The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-19
Governor Hodges Told of SIS
sues" i'm Church Speech.
Played Arthur Capper and
Praised w. R. Stubs.
SAYS ISSUE NOT POLITICAL ONE
Expresses Contempt for Cap
per's '.SOre Thumb"
Believes New Law Will Remove
Party Lines.

For the first time since his inau-
guration as the states chief executive,
Governor Hodges this week talked
plain simple Kansas politics in
speech before the brotherhood of the
Euclid Avenue Methodist church. The
fact that Hodges talked politics and
the further fact that the speech was
delivered in a church, made the meet
ing an important one and every seat
and almost every foot OF standing
space were occupied.
Governor Hodges took advantage OF
the opportunity to indirectly flay Ar
thur Capper, his opponent in the re-
cent gubernatorial contest Capper
name was never mentioned, but 1t is
doubtful If anyone in attendance at
the meeting failed to grasp the full
significance of the governors remarks
when he expressed his sincere con-
tempt for the man who displayed his
sore thumb after political defeat. Con-
trasting this action, the Democratic
governor found opportunity to pay his
kindly respects to Walter Roscoe
Stubs, who was beaten for the United
States senatorial toga, but came back
smiling and fighting and with no Wis
ible scars from his recent defeat.
Elected on Moral Issue.
1t was In his speech on Citizen
ship" that Hodges made his political
address. Not only did Hodges review
the actions of Stubs and Capper since
the November election, but declared
that his own election was not due to
political strife, but was the result of a
moral issue that confronted, the voters
who went to the polls. Under ordinary
conditions, he declared, he should
have been beaten $1,000 votes. He
won by 20 votes. The election, though,
was only an evidence that party bonds
were regarded more lightly than ever
before, the governor declared. With
the Massachusetts, ballot law in opera
ton, the governor believes there will
be a further tendency to wipe away
party lines.
In his speech, the governor said in
part:
"The party platforms and party
pledges were never held so lightly as
now. That is evidenced by the last
state election. The Roosevelt-Taft vote
was 81, 500 more than the Wilson vote.
That was a three-cornered. fight. BY
all the ethics of politics. the Democrats
should not have won in Kansas. On
one side was an immensely wealthy
man backed by a wonderful line of
newspapers and periodicals. If politics
had cut any figure, he would have won
by 1,500. AS it was, he was defeated.
That shows that mere politics does
not guide the people of Kansas in
their choice of officials
Stubs and Capper.
1.-The good citizens is an aggressive
fighter. He is willing to give and take,
and il he goes down in defeat and
comes back smiling, he is recognized
q potential. That is one of the spIend-
i'd characteristics of Stubs. We may
not believe as he does, nor agree with
him politically, but you always know
where to find Stubs. He had a defin-
lite point in view and he fought for
that point. There was no wavering or
lettering in his political alignment,
and while ingloriously defeated, he is
one of the men who will come back
because he has courage. And he is not
continually exhibiting his scars to the
public or asking for sympathy for his
defeat. When he comes back he un-
doubtedly will have the strong lineup
of Democracy fighting him.
"On the contrary, how pitiful 1t Is
when We see another man who was de-
feated upon the state ticket, who can
not reconcile himself to his defeat and
who continually nurses his sore
thumb holding it daily before the
gaze of the people of Kansas People
are concerned in their own affairs.
They care nothing for the grief or de-
feat of another man, and so the man
who is defeated and who is constantly
uncovering his political black eye to
the public, has small chance to receive
sympathy from any except the very