Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1912-02-29

They are Receiving q lettef VIII =
postal card Enclosure on which to
vote their expression as to whether
or not they viii conduct . primary
on presidential preferences when del
egates are elected to the county
|convention. The unfairness comes In
BY asking them 10 vote whether the
frank and file should instruct and
elect the delegates" or whether the
leaders should instruct the rank and
file"
This is essentially q misleading
proposition and decidedly an unfair
one. In the first place. the leaders
do not aud never have instructed
the rank and file of the Republican
party. For forty years Kansas had
convention system and the voters
elected men of Just as high class,
from governor down to county Off
GERS, as they do today with the pri-
mary system. They selected men like
Ingalls,, Plumb. John Martin and
John A. Anderson, Stanley Bailey,
and all the rest OF the big-brained
Republicans who have been elected
to office. Not one OF these was NOM
mated through a primary, but the
voters had their expression Just the
same.
The insurgent assumption that be-
cause a convention is held instead
of a primary the voters generally
have nothing to say about the can
didates or platform, is not creditable
to their understanding OF political
affairs and they surely do not expect
that they will be believed when they
make such statements. Never in the
history of the Republican party OF
Kansas was platform built in a star
chamber session and jammed down
the party's throat so positively as at
the state convention Of 1910.
The circular goes on to ask II the
precinct committeeman will volun-
teer to conduct a primary on presi-
Dental preferences IL the state COM
mittee will furnish the ballots. 1t
is well known that the state COM
mfttee has no funds with which to
furnish ballots. II 1t furnishes $780,
900 worth of ballots for Kansas
as It surely would have to-some-
body would have to put up the money
and that somebody has an axe to
grind II he can get it ground. There
is no law for holding the primary.
1t would be q volunteer act. Any
body can vote. The precinct COM
mitteemen must have judges and
clerks. That will mean an expense
lin Dickinson county alone Of $500
Tor $500.
/ II is a we'll known fact primaries
of this sort and caucuseS, when
there is nothing at stake except to
elect delegates to q convention which
lis to do nothing but elect some more
deIegates, there win be but small
vote cast. A primary conducted for
such a purpose would have probably
mot 20 per cent Of the Republican
vote of the county represented; II
would be in no sense representative
and it would be a farce on the face
of II.
Suppose some of the precinct com
mitteemen hold primary and others
do not? The state committee haa
Ino authority to compel any county
Ito 20 to this expense and trouble
IThe result would be that part of thu
Istate would hold primaries and par
would not. What sort of recon
mendatfon would that be to the dele
gates as to their presidential prefer
ences? A recommendation undo
such condition for either Taft o
Roosevelt would amount to nothfnI
and might result in contested dele
Igation.
Kansas has done pretty well 10
many campaigns In selecting its dele
gates to the national convention b
; the caucus and convention systeT
t and it's Republican voters are quail
fled to do the same again. They hav
{. intelligence enough to select the me
. they want and give the instruction
: Ito them. II the state is as unanimou
r For Roosevelt, as the tnsurgen'
h would have us to believe, they nee
y fear nothing in the convention.
r is by no means certain that Mr.. Roos'
o welt will be candidate. The genera
impression is in the east that he wi
mot. II Kansas goes ahead and b
presidential primary instructs Il
delegates, first, last and all the tim