Amador ledger., 1908-05-01
APPOINTING DELEGATES.

1t regreabe that after the experience handed
out the republicans of California years ago. some
county central committees resolved this year to repeat
the blunder of appointing delegates the coming
vention This action is all the noticeable from the
fact that these county bodies left without the shadow of
for doing In the last campaign they able
plead that the call of the state committee gave them
hoy for such usurpaton Of powera miserable pretex at
best This year. however, doubt put wise by the repuda
ton of this policy by onethrd Of the party voters through
the the committee has recommended that dele
gates be selected directly by the party voters and has even
gone further than this by recommending that at the primary
elections each voter be given opportunity to express his
preference for presidential candidate This latter proposition
if faithfully carried out would be equal to instructions to-
the delegates how vote the presidential issue in the
convention simply to show how careful the
body is the of national campaign not to afford
grounds for oense by anything that might be construed as
the exercise of arbitrary power They have discovered by
bitter experience that it doesn't pay from party standpoint
repudae those who expected to furnish the ballots
sufficient quantities to elect the ticket when the decisive day
arrives How under these conditions county committee
should attempt appoint delegates loss to under
stand any theory of true party allegiance And yet it
being done in number of the interior counties.
The obtruding into the field of the Lincoln Roosevelt Re-
publican League has brought actiona fight within the
party ranks The coupling of the of the great enamel
paor with that of the present occupant of the white house
evidently designed for sageplay effect magnet at
and the living president have little justify such
linking of their The objects of the league many
and therein perhaps lies its weakness aims to do away
with machine politics. with trading delegations in party
ventions with unauthorized exercise of authority by state
and county committees. These commendabe steps in
the direction of REFORM and will command the approval of the
of republicans But there is lurking suspicion that
selfish motives hidden behind the agtaon that the Ill
innate object merely the dethronng of set of bosses for
the purpose of setting up another and maybe obec
tonable One of the avowed purposes of the
the election of delegates the national
tion who favorable Taft other candidate
mitted the carrying of the Roosevelt policies. This
raises suspicion that the scheme Aoaed with the main
object of boosting the administration candidate for president
There other eararks that tend shake confidence in
the so-called reform program.
The Ledger has consistently advocated the sending of
pledged delegates political conventions We have the ut
faith in the sound judgment of republican voters when
left entirely free in the exercise of discretionary power We
have little faith the average whose party teay IS
subordnated his personal ambitions Individual
billions be eliminated from the political field They
always have been and doubtless always will be- potent fac
the shaping of party action At the time they
must in order achieve the best results be made subse
Went the interests of the party whole Just now the
peculiar situation is presented of the republican state
mee urging broad lines that all vital matters be referred
the rank and file for settlement On the other hand one
wing while contendng for essential principles, is at the
time engaged trying to tie up the California deega-
ton the presidential candidate who backed by the power
of the national administration, and apparently mainly be-
of such backing In other words state machine politics
should be downed and national machine domination should