The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-22
POLITICAL. GOSSIP
Kansas Roosevelt HeadquaT-
ters Are Finally Opened.
Insurgents Admit There Are
Some Taft StrOnghOldS.
FIRST AND THIRD DISTRICTS
Say That They Will COncen-
trate Fight There.
VIM. Allen White Slated for
National Committeeman.

Governor Stubs use the telephone
and the telegraph to good advantage
| the first three days of this week. Near
ly one hundred insurgent leaders from
the eight congressional districts came
to Topeka Thursday to organize the
state wide Roosevelt club. At the
meeting they cut the speeches short
and paid close attention to reports
from the counties.
Roosevelt headquarters in the Mills
building were formally opened this
! morning with r. A. Harris of Ottawa
in charge. Mr.. Harris is secretary of
| the Roosevelt bureau and will be the
| office man, as Henry Allen, the presi>
dent, will be out over the state max
| ing speeches most of the time. Mr..
I Allen left last night for his home in
! Wichita. He will return Tuesday and
| spend the week in headquarters, leav-
! ing next Friday to make a speech at
Atchison.
With a primary in the Eighth dis
trict and a primary assured in most
of the counties of the Second district
and the Fourth and Fifth districts, the
Roosevelt organization will concen-
| trate its attack on the First and Third
districts. Anthony and Campbell are
the two Taft congressman. Their dis
tricts will be the battle ground in the
fight of the next six weeks before the
the insurgents may overlook a few
Taft strongholds.
Reports made before the club meet
ing were to the effect that Shawnee
Leavenworth and Montgomery coun-
ties were the Taft strongholds in the
state. The first two are in the First
district. Montgomery is in the Third.
The state convention will be held in
Montgomery.
There is no doubt that if the Roose-
Welt men gain control of the Kansas
delegation that William Allen White
the EmpOria editor, will be elected ma
tional committe eman from Kansas in
place of Dave Mulvane. Mr.. White
stated when the Roosevelt club wanted
to endorse him for the place that he
would get in the fight at the state con-
vention. He did not want the club to
endorse him. He wanted the club to
stick to the Roosevelt proposition and
cut all side issues.
That state convention at Independ-
ence next May ought to be worth the
price of admission. 1t has been a long
time since StubbS and the prOgreSSiVeS
have clashed under the same roof with
Dave MulVane, Morton Albaugh ct al
Not since the old boss buster days ana
the legislative session of 1861 The
regulars will have Ex-Governor Bailey
j. W. Davis of Kiowa, Charles F. Scott
of lola, ex-senator Lamb and Senator
Price for orators and debaters, and
they will have Albaugh and Mulvane
for managers. The progressives will
have Henry Allen, A. NJ. Keene, G. W.
Buchanan for orators and J. N. Dolley
and Senator Quincy and others for
managers. The fight will be under
Marquis QueenSbury rules, three minute
rounds, hitting in the clinches allowed.
The timekeeper will lose his life if lie
calls the contest before the finish.
Governor StuhbS is a SuoceSSf11I roIi-
tician, but unlike DArtagnan, ne does
not have the faculty of picking his enc
mics. He could use John Dawson and
Robert Stone, both fine debaters and
good speakers, at the independence
convention. But, alas, the governor
and these, his former good friends, are
at outs. There is no use to fix the
blame. The fact of the quarrel remains
the same. Stone, who is a progressive
from temperament and inclination
would be a tower of strength in the
fight for Shawnee county. And Daw-
son, also a progressive by inheritan e
from a long line of Scot ancestors
from the time of Williams Wallace down
to now, would like nothing better thar |
to set the woods afire for a progress
SiVe candidate.
Dawson and Stone might follow the |
example of Henry Allen and work for |
Roosevelt. Allen and Stubs had a diff |
ference of opinion in the Second dis |
trict congressional fight several yea, $ |
ago and have been good enemies for |
years. The governor worked for Chas |
Scott then against Allen. Now Allen |
is in sympathy with the governors pro- |
gressive faith, while Scott is fighting |
the governor tooth and nail in state |
and national affairs.
1t is possible that the Roosevelt |
crowd will offer Stubs, Dolley, Alle,1 |
and White for the Big Four to the In |
dependence convention. A contractor |
farmer and two editors. Never q |
lawyer in the quartette. This would |
break presidents. Mulvane, Curtis /
Tulley and Denton may oppose the |
Roosevelt four. Two lawyers, d banker |
and a business man.