The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-06-07
The REAL ISSUE.
Congressman Scott in Opening
His Campaign
Says 1t Is SOlidity of Republican
Party.
TRIBUTE TO TAFT.
Plain Talk on the Position of
Speaker.
Discusses the Insurgents and
Rules Committee.

"I am a Republican. I was never
prouder to make that declaration than
1 am today. I was never more GER
tain than 1 am today that the Repub-
lican party deserves the confidence OF
the country it has served so nobly for
half n century. 1 was never more GER
tain than 1 am TODAY that the con-
tinued prosperity of this great nation
is wrapped up in the continued as
tendency of the Republican party"
With these words of introduction in
the Auditorium in Kansas City, Kan,
Charles F. Scott opened his campaign
for denomination as the representative
in congress of the Second Kansas dis
trict. The meeting was held under the
auspices of the Scott for Congress"
club of Kansas City, Kan. and it was
upon the invitation of the club that
Mr. Scott came on from washington
to make the address. Mr.. Scott con-
tinued
Tribute to Taft.
"In the quarter of a century of my
political life, during all of which my
faith in Republican principles has been
steadfast and unwavering, there has
never been a day when 1 felt that
those principles were in safer hands
than they are at this moment when
they lie in the keeping of William
Howard Taft.
81 have not journeyed half way
across the continent. therefore. to
apologize for the Republican party. L
have come to tell the truth about the
party and what it has done. And
when 1 get through 1 have a sort of
an idea that certain gentlemen who
have not told the truth will find that
it is up to them to explain why they
i .,-fxr z
the hands of which they are demand
ing to be placed in office, why they
have fired on the flag to which they
pretend allegiance.
Has Kept the Faith.
"And as 1 have no apologies to make
for the Republican party, so 1 have
none to make for myself. as one of
the accredited representatives of that
party. Two years ago the Republi-
cans of the Second district commits
stoned me to speak and vote and act
for them in the national house of
representatives. Tonight I have come
back to report to you that have kept
the faith.
81 challenge any man IT, point out a
single vote 1 have cast that was not in
harmony with Republican principles
as laid down in the national platforms
of our party, and that was not in ac
cord with the program mapped out by
the Republican president and Endorsed
by the overwhelming majority of Re-
publican representatives. Some of my
detractors, for lack of better ammu-
milton, have charged that the reason 1
was not an ''insurgent" was because I
lacked courage to break away from
the house organization.
81 want to say to you that the rea-
son more than half of the insurgents
are in that class is because they
lacked the courage not to break away
from the organization.
1.-THE hostility of Speaker Cannon
would have been an asset and not Ii
ability. 1 knew that year ago as we'll
as 1 know it now. 1 knew a year ago
as we'll as 1 know now that all needed
to do to make sure of the support of
the Kansas City Star and all the other
Democratic and near-Democratic pa
pers that are now supporting my op-
ponent was to join the insurgents to
make faces at old Joe Cannon every
time 1 met him. and to vote with the
Democrats every time such a vote
would embarrass the administration.
No String for Backbone.
THAT was the easy thing TO do.
That is the line I would have followed
if 1 had had a cotton string for a
backbone. Thank God. wasn't built
that wayi 1 may never go back to
TO little old lola standing straight up"
Continuing his speech, Mr.. Scott re-
viewed the campaign that is being
made by his opponent. showing that
the so-called Charges that have been
made against him were either wholly
false or that they amounted to nothing
more than the charge that he had been
a Republican. Discussing the PROPOSE
ton that by accepting the chairman
ship of the committee on agriculture
he had bound himself hand and foot
to Speaker Cannon, he pointed out
many important questions upon which
his vote had been different from Mr.
Cannon's, declaring that the speaker
had never so much as asked him how
he expected to vote on any question
before vote was cast, nor taken him
to task for his vote after it had been
cast.
Explodes Idea of Speakers Dictation.
He exploded the common idea that
the speaker dictates the action of
every committee by showing that his
own committee had repeatedly made
favorable reports upon bills to which
every member knew Mr.. Cannon was
opposed. After speaking of the added
opportunity for services to his con-
stituents which a important chair
manship gave the member, Mr. Scott
said:
Don't you want your representative
TO amount to something? If you don't,
then my opponent does well to ask you
to send him to congress-, because if he
goes there with the impression that no
man can accept the Craftsmanship of a
committee without sacrificing his in
dependence, and if he goes there bear
ing the name Republican, but an
nouncing in advance that he will not
act in harmony with the Republican
majority, then indeed you will have
your ideal representative, a man who
will be just about as useful to your
district as a travelling man would be
to the house he represents if he put in
his time on every trip getting himself
on bad terms with his employers Gus
TONER'S
Referring to the charge that he had
opposed the revisions that have been
made in the rules of the house, Mr..
Scott showed that. on the contrary, he