Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-03-13
Rhinelander Herald.

Nothing could emphasize the super.
iority of the method of formulating
the party r.@tform under the
primary c'cction bill over the
old method of platform MAX
over old method of platform maxi
in" aiore than the ease with which the
r, -essional politician propose to re.
.,udiate their platform! They say that
conventions adopt platforms just to
catch voters, that, after the platform Is
adopted and the candidates elected, the
candidates are not bound to carry out
the platform. 1t is not their platform.
1t is the ilatform of the delegates to
the convention. This has come to be
partly true and 1t is right here that the
new plan is superior Under the new
plan the men who are elected have
made the platform. 1t is their princis
pies and their promises and If they
refuse to carry out these promises they
are just common, ordinary liars and
frauds.
If the promises in the last republican
platform had been embodied in plat
form adopted by the candidates them
selves, as it would be under the pri-
mary election law, we would not be
treated to the spectacle of lot of ma
chine politicians and federal office
holders at Madison arguing to the leg
islature that The promises of the plat
form ought not to be kept. These spell
binders would know, that If the plat
form was made by the candidates, that
its promises would be kept. Their
only hope of getting the legislature to
break these promises now, is in making
some legislators think they think that
these pledges are not their pledges, put
are only the pledges of a convention
that represented nobody.
II happens that the plank of the re-
publican platform that some republi-
cans ask the legislature to repudiate is
the one plank that is absolutely bind
ling on them. For three years
Governor La Toilette had been
championing this reform. He had
worked it out in all its details, practi-
cally as it is presented in this bill. He
uttu pAS5CAllC0 ILlS pIdn III lCSluAcS, Az
public addres, es, in stump speeches
and in pampf let form before the peo-
pie of this ste re anG before colleges ana
universities here and elsewhere. II
was the one great reform upon which
he declared he was bent. He declared
that he sought Office largely to secure
that reform. There was not an intellt
gent voter in Wisconsin who did not
know this. Under these circumstances
the nomination of LaFollette without
any plank on the subject, would have
been an absolute promise to enact into
law that proposed bill which LaFollette
had advocated in this way. When the
convention put the plank in the plat
form the party was doubly pledged to
pass the law. And they were pledged
to pass such law as LaFollette had
advocated. The bill before the legis1a-
ture is just that and no more than that.
There can be no doubt of its passage,
but if it does not pass it will be an
instance of political fraud and trickery,
the like OF which was never seen in
Wisconsin. The republican legislator
who is asked to vote against the bill
does not need to argue the merits of
the DILL, although it were easy to do SO.
His sufficient answer is: when l &C.
cepted my nomination l pledged my
self to vote for this very bin and am
no lar"