The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-27
STUBS REPLIES.
Takes Senator Smith to Task
for Statements.
Calls Attention to His Defense
of Bailey.
HE OPPOSED ROYCE.
In No Sense Qualified for the
Place.
Was Obnoxious to the Men Who
Had Won Fight.
HE OPPOSED ROYCE.

Mr.. Roscoe Stubs has come out of
his pillar OF cloud and has made a
statement about the Royce appoint
ment The statement is of course, an
indirect slap at Governor Hoch, but
the attack is directly chiefly al Fred
Dumont Smith and j. Q. Royce. Stubs
4ntmates very strongly that Fred
DumOnt Smith is not a truth teller; he
says that Royce is incompetent for the
Job of bank commissioner, and declares
that the action OF the governor in APP
pointing Royce was .'unwise, impOlitic
and unfair"
In spite of the fact that the state
ment is heavily sugar-cOated in some
places there is plenty of poison in it,
and it will not serve to heal the breach
which exists between the governor and
the chairman of the Republican state
central committee. Royce is accused
OF being particularly obnoxious to the
Stubs faction; he is accused Of try
ing to disrupt the Hoch movement, and
of doing nothing to help the new
movement" except to cling to Mr.
Hoch in season and out OF season. un-
til he landed the best job in the state.
Stubs says it isn't right for the gov
GrnOr to put such man into a job
where there is such a fine chance to
play politics.
Mr.. Stubs statement was signed,
and given out to the newspapers as fol-
lows;
Recently an article appeared in Sena-
tor Dumont Smiths Kinsley paper in
which he discussed at considerable
length the appointment of Mr. Royce
as bank commissioner, on the assump-
ton that one Stubs was not entitled
to run the governors Office, dictate ap-
poiDtments or control the governors
Will" AS an evidence of how carefully
Smith handles the truth, 1 shall call
attention to Governor Hoch's own
statement which appeared in the press
on the same day the Royce appoint
ment was announced, in which Mr.
Hoch gives the lie to Smiths insinua-
tons.
also recall the gallant defense Cow
ernor Bailey received from the distin-
guished senator from Edwards during
the early stages of the battle between
Hoch and Bailey, and the desertion of
Bailey when the tide drifted toward
Hoch. I certainly trust Governor Hoch
may be more fortunate. I have no OBJ
lection whatever to Smiths paying his
political debt but do not care to have
him misrepresent me in the matter.
have refrained from making any
public statement with reference to the
Royce matter, on the theory that it was
unnecessary and might do more harm
than good. but have determined, since
there seems to be a disposition to mis-
represent the situation, to state the
facts as I see them.
Made No Promises.
In the first place. as chairman of the
state central committee, 1 did not make
the first promise, nor the intimaton of
q promise, for Governor HOch to re-
deem after election. I was so exceed
tngly busy after election preparing inn
pOrtant bills which we had promised
IN our platform, and during the legis-
1ature In helping them to be enacted
into law. that / gave but little atten-
tion to state appointments. believing
that the success or failure of our efforts
for better political conditions depended
almost entirely on the results of our
legislative work.
cid not at any time attempt to die
tate the appointment Of a bank COM
missioner, or any other officer. Togeth-
er with large number of the men who
had worked with me during the cam
paign, i was very much opposed to the
Royce appointment for the following
reasons.
The office is one which involves the
gravest responsibility. The bank COM
missioner gives a certificate OF charac-
ter to every bank under his charge. He
tells the banks what they can do safely
and what they cannot do. He closes
their doors and takes charge Of their
business until the court appoints a re-
ceiVer in case of failure. In short the
bank commissioner is guardian of the
depositor's interests and is practically
to the state bank what the comptroller
of the currency is to the national bank
In time of financial stringency a bank
commissioner with good business sense
and experience might avert a panic
where an inexperienced man might cause
one by some ill-advised or unnecessary
action. No man, in my Judgment, should
be appointed to this high office who is
not capable Of directing and controlling
inteligently, honestly and efficiently
the management of the hundred odd
million dollars Of capital invested and
deposited in these institutions.
Royce Wanted TO Learn.
Mr.. Royce, to my mind, did not pos
Eess in any sense the necessary qualid-
cations for this position. He is practical
~ without commercial business exper-
ience and stated frankly to me person
ally that one reason he was so anxious
to get the place was that he wanted to
learn business methods and hoped that
he might some day become a business
man himself.
In addition to the above objections
from a business point of view. there
were to my mind some other very SER
Ious objections from a political stand
point Since the board of charities has
been removed from politics by the new
board of control law, the office Of bank
commissioner is probably the most pow
erfuI political weapon in the state 1t
was the one place of all others that
Morton AlbauRh chose for himself. when
he had the right to choose. The bank
commissioner has a better opportunity
to feel the political pulse and shape
party policies of Kansas through the
various agencies connected with his
office, than any other public officer OF
e5e state
no Much 'FIuence.
asrss tremendous political power
should. it seems te me, have been