The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-07-25
THE FRIGHT WAY.

i
In New Jersey and in Michigan the
Republican insurgents, who are fol-
lowers of Theodore Roosevelt, have
decided to break away entirely from
the old Republican party. They are
going to put state tickets of their own
in the field. They are going to name
Independent sets of presidential cleo
tors favorable to their champion.
They are going to send something
that savors of regular delegations to
the convention of Mr.. Roosevelt's new
party. The present indications are
that their brethren in Illinois, New
York and many other states will do
likewise. And these insurgents are
entitled to the admiration of all men
for their courage and their honesty
of purpose. They assuredly have a
right to affiliate with any political
movement they please, or to assist to
the best of their endeavors in the
promotion of a new political party
which may come nearer representing
| their political ideals.
And this is the action that should
have been taken by the Republican in
surgents in Kansas. Instead, they
have become political brigands and
are now attempting to annex bodily
the Republican organization in this
state to the new Roosevelt party.
Some of the more supplemented
among them are actually insisting
that the decision of the supreme
court the other day IN the Roosevelt
electors case is no less than an en-
dorsement of the stand they have
taken. A child reading that decision
would be able to understand that it
means nothing of the sort. The court
in no way passed on the merits of the
dispute between the Roosevelt and
Taft supporters in this state. It
stated concisely and clearly that the
matter was in no sense a legal one.
In other words, there is no law in
Kansas that in any way touches the
contingency in the premises. For this
reason the supreme court dismissed
the proceedings. The effect of this
decision undoubtedly is that the can
didateS for presidential electors who
have so unrighteously determined to
vote in the electoral college, if they
get there, for Theodore Roosevelt
while they will run on the regular
Republican ticket headed by Taft and
Sherman, will have a place on the
primary ballots in the Republican col
umn. But in no sense is the decision
of the supreme court which will per-
NIT this an endorsement of the stand
that these proposed electors have TAX
en-. That is purely a political ques-
ton concerning the right of which
there is no Kansas law to determine,
or so the supreme court held. And
that is all the decision of the su-
preme court amounted to.
These electors may have a legal
right to the places on the primary
ballots which they will occupy, be-
cause there doesn't happen to be a
Kansas law to cover this case, but
there is nothing of moral righteous
ness to their stand. It is untenabIe
according to the simplest ethics of
political fair dealing. 1t is reason
able that there should be contests at
the Kansas primaries for the places
of electors on the Republican ballot
in this state this fall But to turn
such a contest into one that will de-
for in the electoral college among
the presidential candidates, who OBJ
tain standing before that body, is
standing with honest-minded men.
Nor is it likely that it ever would
have been conceived were it not for
the fact that some of the Roosevelt
leaders in Kansas have long been can
didates for higher political prefer
ment. They recognize the power of
the prestige of the regular Republi-
can party in Kansas. They know that
their ambitions would be hopelessly
blighted if they could not campaign
and run for office as Republicans.
Were they fighting for the principles
of the new Roosevelt party and not
for their own political advancement,
they would be doing today just as
their confreres in New Jersey, Michi-
gan and other states are doing. They
would organize an honest branch of
the new party in Kansas. That is
the only right way for the Roosevelt
supporters in Kansas or any other
state to proceed.