Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1916-06-10
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
THIS is WHAT
WE ME ANT.

While a good many people seemed
to miss entirely the point the editor
was trying to make in his discussion
of state political affairs in the last
issue, We are still very well satisfied
for it is the first real evidence that
has come under our observation that
the male population of this community
and the county even go to the trouble
of reading what We write. With
this evidence at hand the editor feels
very much encouraged for it will be
no trouble for him to make his posi-
tion clear.
The thing we were trying to drive
home In the minds of our readers
was that through the lethargy OF the
people in political matters the state
house is becoming filled with lot
of men who find it more remunera-
tive and darn sight easier to hold
down job in the state house than
to go back to their homes and again
take up the activities they laid aside
to serve the people of the state in
an official capacity. And too, they
must be active in politics il they
are to retain themselves in office,
and, naturally, this condition Is re-
sponsible for building up machine
of state house employees that has
become so strong that men and
women who would run for state Of
fices must prove satisfactory to the
attaches of the various departments
of our state government or they
stand but mighty little chance of
ever getting their names upon the
general election ballot. Through the
prestige that aeerues to the position
of state land commissioner George A.
Day has welded more influence in
Republican politics during the past
half dozen years than any other man
in the state. Subordinates in his and
other departments of state govern
ment furnish the lieutenants and
henchmen which go to make up the
machine. This Is the condition we
are opposed to and always will be
opposed to until it is entirely obliter-
ated, and we do not think it ever will
be entirely overcome and done away
entirely overcome and done away
with until the people of the state
are aroused to the vital need of their
active interest in state politics.
Some have gotten the idea that we
are opposed to men holding office for
long terms, but in that they are as
far wrong as 1t is possible for them
to be. The position we take is this:
Employees in the subordinate positions
of the state should be retained so
long as their duties are performed
honestly and efficiently. They should
not be subject to the within OF every
incoming administration, but rather,
should be made to feel secure in
their position SO long as their duties
are performed honestly and efficiently
And then, as the only other require
ment, they should be prohibited
from entering actively into politics
under penalty of immediate dismis-
sal from the service of the state.
Then there are others who read
in our editorial the statement that
no good men get into state office.
We had no intention of making such
a statement and if anything in our
editorial of last week could be so
construed, We will now say that 1t
was wrong. Certainly good men get
into state office, but good men who
go to the state house to fill elective
positions, inspired only by the sacred
duty they owe to the people of the
state, who perform their official duties
conscientiously according to the best
of their ability, do not find their
positions to be sinecures. They find
a great deal to do and a great re-
sponsibility to assume, and usually
they are glad when their term of of
flee ends so hiatt they can go back
home and again take up the duties
and labors they left when the office
bug hit them. They are not of the
class that hang around the state
house, like lot of hungry calves
hang around the barb wire fence that
enclose nice green pasture, wait
ing for a chance to break in and
flee ends so that they can go back
state. They are real men, strong
men and they are not afraid of
starving to death as soon as their
state warrants are no longer forth
coming.
In nutshell we are against the
system in force at the present time
and we believe the greatest blame
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