat. It is necessary to continue with the organization and to make a clearcut fight against both the old party machines. I earnest hope that you will make as hard a fight in Michigan as you know how for a straight-out Progressive ticket. Incidentally let me say that the unjustifiable action of the returning officer of Michigan in stealing away from the legally elected candidate in the Twelfth District his office, should be used for all that it is worth. This action of itself shows that the Republican leaders in Michigan are not to be trusted in any shape or way, and that their protestations of good conduct are worse than worthless. Wherever the Republican Party has had the opportunity since election, as in Maine and Massachusetts, it has put in office reactionaries, men of the old machine, men committed to the system of bossism in politics and privilege in business. In Michigan in the Twelfth Congressional District these men showed that they are still committed to the practice of utter political dishonesty, and to the breaking down of the power of the people in favor of the bosses. We are fighting for great principles, and we are also fighting for honest citizenship against dishonesty in citizenship. We have a right to hope that Michigan will come to the front on this issue. I would rather that you did not make this letter public, if you will write to me I will answer it along substantially the lines of this letter.” The United States Progressive Party of 1912 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the 1912 election. It was formed by Theodore Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination to Taft and pulled his delegates out of the convention. When reporters suggested that he was no longer fit for the office, he retorted that he was “fit as a bull moose” (giving the party its nickname), and he called his own convention and nominated a national ticket with California Governor Hiram Johnson as his vice-presidential running mate. State parties also nominated slates in most northern states. Historians speculate that if the Bull Moose Party had only run a presidential ticket, it might have attracted many more Republicans willing to split their ballot. But the progressive movement was strongest at the state level, and, therefore, the new party had to field candidates for governor and state legislature. In very good condition, with light edge soiling to each page, bisecting horizontal folds, missing lower left corner of last page and Roosevelt’s writing having a slightly fuzzy appearance. A letter of significant political interest. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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