Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-15
CLIMAX IN WASHINGTON

TT MAY be said that the climax of
insurgency has about been reached
\ when the Republicans of the
state of Washington, the home of
Richard A. Ballinger, turn their backs
on him and vote his avowed opponent
and political antithesis, Miles Poin-
dexter, their candidate for the high
honor of United States senator. Only
recently the secretary himself said
with characteristic positiveness, ''Poin-
dexter will not be elected" but he is
elected and by a plurality of more
than 10000 in a Republican vote of
about 100000-an unexpected triumph
for one and condemnation of the other
Ballinger's champions have all along,
when pushed to the wall by facts prov
ing his unfltness to direct the affairs
of his great office in behalf of the peo-
pie, taken refuge in the statement that
in his home state the secretary was
one of the most honored and popular
citizens. No one there, they averred,
doubted his honesty or sincerity. That
was the answer of Governor Hay and
others lses than a fortnight ago at the
conservation congress when Governor
Stubs Of Kansas scored the Seattle
man.
The result of Tuesdays primaries in
Washington is a really bistering con-
demnation of Ballinger for in the ma
ture of things, if the Washingtonians
held him in high esteem, they would
welcome the first opportunity to re-
buke his critics at the polls. Instead
they have added their voice, pregnant
with eloquence, to the chorus of de-
mand that the recreant secretary re-
tire from the office he has sought to
prostitute for the forces of privilege
They have declared themselves in full
sympathy with the moral awakening.
OF what possible service to anybody
can a report of the Ballineer investi-
eating committee be now, in the face
of this overwhelming condemnation of
the secretary by his own community?
How can the majority members of the
committee who have been jockeying
for months to put off their whitewash-
ing for political reasons be so dense
as to think that anything but ribaldry
awaits the report? Their delay after
time doubly long enough to sift the
evidence and present their partisan
findings Las been a confession of their
weak position, and Tuesdays result
may with reason be said to be in part
a rebuke also to them.
Poindexter's great victory is, more
over, a rebuke to President Taft.
After announcing weeks ago that he
would not interfere in state contests
Mr.. Taft added another to his list of
blunders by using the weight of his
office in an effort to combine the pro-
Ballinger vote against Poindexter by
urging the withdrawal of two candi-
dates. The ambition of the men proved
too strong, and the president is left
in a very awkward position by having
revealed through the failure that his
heart is not with the progressive
forces.
There has been a general disposition
to judge Mr. Taft with charity in the
Ballinger matter. His supposed fealty
to his secretary has been attributed
more to a reluctance to deal harshly
with a cabinet member. That would
have been in a way creditable to his
heart, if not his head. But the Wash
ington campaign shows that he is yet
in sympathy and accord with Bal
linger and lent his aid to defeat an
admittedly good man to bolster up the
case of the secretary.
The election means that Ballinger
ought to resign forthwith. Unfortu
nately his we'll known callousness to
public opinion and this new revelation
of Mr. Taft's attitude give small hope
that Washington's verdict will have
much effect in Beverly or Seattle.