Osborn For Principles Rather Than The Man.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 18, 1912:
Michigan Governor Will Vote for Roosevelt Electors If Named; If Not, Then He Will Support Wilson.
Special to The New York Times.
    LANSING, Mich.. July 17,— Chase S. Osborn is Governor of Michigan. He was elected in 1908 by something like 50,000 majority, the largest majority ever obtained by any candidate for this office in the Badger State. He tried to be Governor in 1900, but the big interests were too big for him. He spent $5,000, all the money he had that could be made available for campaign purposes, but the other people spent $600,000, and he did not get in. He was naturally impressed, however, with the corrupting power of the coin of the realm and how impossible it was for the man with little means, or with no means at all, whatever his fitness for office or the merit of the cause for which he stood, to beat the machinery of the crowd holding the pocketbook.
    There had never been in this country, so far as he had observed, so wild and wicked a waste of money for the accomplishment of political ends as in Michigan twelve years ago. He took a solemn oath then that the time would come, if he could help it along, when money would not be so powerful a weapon in the determination of political questions and questions involving matters of principle as well as personality.
    The man does not matter to Osborn. Roosevelt does not count with him simply because he is Roosevelt. Any other man representing the same things would suit him equally well. The man is merely the instrument of working reforms, the reforms are the things that are worth working for, worth suffering for, worth abandoning outworn political creeds for, worth dying for, as a figure of speech at least. Lorimer is not one whit worse than many others. He is only a type of the corrupt political methods of the time in which he was a power in the politics of his State, and so has it been and will always be where money is used to influence the American electorate.
    It was because, as he saw it, Roosevelt represented the moral side of the political questions of the day and Mr. Taft had not kept faith with the people and his ante-election promises that Gov. Osborn conceived the plan of holding a conference of Governors to devise some way of bettering the political ends of the country. It was at his instance that the seven Governors, whose names will be forever associated with the few, the immortal names that were not born to die, so to say, joined in the appeal to the sage of Sagamore Hill to "come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty," and under their encouragement the battle of Armageddon was joined at Chicago. The allies appear to have got away with the baggage wagons and most of the imperial standards, but the Governors, although some of them have seemed at times to be suffering from political locomotor ataxia, declare that they have not abandoned their view that "something must be done."

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    Gov. Osborn is a Republican, has always been a Republican and was elected Governor as a Republican, but he does not think that being a Republican makes him any the less a patriot, and if the good he wishes to accomplish and upon which be has set his heart cannot be attained through the regular Republican organization it can be reached through other Republicans operating against the organization. If Roosevelt Presidential Electors shall be nominated in Michigan he will vote for them; if Roosevelt Electors shall not be named in this State he will vote for Wilson, and there will be many other Republicans who will do the same thing. He will not vote for Taft.
    Whether or not there shall be a Roosevelt Electoral ticket in Michigan is to be determined at Jackson next Saturday. There is said to be little doubt that such a ticket will be named. It has been determined upon, in fact, and needs only the formal approval of the people who are in the movement to give it some sort of semblance of authority. One of the questions to be settled at this meeting is the naming of a third ticket for State offices, and it is upon this question that some of the reformers are gagging a bit.
    Michigan is said to be a very conservative State, and its conservatism has been proved by its unwavering loyalty to the Republican Party. Since 1872 there has been only one Democratic Governor, and all the rest of the years it has come up regularly with its Republican majorities. In 1908, Taft carried the State by an enormous majority, but in the opinion of some of the hitherto faithful, the Taft of 1912 is not by any means the Taft of four years ago. These people do not claim that Taft will not carry the State in November, but they "think" that if Roosevelt Electors be put up Roosevelt will win, and that if Roosevelt Electors shall not be put up, Wilson will stand a good chance of winning the State.
    As to Roosevelt's carrying the country and being elected President, they say that the "situation," so far as there is at this time any situation to speak of "is very much involved," which would seem to indicate, that they are lacking in the saving faith of their own gospel. It is worth noting that the Republican machine, if it can be said in these altruistic days that there is any such thing as a machine, is for Taft, and everybody knows that organization is a great thing when it comes down to practical work in political campaigns. A man by the name of Warren, a sugar man, is the head of the party in Michigan, and they "do say" that he is a "mighty man of valor" and other things when it comes to leading the people to the polls.

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    In spite of the conservatism claimed for this State, there have been divers political sects here — Populists, Democratic Greenbackers, Straight Greenbackers, Union Laborites, Industrials, Democratic Populists, and Social Democrats—and yet with it all the Republicans have managed somehow, either through the use of money or because of a consuming sense of party loyalty, to "get away with the goods." They think that they will be able to do the same thing this year.
    Osborn says that at least 80 per cent. of the people of Michigan are progressivs. He has made quite a reputation as a progressive Governor, seeing that, according to his own story, he is not beholden to anybody, has found it easier to get into office than to keep out, has enough to live on modestly without the emoluments of official life, and is therefore "as independent as a wood sawyer." He thinks that the time is coming — is, in fact, already at hand — when men who think will hold their citizenship as something higher and better than slavish adherence to party regularity. With him, as already noted, the principles are everything, the man or men are nothing more than instruments for carrying forward the reforms necessary to the welfare of the people and the safety of the State. He has told Roosevelt that after the result of the convention at Chicago, he did not think that he should run for President. But if Roosevelt shall have an Electoral ticket in this State he will feel in duty bound to vote for it.
    Gov. Osborn says that Bryan is stronger in Michigan than he has ever been, that the people trust him, that his work at Baltimore was all that could have been desired, and that the things for which he  has stood are the things which will be of the largest benefit to the country and its people. Bryan is to speak here at the Chautauqua, which will open to-morrow. He will doubtless make a great speech — "Cross of Gold," "Crown of Thorns." "Prince of Peace," "Wall Street Malefactors," or "Predatory Wealth." He still is making hay while the sun shines.

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    Outside of politics there is a most encouraging situation in this part of the country. The corn was never growing so luxuriantly, the people were never dressed so well, the banks never held so much money, and "every prospect pleases."
    It is a pity to spoil the true situation with a political squabble for the offices. The platforms of the two great parties are so nearly the same, and the candidates as well, that it seems to be very foolish, not to say criminal, for the alleged Progressives to make so much about nothing. Nobody, has been found anywhere in these travels East or West who thinks for a moment that Roosevelt has the least chance of gratifying his selfish ambition this year. The American people have taken his true measure. But Osborn thinks he has a chance, ana Osborn helped to make him foolish.
                J. C. H.