The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-06-28
POLITICAL GOSSIP
How the Election Law Has
Proved Retroactive.
More Republicans DisfranchiSed
Than POpulists.
THEY STUDIED LAW.
Things That Developed at the
Last Election.
Senator Burton Appears to
Have Few Friends.
THEY STUDIED LAW.

Democrats have been denOuuclng the
election law passed by the last legis
lature. They have claimed that it is
extremely difficult to vote anything but
a straight ticket without making a mis-
take-which Is a fact-and that as q
result large number of voters are
DISTINGUISHED
1t has been a popular claim among
them that the Republicans passed this
law on purpose to "disfranchise'' Pop
ulist and Democratic voters. The law
first made it illegal to nominate the
same candidates clear through, and then
it hedged the ticket about with such
rules for voting that if one attempted
to jump around from one column to an
other one was very likely to make
enough of a mistake to invalidate the
entire ballot
In the Populist conventions which
have been held this year this election
law has been subjected to all kinds of
abuse. Populist orator cannot make
| a speech this year without referring to
it, and the fact that he is "disfran-
chised."
Now it appears that more Republic
ans are liable to be ''disfranchised"
| through mistakes than Populists or
| Democrats. A crowd of Populists were
! discussing the election law just after
| the recent Populist convention, and one
man said
s'Wen. the Republicans will suffer
| from mistakes more than we viii. We
made careful investigation in our
! county last spring and there were five
! Republicans who made mistakes and
had their ballots thrown out to one Pop,
ulist."
That is worse than it was in my
county" said another. There were
/ about four times as many Republican
! ballots thrown out with US as there
4 were Populist"
we only counted on throwing out
about twice as many Republican as
/ Populist votes in our county" said
! Sixth district man. L guess the Re
! publicans up our way know more about
/ voting than those in the eastern part
4 of the state"
1t is quite likely that the Republicans
made more mistakes in the last cleo
! ton than did the Populists, because the
majority of the Populists made a study
/ of the ballot The average Populist will
/ study the art of voting with the same
care that he studied finance" a few
years ago, and he will make il count
! too
If the same ratio would hold good all
over the state that these Populists told
of in their counties. the rules of the
| election law will "disfranchise" a great
many more Republicans than Populists.
The Franklin county Republicans a
| few days ago adopted ironclad resolu-
| lions on the subject of prohibition and
pledged all their county candidates to
the enforcement of the prohibitory law.
] r. - Johnson, editor or the Mime
| apolis Better Way has been endorsed
| for the fusion nomination for congress
in the Fifth district by the Populists of
! Ottawa county, much against his will
| If his name is presented to the congress
sional convention he will make the third
candidate.
The Socialists are sending out the
call for their state convention to meet
in EmpOria July 4. Louis Matignon is
chairman of the Socialist state com
mittee and W L. Nixon is secretary.
Only about two subjects are talked
of on the editorial pages of the Re
publican newspapers of Kansas this
week. One IS the fusion of the Pop
uliSt and Den Ocratic parties and the
other is Senator Burton. Nearly every
paper in the state has something to say
about Burton A good many of the
comments are along the line of the fol-
/ lowing from the Ellsworth Reporter:
While We never supported Mr.. Bur
ton, and regretted his election as a
United States senator. yet as he was
elected, we hoped that he would reflect
credit on the state. We have been rep
resented for several years in Washing
ton by senators who were no particular
credit to US, and we have congratu-
lated ourselves and the state that our
Populist friends in selecting senator
We're wise enough to select such a man
as Senator Harris. and while we are OPP
posed to him because we want our SEN
I
, of his record, and feel that the best
, thing the Populist party ever did for
Kansas, they did when they made W
: A Harris a senator.
I'VE expected. however, that as Bur
ton was sent there by our party, that
) he would be even more of an honor tc
? the state and the Republican party
} than Senator Harris has been to oul
= Populist friends.
I'VE are completely at a loss to &C.
0 count for Mr. Burton's actions in re.
: n1-a RI "a ma q a
o claim ed to be a friend of the admins
= | tratiOn, he is the representative of Kan
. sas, and yet he has shown himself al
8 enemy to the administration and alst
/ shown that he does not represent Kan
6 Sas-
. 1T is passing strange that he would
promise to support the president in thi
controversy; make this promise in tn
3 presence of Congressman Long ant
0 Commissioner Ware, as it appears h
4 certainly did. and then turn aroun'
O and, with all the elOquence that his sew
. eral years Of training as a teacher 0
) elocution has given him, make the win
dOws rattle in talk in cOmmitte
; meeting directly against the position
n that he had promised to take on tn
y subject.
o 1T is no wonder that the presiden
6 in talking with a newspaper reporte
g who did not know Mr.. Burton. sal
. 1--WE do not know him either. and ey
~ identity Kansas does not know him, bJ
: the legislature viii know him when HI
o name is proposed for reelection. if, {
IS that time he has friends enough left
* 1 propose it, for at the rate he is gOin
q and the rapidity with which he is cas-
y ing off his old friends and the vii
~ breaks he is making to prevent hii
3 from getting new ones. in Kansas, whel
g he is to get his support, it looks 8
though he were going to run very shol
of supporters.
l. Kansas is with the administrator
f and there is every indication that it
going to continue that way, and if NJ
> Burton sees fit to throw himself againl
. both of them. he will himself have
attend to picking up his pieces. TT
Republicans OF Kansas viii not try