"We shouldn't be so stuffy that we refuse to copy some of the Democrats' better tactics," Frederick C. Dumaine, Jr., chairman of the state Republican Committee, told the Law and Undergraduate Republican Clubs yesterday.
The former president of the New Haven Railroad stressed that if the Republicans want a two-party system "they're going to have to go out and make it," and might benefit from an organizational strategy similar to that of the opposition.
Commending the Democrats on their policy of direct contact with the voters, Dumaine said that one reason for the lack of party unity is that the "darn Republicans won't blow their own horn." He attributed this to the timidity of the wealthy when they attempt to address themselves to the general public.
Winning over the large independent voting population must be one of the primary tasks in weakening the one-party system, Dumaine stated. The group, which fulfills "only half of its political duty," now equals more than half of the vote, he noted.
Turning to less laudable Democratic party politics, Dumaine contended that Peabody had been slated to split the "blue-blood vote" and had not been expected to win the election. "Now they don't know what to do with him," he added.
"Department by department the Commonwealth's government is being run by patronage," Dumaine stated. He countered the charge that the Crime Commission is the "political vendetta of the Republican Party," calling it a necessary organ for maintaining "some morality" in the governorship.
If another Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54, is doing more for the state, the chairman admitted, "it is at the expense of 49 other states." He warned that the Kennedys "like all Democrats," are only interested in getting re-elected, and added, "Just give those three Irishmen enough rope and they'll hang themselves.
Read more in News
Clintons Stay at Charles Hotel—But Together or Not?