Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-12
Editorial Comment
Better Way.
portland Press.

portland Press)
The Portland PRESS asks whether a
| deadlocked Legislature would be better
than Burleigh or an Obadiah Gardner
| senator. We have tried to make plain
that deadlock would be better than he
trayal of the public verdict as expressed
at the ballot The sole issue, after all.
I is whether the primary shall be Tepud-
/ lated by Mr., Burlegh or whether Pro-
gressiVes shall pay heed To the lnstruc-
| tons of the three-quartcrs of Names $
/ legislative districts that supported
| Roosevelt and in no event can calmly
/ accept rs United States senator candl-
4 date the man who hoited the ticket and
! voted for Taft. After all II comes to
/ this--did the voters in June vote for a
/ Taft L. :. senator Ihe& answered TINS
/ question on Nov Subdivision journal
The Journal is fond of quoting scrip
ture. Here then is offered for its
consideration the Lords answer to
Job out of the whirlwind who is this
that darkeneth counsel by words
without knowledge? Grid up now thy
loins like a man: for l will demand of
thee and answer thou me- The sole
issue" touching the senatorial election
is indeed whether the primary shall
be repudiated, but not as qualified by
the Journal. 1t trifies with the facts
Repudiated by whom? Not by Mr.
Burleigh. as the Journal asserts. So
far from repudiating. he stands by and
for the primary, and calls upon all
honorable men To do the same. Repu-
dated by whom then? By some of the
legislators who participated in it, Were
nominated by it and elected because of
it, and by the rule of honor are obi
gated to give it effect; some who
misled by unsaund advice, are thought
to be wavering and in doubt as To
their duty. The Journal says "a dead
lock would be better than betrayal of
the public verdict as expressed at the
polls" But the verdict on the sena-
torial case was given in June and was
in favor of Mr. Burleigh. The Jour
nal twists the facts and seeks to make
out that the senatorship was in issue
in November. Nothing could be farth
er from the truth. That issue was set
tied in June and clinched in Septem
ter. The November issue was tee-to-
tally different. It was the issue of the
presidency, and ii makes no difference
how many legislative districts sup
ported Roosevelt. The people We're not
voting by legislative districts then as
they We're in September, nor were they
giving instructions by legislative dis
All that had been passed upon two
months before. They were voting by
the district of the whole State of
Maine and were instructing nobody
but the presidential electors.
Still twisting the truth, the Journal
gives it another twist by characteriz-
ing MIR. Burleigh as the man who
bolted the ticket and voted for Taft
Presumably he did vote for Taft, but
that does not make him a bolter. and
he is none. Bolted what ticket? The.
Progressive ticket is meant of course,
but Mr. Burleigh was not nominated
en- that ticket, and never professed to
belong to that party. How then can
he be called a bolter? He cannot, ex-
eept by those who are careless in their
use of speech And then we come to
the final twist by this most versatile
of twisters, in the form of a question:
Did the voters in June vote for a
Taft u. S. senator?" They did not,
nor did they vote for n Roosevelt sem
ator or a La Toilette senator. They
or the Republican part of them voted
for a Republican senator. Mr.. Bur
leigh is now as he was in June, a reg
ular Republican. The presidential
nomination had not then been made.
The Republican party later renominat-
ed President Taft and adopted a plat
form, and Mr.. Rureigh properly
stood by the ticket and platform.
The sole betrayal involved is
the betrayal of the primary. To repu-
diate plain putty and deadlock the
Legislature would be the worst of
ways. The better way will be to keep
faith and carry out the peoples will as
expressed in the primary Let the
journal and its friends be warned lest
they infiict a fatal blow on the pri-
mary system.