The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-22
east hope expressed for Billiards sue

least hope expressed for Billiards. sue
cess.
When the Topeka man announced
that he was in the fight for the Demo-
cratic nomination for governor. he
gave the country publishers the oppor-
tunlty OF the year TO express few
public opinions. Then when Billiard
declared that the state was for resub
mission. fully 30 per cent of the rural
scribes intimated Billiard did not know
the war was over. In the editorial
columns the situation is viewed from
a dozen angles.
A few papers gave the reactionary
faction of the Republican party credit
for Billiards. candidacy on the theory
that it would cripple the minority for
years to come. Many other publica-
tions said the Topeka man was the
tool of the breweries and drew word
pictures of fabulous slush fund in
Kansas next year. Probably a half
dozen of the sages pointed to the fact
that Mayor Billiards. candidacy is no
joke, that resu omission is a sure
enough issue and that Kansas should
prepare to fight and not waste time in
premature hilarity.
Out in the short grass district the
weekly napers were especially active
in discussing Billiards. candidacy. Early
reports from the rural districts stated
that BILLIARDS. support would be in the
big towns. Yet the surprising feature
in the attitude of the press is the fact
that the western Kansas papers said
more kind words about Billiards. en-
trance in the fight than did the papers
in the eastern half of the state
The Billiard campaign was discussed
not alone in the Democratic press, but
occupied space in almost every publi-
cation of standing in the state. One
of the surprising features is the fact
that Billiards. party papers were the
most bitter in their denunCiation of
the issue at this time.
Following the discussion of the To-
gret Of the apparent resubmission vic
tory in Maine. The fight in Maine and
BILLIARDS. announcement arrived almost
simultaneously and for the first time
in twenty years gave Kansas people
a definite line on the attitude of the
state press toward prohibition. Many
of the papers were free to question the
manner in which the law is enforced
in the state, but preferred the abuses
of the law rather than its removal
from the statute books.
The State Journal has received the
following letter which it is unable to
answer as there is no information on
the subject available:
To the Editor of the State Journal.
I am a regular subscriber to your
valued paper, as well as to the To-
peka Daily Capital. 1 have learned
principally through the columns of the
Capital. that the owner of that paper.
Mr.. Arthur Capper, is seeking nomina-
tion for governor by the Republican
party
1 have been a Republican all my
life, and have always voted that ticket,
and expect to do so in the future. but
in reading the Topeka Capital, l have
been at a loss to know whether Mr.
Capper's paper is really for our Re
publican president, William H. Taft
or for the prospective Democratic can
didate Mr.. woodrow Wilson.
Were it not for the fact that Mr..
Capper. personally claims to be a Re-
publican, and is seeking tho greatest
Office in the gift of the Republican
party in the state, I would be COM
PEELED to conclude, from the editorials
appearing n the columns of the Capital,
that his paper is for the Democratic
aspirant.
Kindly oblige myself and many other
Republicans, by informing US, if possi-
BILE. whether Mr.. Capper and his pa
per is for William H. Taft. or for
Woodrow Wilson, for president?
A REPUBLICAN,.