The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-06-13
THE capitals BLUNDER.

days issue OF the DeS MONIES Cdpl-
tai that it abandons Taft and. sup
ports Cummins for president is so
as founding as to be incredible. The
Hawk-Eye refuses to believe that
Senator Young has authorized such
an unwise and unwarranted deser-
ton of the president and his friends,
and the friends of Senator Young
who stood loyalty by him in the re-
cent senatorial fight. Surely, the
latter were entitled at least to con-
ference before a step of such i'm
portance to the republican party in
Iowa was taken.
Senator Young is in Chicago and
in personal letter received from
him yesterday he gave no intimation
of leaving Taft and going to Cum
Minis; on the contrary, he expresses
the hope that Taft will win. OBJ
viously, the men in charge of the
Capital have taken the occasion to
voice their own views rather than
his.
The attitude of hhe Capital in this
respect is untenable and absurd.
There is no possible justification for
abandoning President Taft, who has
been warm friend of Senator
Young and desired his election to the
senate. The president felt with re-
gretful keenness the detection Olsen
ator Kenyon, but he relied with con-
|fidence upon Senator Young as an
answering friend whose loyalty
could not be shaken under any cir
cumstances.
The reasons the Capital assigns
are fallacious. There is no founda-
ton for it's statement that "1owa
wants Senator Albert B. Cummins
nominated for president at the com
ing Chicago election" For while it
is quite true there is strong Oppo-
sition to President Taft in Iowa
whether so per cent of the republi-
can voters is conjectural and un-
demonstrate now-it is also true
that large per cent of that oppo-
sition favors Roosevelt. Any intel
ligent man with his eyes and ears
open knows that. Anybody can
easily demonstrate it by going
among his neighbors and inquiring
or by keeping tab on the first fifty or
one hundred men he meets on the
streets. This is true of Burlington,
it is true of Des Moines, it is true of
almost any section of the state.
And the Capital is wild in it's state
men that "The overwhelming victory
of Senator w. S. Kenyon at the polls
Monday can be considered in no
other way than an unqualified and
ringing endorsement of Senator
Cummins and a vote of approval for
him and his candidacy" The pri-
mary had nothing to do with the
Cummins candidacy for president.
1t was a personal contest between
two men, both of whom received
some support from both factions.
There were mixed motives influence
, ing that portion of the republican
voters who went to the polls. Ken
yon received thousands of votes cast
by men with diversified preferences
for president OF those opposed to
Taft it is safe to say a majority pre-
i fer Roosevelt to Cummins.
AS stated by The Hawk-Eye on the
| day following the election, Senator
! Kenyon owes his success in the prl-
mary to superior organization. The
Cummins machine, like Well-drilled
troops responded promptly and ef-
! fectively to the call. They got out
the Kenyon votes. Young had no
such organization and failed to get
out the voters friendly to him. The
stay-at-home vote was large. That
fact, also, is easily tested in almost
any neighborhood.
! What we have said in this con-
nection is not in derogation of Sen
ator Cummins. There are thous-
ands of his former followers who
supported him for governor and SEN
ator who at this time are either for
Taft or Roosevelt. Such men are to
he found all over the state. This also
is a matter of common observation.
When, therefore, the Capital at
tempts to justify it's desertion of Taft
upon the assumption that Iowa is
for Cummins for president" it re-
veals state of mind singularly dis
qualified to rightly judge political
conditions in 1owa.-Burlington
Hawk-Eye.