Semi-weekly herald., 1913-11-20
THE IMPEACHMENT OF
kENEHAN.

IL was lneVlLdDle tnaL tne lnexcuS-
able course pursued by State Auditor
kenehan could not escape public CEN
sure. Business men of Pueblo, the
Boulder Commercial association and
the Boulder county grange are among
the first of the organizations that
deprecate the conduct of any Off
cial who obstructs him (the governor)
in the exercise of his authority" The
Boulder Commercial association fur
ther pledges the executive its hearty
support morally and financially in
any action necessary to protect the
honor and safety Of the state" Audi
tor Kenehan, from his Seattle re-
treat, cannot misunderstood the plain
meaning of this expression, which can
be said to be the voice of every bus
mess organization and good citizen
of the state.
The merits of,the strike issues have
nothing at all to do with Kenehan's
defiance of established authority and
his clearly deliberate effort to en-
barrass the state administration.
Whether the strikers or the operators
are right or wrong is immaterial in
the position he has assumed. That
position is directly and exclusively
concerned with the maintenance Of
law and order, the safeguarding OF
property and the protection and de-
fence of human life. In seeking thru
an arrogant display of presumed pow
-er to thwart this purpose of the state
kenehan has ranged himself in a
class by himself. He does not repre-
sent the miners, for they have not
protested the presence of the militia
in the southern fields. He is cer-
tainly out of joint with every ele-
ment in the state that sincerely seeks
a settlement of the trouble. He is
not in harmony as far as is known
with any member of the state admin
istration.
The only interest the state auditor
appears to represent is his own-a
notoriously selfish ambition for fu-
ture political advancement. He may
enjoy temporarily reflected glory
among the extremists at Seattle who
want to supplant the trades unionism
of the American Federation of Labor
with the new syndicalism that is Or
ly another name for the crudities and
violences of advanced socialism. 1t
may tickle his abnormal vanity to
know that he was wantonly assailed
the honor and credit of the state of
which he happens to be an official
through an accident of politics. But
it cannot be quite so pleasing to him
to be assured that in his ill-advised
action he gains no confidence or re-
| spect of either side to the contro-
versy.
The supreme court in promptly as
suming original jurisdiction of the
cause and issuing an alternative writ
of mandamus against Kenehan recog-
nized the tremendous gravity of the
issues involved. 1t has been long
time since a matter of such great
public Importance has been present
ed to the court of last resort. At
torney General Farrar realizes that
too, for he tells the court that by rea-
son of Kenehan's conduct "the integ-
rity and sovereignty of the state is
imperled and impaired, the military
forces demoralized and anarchy is
substituted for the orderly execution
of the laws"
In itself this is an impeachment of
SERIOUS proportion. An official who
imperils and impairs the integrity
and sovereignty of this state, as
charged by the governor and the at
+, torney general, surely lacks some of
f! the essential requirements demanded
in the proper conduct of high pub
lie office. II State Auditor Kenehan
can CLEAN any measure Of satisfact-
ion from this castigation he must be
very easy to please.--Denver News.