Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-09-09


One of the reasons advanced by the
faithful followers of the expounder
of New Nationalism for the slight
that 1t not being legal, failed to have
the binding force that the regular
primary election has upon the candi-
dates before it. It was quietly admit
ted beforehand that certain candi-
dates would, II defeated, take their
case to the floor of the state cOnven-
tion. This being true, the primary
was but farce so far as the state
ticket is concerned. Another rea-
son Is the attempt to carry county
ticket on Roosevelt's halo. A great
many ardent admirers of the Bull
Moose believed they understood local
conditions better than Chairman Sny-
der, who is regarded as having fore
ed Chehalis county PrOgressives to
put up a county ticket for the sole
purpose of placing the campaign on
financial footing, by having local
candidates to assess for expenses.
The result of Saturdays primaries
must not be accepted as a test OF
strength of the new movement in
Chehalis county Under normal con-
ditions there are about 5000 repub-
lican voters in the county, more than
One-half OF whom may be termed an
ti-Taft. Hundreds of them will turn
in disgust to Wilson, and it is likely
Roosevelt will receive half the re.
mainder. To be sure, the primaries
were disappointing; they were not
worth the efforts put forth by those
| In, nh <>p h1 mi
and will give the standstill followers
of Taft the laugh on the truly goods
Not So Slow, However
But, the laugh will not all be on
one side. So far in this campaign the
amateurs in lead of the Progressives
have played rings around the old ma
chine, which was confronted by a
condition it has never met up with
before. Heretofore, the manipula-
latiOns of the republican machine In
Chehalis county consisted of frying
the fat out of our tax lodging cor
porations, and spending il in framing
up ticket satisfactory to those who
paid for it, The vote was ready at
hand, and required no serious effort
to have it cast right"
1t is different this year. The ready
vote Is missing, and with the inabili-
ty to insure a delivery of the goods.
the fat frys out reluctantly, hence
the rather dazed management in the
first round with the Bull Moosers
The first shrewd move of the Pro
gressives was their Smoke out" let
ter, for which the Taft leaders hilari-
ously fell, and came back with sim
tn, o11., - ,n1s
ticians. in the real game. would have
ignored that letter. and. recognizing
that the republican party was suffer
ing from a wound would have ad-
ministered soothing lotions. Instead.
the bewildered Taft contingent pre-
scribed salt. vinegar and even vitrol
applied to the injured parts, the very
procedure ardently sought by the
trainers of that 'smoke out" letter,
for the purpose of solidfying their
somewhat loose organization.
The scheme worked like a charm.
| Old time republicans, who were not
satisfied with the present administra.
ton but had not decided to bolt. or
IL they did, had no disposition to
carry the bolt farther than the head
Of the ticket, were driven out of
the fold, with nothing left to do but
sign up with the Bull MoOsers or the
Wilson club. which many of them
did. In this action, the standpatters
risked the sacrifice of the county
ticket, a fact that will be verified at
the primaries tomorrow when many
old time republicans call for dem.
ocratic ballot. and hundreds will not
vote at all, as a rebuke to the self.
constituted bosses who would force
them to vote for Taft against their
conscience or drive them from the
party. This large class will permit
those leaders. and the party, to gel
along without them this year.
The old order Is passing. and the
old boys are hardly to be blamed fol
their inexperience in the art of polit
ical concilliation. They never had II
to do before. and are scarcely able
to comprehend it's necessity now.