Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-10-29
Boiling As A Means of Revenge.
1By D. w. Norris pf Grinnell.l

LBy d. w. Nor
Under what circumstances has
man the right to bolt? 1t Is a question
that has been discussed good deal,
and so far as know. 1t Is still mootea
Some take the strict party view anu
claim that boiling is never justihabie
This is not only the party view. 1t is
the narrow view. Others claim that no
man can justifiably bolt the ticket, nor
any part Of it, that he helps to nonln-
ate. In other words. the men who
hold to this view say. II you take par'
in the convention or caucus. you are
in honor bound by the results. rms
seems plausible argument. but IL IS
a specious one. Others take the vie"
that the Individual voter can not DC
bound by any caucus. unless the NOM
inees are REPUTABLE. and the PLATFORM
regular, while still others hold ina
boiling is right that is never sur
rendered, and may be exercised by the
Individual at any time, and under any
circumstances, for good reasons
The consensus of the best opinion,
however, seems to be that a MAJ
should never bolt his party ticket foi
trifling reasons, nor because ne ~
piqded, but that he not only mas the
right to bolt, but it is his duty to ex-
ercise that right, whenever his parry
departs from what the voter considers
sound principles, or puts in nomination
incompetent men, or men of bad char
acter.
Nobody, so far as I know, has ever
justified boiling as a means or re-
venge, as way to get even and no
intelligent man ever Will.
Heretofore there has been but little
of this kind of boiling. 1t has been
confined to defeated candidates. The
small man, the mean man, defeated IN
the caucus, or at the primary, gets even
with his successful rival by refusing to
support him. We have conspicuous
example of this kind of bolter in Geo.
b. Perkins, of Sioux City. AS human
nature is constituted, this kind Of bolt
ing is always held in contempt by his
fellows. and Geo. d. Perkins is no ex-
ception. Whatever influence the
Sioux City Journal might have had in
this campaign has been completely null
lifted by it's editors unfortunate posi-
ton.
Boiling In Iowa.
There has never been in Iowa any
considerable boiling Of state and coun-
ty tickets, except in the two memorable
Boies' campaigns. The causes that lei!
IN to the election of Boies are we'll
understood In national politics there
have never been since 1850 but two
bolts that affected the result. One of
these was in 1854, when thousands OF
republicans all over the country bolt
ed Blaine because they believed the
man was dishonest, that he had used
his official position for gain. It does
MT matter now whether the people
were right or wrong; they were sincere
In their belief that Blaine ought to be
defeated and he was
The other was in 1896, when large
part of the democratic party refused
to vote the ticket because they be.
lieved that the measures advocated
were not only wrong, but if carried
out, would panalyze the commerce OF
the country.
But not until the year Of our Lord.
1906, have men, other than defeatei
candidates, bolted in numbers simply
to get revenge.
The campaign was spirited, and con-
Quoted with much bitterness. While 1t
was in progress 1t is fair to believe
that both sides intended to acqutesce
in the result. Governor Cummfns and
lis friends wanted to conduct the cam
paign under legal primary, and they
made a, sincere and determined effort
last winter to get such a system The
men who wanted to defeat Governor
Cummins denomination, worked
against the enactment Of such a law.
There was no secret made of their bit
ter hostility to a primary law, for no
other, rea sons. The Cedar Rapids Re-
publican, one of the most prominent
dailies that opposed Cummins, said
openly and editorially, that primary
in 1906 would result in Cummins' re :
nomination, and this, that paper, con-
sidered a sufficient reason for oppos-
ing such law.
In other words, the men who oppose
Cummins, the men who hate him, were
not willing to give the people an op-
portunfty to express an honest and
uncontrolled preference. because they
believed that preference would select
Cummins.
Having selected the methods, and
laid down the rules by which the game
should be played and having been de-
feated, they, some Of them, now sulk.
They not only refuse to support the
ticket, but men who have been voting
the republican ticket all their lives arr
now engaged in the contemplate task
of urging their friends to vote the
democratic ticket. Not one OF them
has the inpudence TO maintain that the
republican platform is unsound, unre-
publican. not one of them has the lm-
pudence TO maintain that the nominees
are incompetent or men of bad cf1ar-
aeter. There Is no coneealment OF the
fact, because there can be none. that
all such voters are actuated solely by