The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-03
Summing Up of the Situation
Brings Only Uncertainty.
Primary Only Two Days Away,
but Betting Is Light.
ALL THE PROPHETS At SEA
Local Fights and Whites Slate
Hurt PrOgressiVeS.
What Part Will Billiard Play in
the Primary?

With the Kansas primaries only two
days away, there is hurried summing
up of the political situation in every
section Of the state and many things
have suddenly entered into the fight
that indicates the factiona1 leaders
had overplayed their hand. Perhaps
one of the strongest rebukes in the
campaign is coming to the Roosevelt
headquarters because of the William
Allen White hand picked" list of can
didates. This trouble, backed by fac
tional and local conditions in almost
every county in the state, has added to
the uncertainty of the situation in both
parties and among all factions.
In almost every section of the state,
where White has named candidate
for state or district office and branded
him as a tried and true progressive,
the brand has caused trouble. 1t has
divided sentiment, driven the opposi-
ton away from the progressive slate
and engendered a feeling that will not
develop the harmony movement in the
state. On the other hand, Whites list
has brought the progressives closer to-
gether and today there is scarce a Re-
publican in Kansas who has not re-
ceived list of the hand picked can
didates.
Over in the Second dis%$3ct. friends
of John H. Crider and E. A Enright
threatened to withdraw their support
from Stubbs, Capper, Akers and other
supporters of the Bull Moose" move
ment when White endorsed J. L
Brady for congress and left Crider ard
Enrtght, both progreSsiveS-Off the
list. Then White haStened to relieve
the troubled situation by endorsing al!
of the candidates.
Finley Would Not Stand for 1t.
Out in the Seventh district Judge
gress by White. wrote the Emporia
publisher and asked that his name be
taken off the list. He told White that
he was progressive, yet still Repub-
1ican, and that he would support Taft.
Now the anti-BuIl Moose forces IN the
Seventh are centering their support on
Judge Finley's candidacy.
The Case of Griffin.
That wasn't the only place the
hand picked list caused trouble White
general and John S. Dawson's friends
are up in arms. Their feelings were
intensified last night when they
learned that White had written w. =.
Montgomery a letter in which he at
tackled Dawson's record and branded
the attorney general as the prince of
straddlers.'
Again White endorsed Judge w. ].
Stuart as a tried and trusted friend Of
the third party movement. Possibly
White had received inside infOrma-
ton" When pressed for statement
in numerous newspaper interviews
define his position on the presidential
situation and merely declared Il am for
Stuart for congress. One day recently
Stuart visited Topeka. While here he
confided to a friend that the Bill White
endorsement was not a substantial
boost to his candidacy in the district
But the hand picked slate is not the
only thing that Is shaping the course
of Tuesdays primary. There is the
presidential and senatorial fight. the
Il. sr,T
theory that the Democrats will this
year stay close to their own troubles
In fact there is alarm in the First dis
trict that a good many Republicans
may volunteer a hand the Demo-
era tic fight next Tuesday in order n
help Mayor Billiard of Topeka in his
governor fight. Added to this fresh
sorrow is the embarrassment of a score
OF local fights that 7ave not been set
tied.
One of the fondest hopes of the
prOgressives is in the belief that the
reform wave in Kansas will carry the
Roosevelt electoral candidates and all
state and congressional candidates
through the battle. They also bank
on the Stubbs strength as shown IN
former campaigns and their homes
center on the theory that the Roose-
velt-Stubbs popularity is sufficient to
win the primaries. Then, too. the
progressives are hopeful that Capper
formers on the bright and shining
shores of success. Confident of +his
organized strength, they have figured
the returns in advance by wards
counties and precincts
State Tax Lew.
But there are other matters TO consida-
In the last few days half dozen kansas
dailies have raised their voices to higb
Heaven in denouncing the state tax IeI,y
that was unfortunately made public a
week before the primaries.
Then, the local fights cannot he o,,o-
looked in the final accounting Eysr,-
district seems to have one. Some towns
wanted favor1te son appointed as super
intendent OF ventilation in the state
house and ohers wanted a million doIIsr
state institution, thought they would oct
it, and failed. All these things add -
the gaity and uncertainty of the general
battle. al
But the troubles are not alone ~, a.
shoulders of the progressives To tbe
ears of Curtis and ANTHONY has corna ~ =
unpleasant news that many of their very
best friends-perhapS some of Stubbs' s1d
Suart's friends, too-will vote In A.
Democratic primaries. These voters re
men who are not the ardent advocates
of the Kansas prohibitory law ana ~ .
present method of its enforcement trhn' ene
will go into the Democratic primaries /.
is claimed. and contribute their noite' -
the Billiard cause.
In Topeka alone several hundred former
Republicans are expected to aid Billiard
A rumor comes from Leavenworth county
the home of Anthony-that some t.
mates of the Soldiers home threaten ro
Jump to Billiard but this report is rot
verified. In other large towns and coun-
ties similar conditions are said to exist
to the alarm of almost everyone except
the Topeka mayor.
And as for the Democrats they have
enough trouble of their own this year to
keep the entire party organization busy.
Tbev present three-cornered guber-