The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-09-20
The Mark in the Circle, Does 1t
Mean Anything2
is THERE PROTECTION IN LAW?
Martin Pays Re-
spects to Chairman DOIIey.
Regarding Custom of Levying
Campaign Assessments.

Th6 question OF the states OD1gat' o n
to the voter mas been raised in the
present political troubles in Kansas
and will probably be advanced with
good deal of feeling if William Al
len White withdraws the Roosevelt
electors and Stubbs, Capper and the
other Progressives stay on the Repu5-
lican state ticket. When a man marks
an X in the circle at the head of the
Republican column, the law says he
has voted a straight Republican tick
ct Now, if all the candidates on the
ticket are not tried and trusted Re
publicans, doesn't the state owe some
protection to the voter? Answer l.
your own way.
That is just one of the peculiar
things about :he Kansas election laws.
For several months the lawyers have
been pointing out holes and weak
spots in the law that the Kansas Vot-
er never knew existed. The primary
election law that was displayed 20
the voters with pride and joy has 81
m ost become a wreck in the hands of
skilful constitutional lawyers. And
now there is more trouble ahead
perhaps.
The election law provides that the
party casting the greatest vote in the
preceding election shall have the first
column on the ballot in the next ger
eral election That point in itself is
an advantage. In addition to this
gain, is the prestige of the predomi-
nant partys strength. which in ordl-
nary campaigns is almost equivalent
to an election in Kansas. On this basis
the Regular Republicans contend that
the Roosevelt forces took advantage d
the Republican strength in Kansas.
won the primaries and captured tins
first column on the ballot and the
claim to the votes of the predominant
party.
And again. there is another section
of the election law that is more or
less troublesome. The law says thae
any voter, choosing to vote a straight
party ticket may do so by making a
mark in the circle at the head of the
party column. And in effect, does
that same law not imply the assur-
ance to the voter that he VIII vote lor
only men of the party faith who
find a place on the ticket? May
hap it does not2 But the Regu-
lar Republicans are claiming it does
and will use it as a lever TO move % %Lle
Progressives from the ticket. either
l,v law or by moral argument-as the
Roosevelt electors were removed.
Then further with the Republican
ticket holding first column in the NO
vember election, If only one mar
wanted to vote a straight Republican
ticket and for men who stood for tfe
narty nominee for president and wee
president would he not have morai
right and an implied legal right 10
re1y on the protection of the law tFa!
onIv such men could find place on
his ticket? Would the mere tact tn1t
q majority of people who voted in the
nrirnaries had selected men who did
not believe in this mans party prih-
cinles. deprive him Of the right q
vote for all men Of his party faith
from president to township constable
It is certainly a strange l5osnn e.SIi'
II NAV be just the strange manner n
which apparently good laws are sorHe-
zines warped But among go q
many hundreds Of voters it IS a real.
I1ip vital situation and the election
lave and manipulation of election ma
cbinerxr is rec9iving enough abuse t.
offse+ all the kind words said in nS
behalf in former campaigns
Henderson Martin. chairman of the
Democratic state committee, today
0sved Chairman Dolley of the Repuoll-
can committee because of the methods
adopted in levying campaign assess
nents Every person drawing pay
check from the state was assessed two
and one-half per cent of their year 5
earnings, Martin says, to pay Tor the
carooaign being made to elect Stubbs,
Capper and the men on the Republican
state ticket This two and one-half
no. cent assessment-if collected-will
raise more than S35. 900 with which %
make the fight in Kansas. This fact
has called forth the wrath OF the
Democratic chairman and he says
some unlind things about Dolley's as
sessment plan
Mr.. DolIey in his eulogy of the Bull
Moose candidates" sarcastically re-
marked Martin, said that Kansas is
an example for other states. should
say that this is an example-an ex-
ample for both gods and men.
II wonder in what particular the
Of Kansas is n eXamnlp 2'' |
queries Martin. rs it in the matter of
taxes and extravag gance2 He may not |
have had these things in his mind /
when he spoke 1 presume he meant /
the methods adopted by him and his /
Bull Moose colleagues in raising money /
for campaign purposes. Assessing pub |
lie employees has been outlawed by 1
the federal government and by most /
Of the state governments, but in Kan
the old game. Mr.. DoIley has notified |
the state employees that they must
come across The assessment is two
and one-half per cent of their an
nual salary. The poorest girl in the
state house must pay her SIS or $50
into the Bull Moose exchequer, whether
it leaves her enough money to buy coal
for herself and her mother or not"
One Girl Cried.
Il know of one girl employee who
cried when she received notice of her
but she knows what will
happen if she fails to pay. A lot of
old colored men who work all day
cleaning spittoons and scrubbing floors. |
men who live in shacks and eat hard
tack, must pay their assessment for
the benefit of a couple of mfIlionaires,
one of them Mr.. Stubbs, a candidate
FOR United states senator. the other i
m paO,o