The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-17

/ ously served as commander and divi
author of several noted books.
as secret as the general election.
4 Throw around it any other necessary
safeguards to the ends indicated.
H re then you have insured the
control of Republican primaries by
4 Republicans only and Democratic by
Democrats, and you have nearly elm
mated bribery, repeating and the like.
1 Third and lastly, choose the party
machinery in a different way. Hold
a primary election in January of the
election year for the selection of pre-
cinct committeeman. Vote for them
/ just as you do at regular primary
for nominees. Thus you choose your
party machinery Independently of the
conventions and you Will have an in
dependent BODY that can exercise the
judicial functions imposed upon them
free from the partisan spirit and
rancor of conventions.
There will be no Bowersock com
mittee or Curtis committee. but a
committee of Republicans chosen at
an election free from all extraneous
or factional concerns. This is the In
diana plan, and it works We'll Let
the precinct committeeman of the
county meet together and choose a
chairman from outside of the COM
mittee, and also select a member for
the congressional. judicial and sena-
torial committees.
Let the county chairman be ex-
oIIIclo member of the state committee
ard let the executive state COMMITTEES
De selected from the whole 105 mem
/ bers who are in turn county caairgnen
Ihus instead of having as we now
DO county, state, congressional SEN
/ atorial and judicial committees. five
separate bodies wholly unrelated, you
VIII nave compact organization,
| welded together, working in harmony
/ each committee being bound to the
other by some common membership
Ihen let the precinct committeeman
together with two other voters to be
CHOSEN by the voters, constitute the
primary election board of the precinct
sworn exactly as election boards are
sworn and put under the same penal
! ties Let the county committee con
stftute the county election board to
canvass the vote of the whole county,
| declare the result and make the GER
tificates of nomination
The executive state committee
should make up the roll of delegates to
the state conventions. congressional
committee to the congressional CON
vention and so on down the line. These
committees being all selected at diff
ferent time and in a different way
from the delegates on whose qualifi
cations they are passing, there should
be little likelihood of their acting I'M
fairly. They would be of a judicial
temper in the matter of contests and
probably very few if any contests
would result under this system.
The system herein outlined is not
of course put forth as the best that
could be devised, or as the last word
On the subject but as suggestive. We
know the evils to be cured and we be-
lieve the suggestions herein would tend
to cure most of them. The law must
not be too rigid There must be a de-
gree of f1exibility, and a degree of dis
erection in the various committees. but
it cannot be too rigid against fraud,
bribery, corruption or false voting.
c.a,,,+1- d rr5,,-- ,,-1,, hoe l,aar, II,
the state senate for sixteen years as
the mem Der from Cowley county, has
announced that he Will not be a can
didate for reelection this year. Be
fore he was elected to the senate he
served two terms in tn house, SO that
Senator King has been in the legisla-
ture continuously for twenty years. He
was first a Republican, but when the
Populist party was formed he went
into that and has been a Populist
leader ever since He is about the
only Populist in Cowley county now
that the Republicans are afraid Of
1t is said that his refusal to run again
means the election of Ed Wilkerson,
the Republican nominee for senator
The Populists want to nominate King
for probate Judge
It is reported that a Curtis paper
is to be started in Troy in opposition
to the Chief, with Fred W. Badger as
the editor. Badger was until recently
editor of the Chief.
Another Kansas man has been to
Washington and told the old w. P
H. story on "BilI'' Hackney. This
story has been doing service ever since
the boom, and it is regularly publish
ed in Washington every six months.
R. p Murdoch. business manager of
the Wichita Eagle. has purchased a
half interest in the Cofeyville Morning
Record He has placed his son, r.
P. Murdoch. jr., in charge of the pa
per as its manager. w. p. Brown re-
tains a half interest in the paper.
Under the heading. Somewhat Per
sonal" W. Y Morgan publishes IN the
Hutchinson News the following con
corning his nomination for representa-
tive by the Republicans of Reno ceun-
ty Saturday:
The editor Of the News mas been
nominated by the Republican party as
candidate for representative for the
Eightieth district There is no use in
discussing the question whether 1t was
a wise nomination or If the editor is