The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-17
That August % Gathering of
Republican Leaders.
Building Platform May Be Like
Another Tower of Babel.
TAFT OR ROOSEVELT, WHICH?
One or the Other Candidate
Must Be Endorsed.
Then the State Tickets Safety
Must Be Considered.

There will be many embarrassing
and complicated situations for the
Republican party council to overcome
when it meets in Topeka Tuesday, Au-
gust 81. 1t must repudiate the stand
of the Kansas Republicans in the pri-
maries of August and cling to the
old principles of the party. Or, it
must abandon the national policies
of the Republican party, as written in
the Chicago convention, and go before
the people with a so-called Republic
can ticket and a stamp of approval on
every word in third party platform
and encouragement for third party
candidates. Or it must endorse Roose-
welt Republican nominees.
This situation is not causing sea-
son of rest and Thanksgiving among
the politicians. They are worried and
admit it. Neither the Progressives
nor the Regulars have announced
their plan of procedure in the party
council But both sides admit that it
is almost impossible for the two rad
zeal factions of the Republican party
in Kansas to agree@on a. policy that
will materially aid in a Republican
victory in November.
In the first place the Republicans
of both factions are anxious to know II
Congressman Jackson intends to carry
out his recent threat. Jackson will sit
platform and Jackson will have
voice in the proceedings. Recently
Jackson declared that he would urge
the placing of the names of Roosevelt
and Johnson at the head of the Re
publican ticket in Kansas. Will he do
it?
Suppose Mr.. Jackson should carry
out this threat, would the party coun-
Gil endorse Roosevelt and Johnson in
their resolutions? If so, what would
be said about Taft and sherman
How would Stubs and Jackson and
White and Allen, who endorsed TAFT
and Sherman four years ago and sa1o
nice things about their candidacy, eX-
plain their failure>to mention this year
the men who executed the policies
they stood for in 1908?
And again, will the platform adopt
ed bv the Republican convention in
Chicago in June be adopted by the
Kansas Republicans? Or. will the
Kansas Republicans incorporate the
new hopes to be found in the PLATFORM
of the Progressive party
Suppose the party council smiles raw
orabIy on the Progressive platform and
suppose it endorses Roosevelt and
Johnson and votes to forget all about
Taft and Sherman and the troubles of
the national committee in Chicago last
June? Which national committeeman
from Kansas, will then be given a seat |
in the council? Will the council reverse |
itself and give a place in the meeting |
to Fred z. Stanley, who from all out |
ward appearances is the Republican
national committeeman from this state;
or will the council consistently follow |
its progressive tendencies and give the |
scat to William Allen White, Republi- |
car and national committeeman for the !
Progressive party? And again, viii |
William Allen White, who has followed |
the progressive teachings in his every
day life, appear at the convention and
assist in drafting the resolutions
whether he is or is not allotted place
in the council? White wrote the reso-
lutions for the party council in 1870
Then, again, what will the RepubIi-
can regulars do and say if the Pro-
gressive theories are injected in the
Kansas platform? Will the regulars,
who have cried long and loud for a
chance to vote for Taft and Sherman
in the November election, quietly swal
low the medicine? Or will these same
regulars walk meekIy but resoIutely out
of the convention and bolt every Pro-
gressive on the state ticket? And if
this feeling of Taft-Sherman loyalty
extends to the $1,000 or $1,000 Repub-
licans who voted for Curtis in the state
wide primaries, will either the Taft
Republicans or The Roosevelt electors
sweep the state next fall? Win the
regulars obediently walk to the polls
and vote for Roosevelt-who was once
nominated by a Republican convention
the job and vote for Wilson?
These are few of the real conditions |
that are staring the leaders in Kansas
politics squarely in the face.
To yield to the Regulars and to re- |
move the Roosevelt electors from the |
Republican column in November |
would be for the Progressives to deny |
their argument in the recent primaries /
when they convinced a majority of the /
who voted in the pri-
maries that the Taft nomination was
stolen? And to leave the Roosevelt |
electors on the Republican ticket I'M
der the Republican emblem, would
the Taft Republicans vote for these
candidates?
So, there you are. 1t is entirely up
to the men who sit in the party coun-
ell to decide these matters 1t will
likely be no small task and there will
be some spicy remarks from the lead
ers in the two factions. The council
will be expected to find a nice
straight and narrow path that will
promote harmony and insure success
in the November election and add |
strength to the party organization in
the state. To accomplish this pur-
pose, what course will the council |
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