Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-24
RUMP FIASCO

/ AldCDlIG
met at the Shrine auditorium last even
ing, and proceeded % indorse George
Smith for mayor and other candidates
for city offices, to be nominated at the
primary election.
Since the first chapter Of the history
of American politics was written, moth
/ ing has taken place which for unadul-
terated and unblushing effrontery can
match the Big Impudence.
As everybody knows, the Big I'm
pudence that took the shape of n
"rump' convention claimed its dele
gates" were the Republican party
and said they knew better than the
people the men wanted for candidates
/ for public office.
| The legal method of nominating can
| didates is the primaries method. The
nomination of candidates to be voted
for at the primaries by 1.-The faithful
is such a burlesque of Amerlcanism.
such an unprincipled and outrageous
affront to common sense as well as
decency, that 1t is hard to realize q
transaction. so prejudicial to the good
name and fair fame of Los Angeles,
could be conducted in this city, even
by the hired political leaders" Of the
S. P.
And yet in the rump convention
there was consolation for loyal Amer
leans who dislike to see treason in any
guise. 1t is evident the machine is
done for Many citizens who sup
port the cause of good government be-
lieved the machine would die hard.
They thought the struggle would be
prolonged. But last nights spurious
convention" showed it is virtually
dead already. In fact, so plain are
the signs of extinction, the "conven-
tion" was for all the world like an
old fashioned "coff1ning," and one Of
the biggest nails driven In the casket
was the gratuitous and apparently
studied insult to the honorable gentle
men who have served this community
on the board of education; for in no
other light but that of studied insult
can the conventions Indian indorse-
indorsing the board and then adopting
with boots and jeers a motion for re-
consideration of this action.
This fantastic performance. doubt
less deliberately contrived for the pur-
pose Of attempting to mortify or en-
barrass the board of education and
harm the cause of popular education
IN Los Angeles, will do more to dis
credit utterly the remains of the ma
chine than could almost any other
piece of malicious stupidity that could
be devised. AS an insult, it was in
effective-merely a boomerang that will
return to plague the machine, though
doubtless 1t will be keenly gratifying
and solacing to Mushet and other
enemies Of the school board, the school
bonds and the cause of education in
Greater Los Angeles.
Incidentally, the convention marked
the retirement of Don c. McGarvin
from the center of the stage, and he
| may have to linger in the political
wings until his own are grown.
A thinner skinned and quicker wit
ted man than Don c. McGarvin would
long ago have rebelled against the
mandate which compelled him to make
himself ridiculous forever In American
annals, and to go down to history de-
rided as the Don Quixote of Southern
Pacific politics.
The rump convention was by no
means an unmixed evil. It fulfilled an
important function by warning the
public of the undesirables who are
hankering after office, and are willing
to lend themselves to a ridiculous. dis
graceful and fantastic machine pro-
ceeding in order to get an INDORSE-
MENT or in plain language, a ma
chine nomination.
At the primaries, it will be the duty
Of good citizens to see to it that this
irregular and unlawful S. P. rump
nomination Is all these fellows get.
They should not be voted for at the
primaries.
They should not be put in nomina-
ton legally.
The citizens of Los Angeles have the
right to select their own candidates for
office, without the suggestion or die
tation Of Southern Pacific bosses and
busybodies.
The laws and customs which. in
spite Of S. P. machine meddlesome-
ness continue to regulate society in
South California provide method Of
rebuking the jumpers. The indorsed
candidates nominated by the S. P. ma
chine should NOT be the candidates
nominated by the people.