Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-09
RUMP TREASON

! 4 N SeptenDe 70 hepuDlcdnH Oh LOS
Angeles are asked to hold con-
vention for the purpose of in
dorsing candidates for the nominating
primary election; that is to say. can
didates are to be nominated for the
primariesl This wildly absurd and
monstrously preposterous proceeding
would surely be rejected by the sanity
of any citizen who might think of it
in all its aspects, and nothing but a
| political machine driven to maniacaI
| desperation by the craven fear of i'm
/ pending destruction could have resort
/ ed to such a stupid trick to beat"
4 the primaries.
Opinions hitherto entertained Of the
astuteness of Don McGarvin, Walter
Parker and "the S. P. bunch" must
be discarded. There never was
more Quixotic proceeding than that
planned by our modern successor of the
Knight of the Rueful Countenance
and by Squire Walter Parker, who
sometimes reminds us of Sancho Panza
and sometimes Of one of the windmills
at which Quixote tilted. We can't help
it if our metaphor is somewhat mixed.
So is the situation.
Here are we, citizens of Los Angeles,
members of a community famous all
over the world for clear thinking and
prompt action, asked to sit still with
out protest, while professional poll
ticians attempt to make us ridiculous
before all the world by choosing candi-
dates by the "conventionaP' methods
associated with and responsible for all
the troubles that have afflicted this
body polite. Apparently they expect
us to follow the example of Parker and
McGaryin, and make asses of ourselves
by voting for ticket at the primaries
instead of choosing a ticket at the pri-
mariesi
Parker and McGarvin are not
Smooth enough to inveigle their
brighter, more intellectual and more
intelligent fellow citizens into the per-
petration of this paradoxical outrage on
good sense, which would make Los An
geles a standing joke in the comic pa
pers forevermore. There is nothing in
therefore should the machine despera-
does expose Greater Los Angeles to
ridlcule? 1t is high time the people
Of this community were awakening to
a sense of the exact nature of the out
rageous conspiracy against the good
standing and reputation of Los An
geles which is being prepared by men
who are either the most Gargantuan of
political buffoons or, if they must be
taken seriously, the most imminent
menace to American liberties from
which this city has suffered in mod
ern times.
Hitherto, amid all the political schem-
ing and triekery, some respect has been
entertained for the sanctity of the bal
lot; and that respect in great measure
has been produced by wholesome fear
of the consequences of direct, criminal
meddling with the free and uncontrolled
exercise of citizens rights to vote. But
here is afoot a plot the object of which
is nothing less than to interfere with
the ballot. by vitiating the efficacy of
the method of nomination approved and
adopted by the citizensl
The proposed convention is "rump"
convention if you will. It Is perhaps
right we should regard the machine
plotters with derision as well as with
scorn. But it is more and worse than
a rump convention. There is a highly |
serious aspect which must be consid- |
cred by thoughtful citizens. 1t is con-
vention of traitors, called by traitors
for the reasonable purpose of devising |
a method of reasonable practice by |
which the law of the land may be
evaded and violated.