The Alaska citizen., 1916-06-26
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.
Phone 262 Phone
ROTTEN POLITICS.

Politics at its best is something 10 be summed, but when one in trIgue after another is resoIted to for the purpose of electng some our man or set of men, il is high time that the common herd of voters sit up and take notice so as not to be fooled too badly when election day IoIl- around
 Some people sacrifice themselves, and ontimes their business, to ao- cept office for the purpose of SC curing good government, and when that sacrifice is not forthcoming some professional politician offers himself on the altar. When a foot hold Is once gained the professional politician will run the government as he chooses. and when he does that he is not seeking to legislat" in the interest oI the people. The people" ale his stepping stone To the goal to whi h he aspires and after il is reached the people" can 90 10 hades so far as he is con cerned
 The Republican convention which was held at Seward a couple of months ago vas only one phase of rotten politics" II was dominated by one boss, and in his desire to te up the territory in case of a victory this fall he held out the tempting bail of Republican noai- nation Tor delegate to congress to Jim Wickersuam with so many strings to il that he would have delivered himself entirely into the boss hands and discounted his chances for election about one hun dred per cent.
 Wickersham Was not born in th" woods 10 be scared ty the boot of an owl and could not see the point of giving up the substance for the shadow just to be recognized by the leaders of the Republican party in Alaska He would not fall for their work and treated them with the silence they were entitled to. He has been able to get enough votes every two years to return him to congress without the endorsement of the C 0 r.. and he could not plainly see just why he should take on an extra lot of baggage at this stage of the game.
 The Seward convention after be ing unable to get an expression from Wickersham, adjourned with out nominating a candidate for cor gross. but appointed a committee of four to make the nomination al their sweet will. This they have failed 10 do to date, but if the signs are right they will perform the duties for which they were ap- pointed just as soon as the divi- sional conventions are held.
 The writing on the wall shows that at these divisional conventions Wickersham is to be nominated for the position he now holds, and the committee of four from the Seward convention will indorse the nomina- tion This will be done without the consent of Wickersham and will nation and run independently as heretofore. or consent to the weight Shac ckleford will add to his race,
 Since the boss of the Seward con vention could not hog-tie the dele gate and control all territorial ap- pointments the next best thing for him was to defeat the Democratic candidate for attorney general, and in order to do that it would be necessary to elect the Republican nominee for the same office, and that could only be done by tacking him onto the Wickersham kite. in the hope that Wick would pull him through.
 The billet of attorney general of the territory is very important one and if some boss could handle the newly elected in the many con- troversies which will necessarily arise at the capital during the next two years he could feather his nest tC good advantage. IL is known to a certainty that George B. Grigs- by, the Democratic nominee for the position is unapproachable, there fore the Republican boss is com pelled to elect a man of his own choosing, and he hopes to do this by tacking him onto the Wicker sham chariot.
 Will Wickersham accept the nomi ation at the hands of the Republi cans? If he does he is a defeated man. It is his independence that has won out for him every time and should he forsake that saml independence at this time it will surely act against him. He now draws from all parties, and has the support of the non-partisans but should he accept the Republican nomination it will show every ons