The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-01-31
THE MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN.
prepared by Henry Gable for the
Press Club

| "The Campaign Municipal is thu
subject assigned to me by our worth!
president, and not satisfied with Civ
ing me such hard nut to crack, he
went on and suggested that | tell, the
Press Club how to run a municipal
campaign without losing patronage
and making your fellow townsmen
''sore." AS the editor of a paper
which drew a $4,000 damage suit
out of one municipal campaign the
task ought to be easy--that is, il
there is anything in the theory that
we learn by experience in cases where
We refuse to profit by the experience
of others.
And before taking another plunge
in deep water, | want to say right
here at the start that to take an az
tive part in a municipal campaign
with a newspaper, without stirring
up the i'll will of some individuals
within the community, and very
likely members of the business ele-
ment and patrons, is an utter in-
possibility. That your motives will
be given the basest possible constru =
ton by some people, that you will
meet with strenuous opposition and
perhaps have contumely heaped upon
your head, is foregone conclusion,
and among the first things you should
take into consideration when you
decide to make your newspaper an
active instrument in the municipal
campaign.
After years of practice to the con-
trary, I have made up my mind that
the newspaper men should approach
the municipal campaign in much the
same manner as would the dry goods
merchants, the grocer, or any other
business man, and safeguard his own
business as much as possible against
undue loss, as we'll as discharging
his duty as a citizen. He should APP
proach the campaign with two de-
finite purposes in mind, and the first
is, to do his full duty as a citizen ac-
"ording to the dictates of his own
conscience, setting forth his honest
views and advocating what he be-
lieves to be for the best interests of
the municipality.
A newspaper being an institution
of a semi-public nature your readers
will expect as a matter of course that
you take a part in the municipal
campaign, and discuss policies and
candidates from some viewpoint. And
thus we come to the second consider
alton with which the publisher is
confronted: How can I get fair re-
cOmpense for my services in the
campaign, without the loss of my
self respect or the respect and con-
Gdence of my fellows? And that
problem is a sticker.
The newspaper man should primar-
lily be a good citizen, even more so
than the average man, because of
his training and his wonderful OPP
portunity of observing the ways of
the world He should be on the side
of social and municipal advancement,
as he sees it, but as we do not all
see these things alike, we should
respect the other fellow in his de-
Tense of his views, and credit him
with being honest in his opinions,
unless we have positive proof to the
contrary. AS citizen, you should
strive to promote civic welfare in the
larger sense, to make your town a
better place wor you and your fam
lily to live in. Encourage cheerful
surroundings, healthful amusements
and clean social enterprises.
We in Idaho can see big future
for our communities score or
more of cities are in the making, and
the moulding is in our hands! And
in the making of these cities. many
complex problems must be solved.
The handling of public utilities, the
granting of franchises, necessary pub
lie improvements, the social evil the
liquor question, and a hundred other
problems confront that are worthy of
our best thought, for after all, our
greatest happiness is promoted by
our immediate surroundings With
clean and we'll governed cities thru
out the country, we need have no fear
Of the purity of the state and nation
Al governments, as graft and corrup-
ion would not flourish in ground
work of cleanliness. My idea of the
theory of American government is
hat the governing power should
,ome up from the people, and with