The Mena weekly star., 1908-08-20
Why We Don't Feel Bound.

Editor Star.
 We see in the last issue of the News-Democrat that the editor is beginning to apply the party lash in order to whip Democrats into line by election day that they may be ready to support the ticket, the ticket that he is pleased to call the Democratic ticket. Now we are Democrats and have always been willing to abide by the action of the Democratic party, but we happen to know that this so-called Democratic ticket is not child of the Demo- cratic party of Polk county but a ticket nominated by the use of whisky and other means by primary manipulators, and that all parties were admitted into this primary re- gardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude or party utilization where they could be voted in the interest of certain parties, and when they could not be voted to suit these parties then the party lines were drawn and all but Demo- crs.ts were kept out.
 Take for example the city of Mens. She voted in strictly Democratic primary thirty more votes than she could rake and scrap in city gen eral election when all parties were represented on the ticket. Now this was accomplished by these primary manipulators in order to secure the nomination of certain men, and 1t was done by the use of booze and money. The decorated booze wa gons were started before the first bird sang and everything that could be raked and scraped were hauled to the poles and voted to suit cer- tain parties who proposed to handle these primaries in this way hoping and believing as they did that noml- nation meant election, and that the party lash could be applied, and that the party could be whipped into line to support the action of this rotten primary.
 Take for instance Mountain town ship. She is able to vote near 200 votes, but most of them were Re- publicans, but those slick schemers could not handle those honest fel- lows down there, so they, by their influence. drew the lines in that locality and kept them out. We know that even in civil matters that showing of fraud is sufficient grounds to make contracts, obliga- tions or even judgments void. On this same theory. showing of fraud and unfairness in a primary releases all parties who took part in it from supporting that part of the ticket which was implicated in these frauds, and we, as Democrats, be believe it is to the best interest of the party to teach candidates that fairness should characterize the primary that gave them their nomination if they expect the party to come to their relief on the day of election, and we don't feel that such is the case with portion of the present .so-called Democratic ticket and don't feel disposed to be whipped into line under such corruption and fraud.
 We notice in the last issue of the News-Democrat that the editor says that when Prickett took charge of the county that scrip was only 20 cents. We have lived here during his entire administration and much longer and we know that scrip was worth 50 cents and upward when he was elected. Now we suppose that the editor of the News-Democrat is a newcomer and has been told this scrip story by some interested party. That paper says that Prickett brought scrip from 20 cents up to
  95 cents. If he had said that owing to the rapid increase of property values and corresponding increase of county revenue the county had decreased her debt under four years of the most reckless administration in the history of the county that would have been true.
 Hoping to see this in print, we are J. D. Combs, Democratic commit | teeman of Freedom township.
 s. Rind, Democratic ex-commit- teeman.
 A. J. Robins,
 D. w. Connaly,
 J. D. Bates,
 w. L. Shepherd,
 R. H. Sargent,
 J. C. Terrel,
 LIE. Shepherd,
 K. c. Turner,
 A. F Combs,
 w. Shepherd,
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