At the same time, he believed that the Progressive element was stronger in the Republican than in the Democratic party. He advised adopting a liberal attitude toward Republicans to avoid a further breach with the parent organization. By following such a policy in the 1914 election, he hoped that by 1916 it would be possible to elect Theodore Roosevelt President. At all events, he considered a strong Congress essential in 1914. After careful consideration Gutzon decided to support for Congress Ebenezer J. Hill of Fairfield County, a man who had previously been in Congress and had been defeated by the Progressives in the 1912 election. He chose Hill because of his stand on the nonpartisan tariff board, which he favored, and his open quarrel with boss rule. The sculptor’s stand for Hill was strongly opposed by Herbert Knox Smith of Connecticut and George W. Perkins of New York, national leader of the Progressive party. Gutzon and Perkins had an argument over the matter on Mr. Childs’s yacht on Long Island Sound one night about midnight. Other Progressives were there, including Colonel Roosevelt, who appears to have been noncommittal on the subject of Progressives supporting Republicans. Gutzon always believed, however, that Roosevelt approved his action. The sculptor was concerned only with what he believed to be right. He walked out of a meeting in March 1914 when Herbert Knox Smith had put through the state central committee a resolution that only enrolled Progressives could vote in the primaries. Smith’s methods were unfair, Gutzon declared, and he wrote an open letter accusing him of gag rule. Despite such difficulties, however, he did take time to prepare and deliver a resolution of welcome and allegiance to Roosevelt at a public rally held in Hartford in August 1914. There is some evidence that to him politics had begun to look less like a fine tournament. To Isaac Ullman of New Haven he wrote: “I am pretty sick and discouraged with what is called politics. You know only too well what I mean--the sordid and selfish side of the little ones and their own personal advancement. The best we can do is to do our best, and I try to do that all the time....” Another disappointment to the sculptor in this campaign was the placing in the field, by the state central committee, of an independent Progressive ballot which he had consistently opposed. The fact that he was named candidate for one of the offices in no way placated him. He refused to let his name appear on the ticket, and he was bitter in giving his reasons. In the 1916 campaign Gutzon again supported Mr. Hill, who had been elected two years before with about eighty-five per cent of the Progressives voting for him. But by that time the sculptor had become conscious of the political boss John T. King, who had appeared at the first Bridgeport meeting sponsoring Mr. Hill. The congressman entered into long correspondence with him explaining Mr. King’s motivation.