The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-10
Majority of Politicians Sympa-
thize With Deposed officer.
QUIT FACTIONAL LINES
Even "The Regulars Regret
Necessity for the Action.
Saw That 1t Means Re- Entry of
Roosevelt into Arena.


The dismissal of Clifford Pinchot,
vice is the chief topic of conversation
among Kansans who keep In touch
with national affairs PRESIDENT IaII $
summary action is criticised by the
square deal faction and commended by
the regulars This was to be expected.
In a fractional fight both sides must
stand firm. But there is something
deeper than the faction of state politics
involved in the Pinchot affair. And it
is not so far beneath the surface but
that it is felt in conversations regard
ing the matter. The friends of Pinchot
feel that they have a principle behind
them. He was Roosevelt legacy, a
protector of public interests from pri-
waite wealth and combination He was
considered an enemy of the corpora
| lions and Ballinger is regarded as the
friend of the interests:
The regulars of the party in Kansas
do not condemn the president in his
stand for Ballinger as against Pinchot,
but neither do they commend it. They
say. "Well, if Taft dimissed Pinchot
he had good reasons for SO doing. 1t
must be all right" They convey, in
their conversation their accents, that
| they feel and realize that thi- is a blow
at the west, but they will stand for it
| in the interest of party harmony
PARTY solidarity to quote the presi-
dent.
On the other hand, the square deal
leaders and a great number fOf indie
pendentS, and even among the sym
| pathizers with party regularity there is
expressed Indignation over the dis
missal of the Roosevelt forester. Men
| high In political circles, state officials
with tremendous majorities behind
them at the election last year, do not
| hesitate to condemn the presidents ac-
ton In this matter. President Taft is
| wrong" they declare He is in the
hands of reactionaries and they are
moulding him completely to their will.
| Not Fairbanks or Aldrich himself could
have carried out an administrative
policy more .distasteful to the west"
Straw votes have been taken in near
ly every office in the state house, of Of
fcials, attaches. visitors loafers and
all, on the Pinchot matter, and the ex-
preston is unanimous in every case for
| Pinchot.
President Taft's stand on the
Aldrich tariff bill. his Winona speech,
his defense of Aldrich. his discipline
of the insurgents. these policies found
| the square dealers and regulars lined
Iup on opposite sides, each faction
| holding it's entire strength. But in the
| case of the dismissal of Pinchot only a
few dyed-in-t he-wool regulars have
stood firm for the president In the
general expression Of opinion. it is
only the exception that speaks for the
president. Kansas sympathy and SEN
| linger
More significant still is the under
| current impelling public sentiment to-
ward the one shore of hope Beneath
! all the talk and coming to the sur
| face always at the end. often unspok
| en- but never mistaken, is the vision of
burly man in a pith helmet, wearing
| eyeglasses, with teeth bullying out un-
der his moustache when he grins.
eve would be dee-lighted.' declare
the Kansans, eff The rest is left
unspoken-
The Return From Elba movement
had never gained any Roadway in
Kansas among substantial and inf1u-
entail men until after the Pinchot dis
missal. Now it is fast crystallizing
into concrete form. A square deal vic
tory in the congressional primaries
will start the ball rolling for the Afri-
can hunter for president in 1912. Kan
sas, it will be remembered, was the
first state to declare for Taft.
Public sentiment is always ex-
pressed. 1t is heard on the street
and at all kinds of social and chance
gatherings of people. When it is over
whelning; when only voice here and
there is raised against the general ex-
preston, then that is public opinion
the strongest thing in the world.
1t is not formed in a day. or a
month. One act will not arouse it.
Only succession of acts covering
considerable period of time can call
forth that subtle force that Yields
many men of widely different habits
views and occupations into a single
welfare of section is still more; but
when both are at issue, the public
| opinion is formed. And this is para
| mount to everything else.