, 1911-01-26
LEGISLATIVE WORKINGS
Senator Clark Reelected to National Senate bv .M.;,.;u .
Tweive--Di direct Primary Bills Are Holding Center
OF Interest at This Time

Senator Clark was elected Tuesday noon oro so,aro.
majority Of IL in the Senate and 2 in the House. On the Joint h.I
lot yesterday he received a majority of II If the eleventh oeneral
assembly does not do another thing while in session thew haueaiuaa
the people enough IN u" NJ act for sending them down there to set
in legislative body. The "Ipcubus from Col,rsdou ord ,hoaaI
amny bowling newspapers didn't force them to vote against the states
best interest The Wyoming delegation to the National Congress
is 1.-THE strongest o any state In the Union. With New Yorks con.
gesGonal delegation( we don't know Just how MANY. somewbare in to
neghborhood of 4O)they don't get the recognition in Conoress os
does Hon. Frank W. Mond-l, Wyomings one representative. With
Senator Clark safely in his seat for another term Senator War,a, 81
ready there and Congressman Mondel reelected last fall, we set no
reason why Wyoming is not the most solid stat. in the Union in the
National BODY. Senator CLARK stands sb,nIIar 30 w. Inon " '"F
man in that great body and SO does Senator Warren
The direct primary bills before the legislative BODY ire a nuzzle
and We very much doubt II the trainers of either bill will be able to
vote intelligenty on either measure when it comes to the finish. We
must confess that 1t puzzles us, o as much Of it as We have tiled to
digest. We can see no good i'll the bills except the form on nomin
atoms which carry a fee at the time of filing, and which would go de.
fer the election expenses. The matter of not allowing a newspaper
the right to sell advertising space to a candidate to defeat a n onnos.
ing candidate or for any purpose seems like denying the right of free
speech. We would term it class legislation. It is the same pro
oihon as densing a grocer the right to sell a candidate for Office a
sack of -four We have a right TO free speech and we have a right
to sell our advertising space, the same a merchant has the right to sell
mis- stock, as advertising is our stock in trade. We are allowed to
print anything that will pass the inspection of the post office author
tiles. That one clause in the Sage bill would undoubtedly invalidate
There is only one summary to either bill that we see over the
presents law governing elections and that is this fact. that the wealthy
man has the right of way a little more over the poorer candidate. In
fact the bill looks like an open charter for the wealthy candidate. 1t
is one cinch that the people aren't gaining a singl. thing by the pas
sage of the measures. The political expense account Limitation is a
fraud and can be lodged in a dozen different ways. There has been
no idea advanced az yet to cope with the matter of using money to
elect a candidate. There is no improvement on the present system
in either bill except the nomination fee in the Sage bill. While
they are giving the electlous into the hand of the wealthy, prohibiting
free speech and putting a ban o advertising they might make it a
crime for the government to sell stamped envelopes, competing with
the local printer. They might also provide for the locking up of
all candidates and their supporters until after the election. We
may not be doing these bill justice but cannot think of any stronger
language just at this time. Better leave the present system alone
until they can fnd some good excuse for changing it At least I'M
il 1t can be- changed for the better the worse.
We are in favor of the Headless Ballot for we think it is a good
move in the right direction and if they will not be too anxiovs about
the direct primary law and would take it slowly, that in the course of
time they could work out a great many laws like the headess ballot
aud in a time have a more effective election law in this state han all
the direct primary laws combined.