The San Francisco call., 1908-05-24
LinCOIn-ROOsevet League Viii Garry War
Into The StrOnghOIds Of Herrin
Sentiment Of Honest Republicans Of State Forecasts
Defeat Of Railroad Machine in August Primaries

With an abundance of encourage
rnent and renewed determination to
make the republican party OF Cali
fornia free from the destructive douli-
nation of the Southern Pacific rail-
road company the Lincoln Roosevelt
league will continue to strive in its
worthy cause and seek to undo Her
rim and his corrupt ring at the prI-
maries that will be held in August.
The excellent showing made by the
league forces at the recent conven-
ton in Sacramento surely means ulti-
-nte disaster for the railroad machine
and the Lincoln Roosevelt people are
now confident that they will be able at
the next test to win the county central
committees throughout the state and
nominate men for the legislature who
will be clean and independent of the
corrupting influences OF the corpora
tion gangsters.
WAR Is UNDER WAY
The league will carry the war into
the strongholds OF the Herrin machine
and viii attack these places first. 1t
might be said that this onslaught is
already under way. San Mateo, Men
docino. Napa, Sonoma. Solano and Con-
ira Costa. counties, in all OF which the
politicians OF the corporation forces are
in the ascendant, will be the first TO be
invaded. A Lincoln Roosevelt club has
already been formed at Crockett, Con-
ira Costa county. since the-convention.
so eager is the sentiment to express a
protest against the gag and other high
handed methods that marked The
doubtful victory of the railroad
With the various county committees
arraved on the side of civic decency,
the control that the railroad retained
over the state executive committee viii
for the most part be nuliified. With
ont system of factors TO carry out Its
orders through the state the machine
virtually viii be helpless, and the cam
paign I'm behalf of an upright legisla-
ture can be carried on in the respective
districts free of the crooked manipula-
tions Of Southern Pacific power.
ISSUES BEFORE People
The league premises its activities on
getting its issues before the people. In
the late campaign 1t was demonstrated
that II was the politicians of the ma
that the people failed it with support.
For example, there is no healthier sen
timent in behalf of good government
than in Nevada county. Yet when the
league sought to inauSurate its move
ment there il was completely blocked
by the railroad politicians. who have
the upper hand there. The Lincoln
Roosevelt people were not sufficiently
equipped in their initial struggle to get
80.
bring out an effective expression of the
voice OF the people.
So II is in Napa, where Deputy Attor-
ney General Raymond benjamin and
DR.. z T. Eennessey held down the
clamps on the people in support of Her
rin. Both are Office holders, and it was
required of them to deliver. In Sonoms
county an employe of the railroad pre-
sided at the county convention and the
votes Of the county that went TO Davis
in the convention were prompted bs
personal esteem for the leagues candi-
date for chairman, who formerly lived
in Santa Rosa.
FIGHT FOR PRIMARIES
To overcome the great chain of Office
holders. both state and federal, that
extends from one END OF the state to
the other, and the politicians who affili-
ate with the gang side OF things
the Lincoln-Roosevelt movement must
clearly rely on the voice or the people
and II is to afford an avenue for ex-
pressing II and TO carry out the prin-
ciples OF representative democracy
that its efforts are now beneed. The
issue as to holding primaries wherever
practicable is TO be forced and the pro-
visions of the law invoked to make
them mandatory. The statutes pro-
vide that wherever the people at ar
election decide that they want pri-
maries held instead Of having theil
delegates appointed arbitrarily by the
party committees such primaries shal
be obligatory.
To bring about the election at which
the voters can decide whether the,
viii permit the programmfng of theii
delegations, as was done in such raw
fashion in the recent campaign, the,
must petition their town city OF
county legislative body for a specia
election, at which they can by ma
5ority vote assert their right to tn.
primary.
The leagues first undertaking VIII
be to have this opportunity of select
ing delegates by primary afforded ii
all sections where the density of popu
lation makes IL practicable, and theI
can be put forward with avail the fssu,
whether the politicians or the peopl'
Shall rule. The final test will be u,
TO the people. and when that stage ii
reached the Herrin crew will b,
doomed.
TO CHECKMATE MACHINE
Tie work along this line to check
mate the high handed appointiv,
powers the machine forces so boldl,
apply to keep themselves intrenched Il
already well under way. The necessar,
petitions in behalf of the primary tha
must be presented are now in circula.
ton in the outlying sections of Sacra
mento and Los Angeles counties, an,
the preliminary steps have been takel
with the proper authorities for the out
lying parts of Alameda county
The league will proceed under tn
provisions of section 1872 of the polit
ical code. reading as follows afte
enumerating the II cities in which III
primary law is made mandatory:
In all other portions OF the re
spective counties in which the cite
above named are Sfff,afe an6 4, o1