The bee., 1911-08-18

voter which prevailed, as one party ma
chine is as Objectionable when In
power as the other. Party bosses
lobbyists and corruptionists are all oi
kind.
Urges Remedy To Deprive Machine Of
Power.
II then It be true that Kentucky Ia
yet machine-ridden In the party that
claims to be the dominant party here
what iB the remedy? Surely not to set
up another machine-ridden party
That might be swapping the devil for
witch. But I maintain Il is to 80
regulate government as that neither
party can, II II attempts to, prevail by
a machine. In the past the effort has
been--and such was the advice OF Sen.
ator Blackburn only six weeks ago-to
smash the machine. That is very good
as far as II goes. But there is nothing
yet to prevent another machines being
Immediately got together, which would
be no better than its predecessor. Ny
idea Is, to make the operations OF the
machine more difficult, and to deprive
Il Of the dangerous power under the
law II now uses and abuses. To do
this, first, / urge the Statewide, man
datory primary election law, held at
the public expense, In which all can
didates must be nominated at the same
public officials, not party appointees.
Let anybody become candidate who
can muster enough support to repre-
sent 1000 voters on his petition (for a
State office); let the printing Of bal
lots, as we'll as circulation Of literature
setting forth each candidates propos-
ais and counteT-proposals be by public
authority, the candidates, bearing only
actual cost of printing and postage.
Prohibit campaign funds of larger size
than to defray such expenses and the
candidates travelling bills and adver-
tising. Prohibit the gathering Of those
big funds that are so necessary and de-
lectable to the committee" Thus
your machine would be shorn of its
power for evil, and there would be no
more machines calling for smash
ings." This, you will recall, Is one OF
the planks Of our platform, and one
In the platform on which / went before
the people and because of II In part
was selected by them.
A machine can not run without
greasing. That is true Of political as
well as other machines. The lubricant
of the political machine is campaign
fund" That Is the committees
power In final analysis. AS II Is most
frequently operated against the people,
II has no chance of getting Its funds
from that source. Special interests, or
party appointees In Office, are then the
sources of the supply. Take up the lat
ter first. In Kentucky we have not
civil service protection for the appoint
i've officials. They are at the mercy OF
their superiors In office. The body hav-
ing the most places at Its disposal fs
the Prison Commission. It is now
elected by the Legislature in Joint ses-
sion. II must get its votes there.
Hence that Commission concerns itself
mainly with seeing that its friends are
elected to the Legislature In order to
elect its friends II must have the
means. local committees and campaign
fund. These are supplied partly by
the appointees, the prison guards. who
are not only assessed" numerically,
but must see to 1t that local commit
tees are right" The Prison Commis-
sion having such intimate relations
with the Legislature. by reciprocity
are also sought by other "1n-
terests" as Representatives" before
that body or It's committees. Whether
the Commissioners receive personal
pay, or contributions to the cam
paign fund.-" is all one to the public.
The system fosters the machine Idea.
and In fact has been 80 employed In
The penal institutions or
the State are thereby made into po-
litical asset and managed accordingly.
/ propose to make these boards bi-
partisan--one party acting as kind
Of check to the political manipulations
Of the other, and preventing assess
ment Of appcintees. hoping to abolish
that feature entirely; then let them be
appointed by the Governor. They
would no longer have either the power
or the incentive to meddie in electing
Legislatures or tampering
with that body after It's election. My
proposal Is to take that Commission
out of politics, by making 1t non-polit-
Ical as far as possible, and removing
both the opportunity and means for
It's becoming a professional lobby at
the Capital That Is one way to
smash machine" by Withholding Its
lubricant. You will find a plank to
that effect In our platform.
Special Interests Need Attention.
Special interests have been much dis
cussed of late We are learning more
and more about their ends and ways.
They are of the tribe who would reap
where they have not sown; who want
special inmunities or favors which
their competitors do not share. They
are essentially monopolists, In that
they want to enjoy conditions from
which others are excluded. This they
can do in this country only In one OF
two ways - either have legislation
favorable to them, or have the laws
executed partially in their behalf. The
former is much preferred by them.
therefore they are most active about
The halls Of legislation everywhere
In Kentucky, New York, Ohio. West
Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado,
California, and at Washington. Those
plying in Kentucky are such as either
want kind of monopoly In buying
from us, or in selling to US, or In ex-
plotting resources found here. The