The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-28

Use in Kansas for Ioi these many years,
and judging the future by the past,
they do not fill the soul with pleasant
authorizations. The cogs are too slip
perry the pinions too warped, the levers
| too crooked. the gearings too corroded.
and the whole machine too much dis
| posed to squeak for oil. to turn out an
ideal product
Baileys administration has been sat
isfactorY to the people 1t has been
clean, like his personality. A closer
community Of interests has brought
| him more in touch with the masses
IMAM any previous governor of Kansas.
BUT he has failed to satisfy the greed
of some of the office hunting politi-
clans. and in this failure is found the
mead and front of his offending It is
*or this that he is now called upon to
answer for an array of trumDed-uD
charges and imaginary shortcomings
1t is true, Bailey has not devoted any
OF his time in posing as a paragon Of
perfection, or thanking the Lord, that
he is not as the rest of men, Feeling
that he is not bigger than his party he
took counsel of his friends; but that
ne ever has been the puppet of a clique
or faction is mere assumption. But
what of Mr.. HOch? The revelations of
the past month offer ample opportuni-
ty and furnish unerring data for a cor
rect estimate of his character; and, it
cannot be denied, but an intelligent
and impartial analysis of his actions
E'Ael-CS MN III dU lneUN1aDIGa 1RlC ana
lowers him very much from the posi-
ton he had hitherto held in the eSti-
nation of the people. No man who has
SHE'D his caster in the political arena,
within the last 80 years, in Kansas, has
given to the public such convincing eV-
idence of a lack of ballast as has Mr..
Hoch, by his vacilating, supine, and
splnelesS political gymnastics in the
fight now in progress against Governor
Bailey But it will be said he is yield
inc fn h - !, l.
such defense is its own damnation. The
man who yielding to the suggestion of
less honorable men, pursues a course
which, according to his own statement
is not approved by his judgment, vol
UNFAIRLY proclaims himself a plastic
and plant tool of his managers. Would
Mr.. Hoeh, governor, have more stamina
than Mr.. Hoch, candidate? If an empty
pie counter attracts flies through the
action of anticipation on their SaliVary-
glands, will loading that counter with
the saccharine substantials repel them?
Nit.
The statement that this attack on
Bailey has ernanated from, oris endorsed
by, the people is void of one scintilla
of truth, and is an insult to the intel
Iigence of the masses. The discomfort,
mistrust, discord, and the attendant
decentralization have been nursed into
existence by disappointed office seek
ers and have attained their growth
through the persistent advocacy of
Missouri and Topeka journals that fail
ed to attain their selfish ends.
Now [ wish to say that I am under
no obligations to Bailey. I expect no
favors at his hands. But I resent as
an insult to the intelligence of the
rank and file of the Republican party,
this posing of disgruntled politicians
as Would-he conservators of political
purity and champions of the people.
This hypocritical cry of the office seek
ing the man, revamped from the
thread-bare theory of defunct Populism
is nauSeating.
My work brings me in direct contact
with the common people almost every
day, and if their sentiment be a true
reflex of the sentiment of other peo-
pie throughout the state, it is my cam
did and unbiased judgment that if Mr..
Hoch should receive the nomination, he
will be defeated at the polls. The peo-
pie are not prepared to break the estab-
IIished usage of giving a second term to
clean and efficient officers in order to
crafty the chagrin and VindictivenesS
of q clique of boss busting bosses. You
may rest assured that the plain every
day Republican is not ready to sane
ton the idea that when man fails to
land the office for which he was han
xering, he is justified in submitting
himself as an instrument in the hands
of the disgruntled and disaffected in
such a way as to imperil the success of
the party simply that the desire for
revenge on the part of a few malcon-
tents may be satiated. Such an idea
fail to be subversive of all party dis
cipline and must eventually lead to
disintegration and defeat.
EDWARD O'CONNOR.
St. John, Kansas.