Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-06-09
THE INDEPENDENT" VOTER.

Secretary Shaw, in a recent speech
said that the danger to the country
lies with the independent voter. The
Manson Journal takes exception to the
statement and says that the independ-
ent voter carries the safety of the ma
tion in lis grasp. Says the Journal:
The CRATER. the political boss and
the politician who makes his money
off the people fear. the independent
voter as the devil fears holy water"
The Journal has evidently not heard
that speech Of Secretary Shaw's
Either that is the case, or the Manson
paper prefers. to misunderstood him
or does not choose to follow his mean
ing to it's logical conclusion. Secretary
Shaw, in a great many political
speeches delivered before now, has
said that same thing, but each time he
has, in his own thoughts, inclosed tn:
word independent" in quotation
marks. And his subsequent remarks
have shown this to be the case. He
makes the statement in an argument
eral rule, and the term independent
voter" is used to indicate the man
whose vote can be purchased by the
first or most generous CRATER who ap-
proaches him. That is the kind ef
independent" voter Mr.. Shaw fears,
and there are entirely too many of
that kind scattered through the coun-
try.
No one who is in the right fears the
judgment of those voters who are cap
able of rendering good judgment upon
an argument or an issue. In a meas
ure, we are all independent voters in
as much as we reserve the right to
vote as we see fit. Most men, it is
true, are aligned with one party or
another, but this does not mean that
they are sworn to support that party's
nominees even when the platform is
at variance with their own views.
Most men have an opinion as to the
general plan Of government that is
right and they ally themselves with
the party that represents the views
they hold. They are independent vot-
ers, but not, as rule, Independent"
voters, the kind that Secretary Shaw
fears.
Men who have spent years in polit-
ical work know that there are very,
very few voters whose judgment is of
saluC WIZ oil e uOI luCuIluSu Will SOluC
political party. There are very few
voters who will not, when questioned,
tell their political preference. 1t is a
matter of conviction with them, mat
ter of every day fact But when man
asserts that he is an Independent"
voter there is generally reason to sus-
pect that his vote is for sale to the
highest bidder. This is not, of course,
true in every case, but it is the case
when quotation marks are necessary
to indicate an independent" voter
Secretary Shaw would be the last
man in the country to raise an out
cry against the really independent
voter, for the reason that Mr.. Shaw is,
without doubt, one of the most forci-
BILE speakers on political subjects the
country has ever known. His efforts
are directed toward the men who, for
one reason or another, always honest
are undecided as to the party they
should become affiliated with. These
are the really independent voters and
it is to these that Secretary Shaw ap-
peals in his speeches. For the 3inde
pendent" voter he has no use, and he
rightfully calls him the living danger
to American institutions.