The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-11
Making a total expense Of. s45,e

| D. FOStlnE nOtlceS OF primary, Oh
cents in each precinct. ], 100
Making a total expense Of. Sac, $50
Auditor Nation has omitted charge
, for taking down the booths and re-
turning them. also the expense of build
ing new booths in precincts where the
custodian might feel he was not auth
ortzed to loan township or city PROPER
ty; also an expense for the use of
rooms, buildings or tents to hold the
elections in and other miscellaneous
items. Some of Mr.. Nations estimates
are too low Part of the above work
would be done by volunteers free of
charge, but my experience has been that
many of the free volunteers have axes
OF their own to grind" which would
prevent pre- their r, being considered fair
have sickness in the family or unex-
pected business calls on election day
and can not serve. So the only way
to insure having a primary that would
approach fairness in all precincts would
be to provide reasonable pay for the
service to be rendered. I do not know
how to raise such a sum, or even one
half, of 1T for the purpose, unless We
put the ENTRY fee" for nominations at
81. 500 to $1,000 each and put up notice
''aH poor men barred from running for
office on the Republican ticket" then
go out and hunt up candidates who
have the money or can get it for the
''use" they would get out of the Of
flee.
If we concede the present Republican
officials serving their first term have
been good officials. we must concede
they are entitled to denomination. If
SO. the primary election is to be held
merely to determine who should be
governor and who should have
the honor of the Republican
Endorsement for senator
1t is very probable the state COM
mittee with no power to enforce it's
DEGREES and rules could not agree
upon a satisfactory plan either.
1t is easy to be in favor of pri-
to make and enforce its provisions,
and the money and power to carry
them into effect, it is not easy to for
mulate a system that one can feel GER
the election system under which Kan
sas has marched forward to wealth,
to power, to honor, and to success.
Now, just a moment You say the
Oklahoma primary election was salts
factory. / have a personal friend
who was a candidate for a Democrat
ic nomination in Oklahoma, a young
man who by constant work, care ana
economy had saved a few thousand
dollars. He informed me that his at
tempted campaign for the nomination
took every cent he had saved and run
him into debt besides and that only
for a couple of days did he even have
reason to believe he had got started.
among Ills plGdSdIIG IGCO1l6CIlOHS was
Democratic newspapers making him
pay fifteen cents a line for a personal
notice that he was in town The cam
paign, he said, broke him and two
others One prominent candidate is
said to have spent over $4,000 on his
campaign. There are also stories of
Republicans voting at the primaries
to help Democratic friends, of pre-
cincts where there were more votes
cast than there were voters in the
precinct, and other evidences of fraud
and corruption that would not be
satisfactory to the people of Kan
sas il possible to occur in their pri-
mary election.
J. r. MOORE.
Chairman Republican State Com
mittee.
Governor Hoch has also replied to
Mr.. Anthony's letter, and after declar-
ing that he always has been in favor of
the primary election. announces that
he believes that Mr.. Anthony's plan for
1908 is feasible one. He says:
IF the Republican state central |
committee can legally throw around a |
primary election the necessary safe |
guards and provide for primary cleo
tfon that shall not burden the state !