The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-08-04
Chapter Five

Precinct politics is an important
matter because under a representa-
tive form Of government like ours
the precinct affords the individual
voter the opportunity to express hi
choice and his character and thus
help to make up the choice an(
character of the larger divisions o.
the body polite. 1t is the closes
point of contact between the votel
and the great working body or part!
that secures results.
The voter in a given party does
two things at the primary election
next month. He votes to nominate
the candidates, and he votes or oughI
to vote to elect the precinct commit
teeman to represent his party in the
county central committee, when the,
do the things for which the party Is
to be responsible. Very few people
realize the Importance Of electing 9
precinct committeeman who will voice
their principles in the party manage
ment. They overlook that altogether
and the half dozen who do vote on
1t elect that important official, II
they happen to be good thouohtf'l
people they elect a worthy represen-
tative. If they belong to some Other
class they are likely to elect some
body who will do as they wish tC
have things done. Another thing
that adds to the difficulty of the sit
uation is that there Is no caucus o.
the voters in advance Of the primary
and nobody in particular is agreed
upon as being acceptable and various
names may be written in on the spul
of the moment, and perhaps none Of
them care to act. The voters of the
precinct ought to give attention tt
that matter in advance, and since II
is nobody's business, 1t Is left to any
body in each party, who becomes
active in the matter. If it is left
until the last week, 1t is no likely
that an intelligent preparation will
be made.
Under the old convention system
with all its evils, the party itself fell
responsibility when candidates were
elected. II those officials did moi
turn out we'll. it was a repr0ach upor
the party. If the county committee
men saw that an official was doing
something that was likely to bring
reproach upon the party they would
forestall it if possible by putting il
up to him to do his full duty or gel
out. In this county no such activity
has been apparent for many years
and the party in power has suffered
disgrace and a patient public has
shown much charity. Some in
stances are fresh in the minds of the
people to illustrate this point. A
state treasurer was suspected OF
manipulating some furniture deals
when fitting up the new state house.
but the party leaders did not ferret
it out and act in time to save loss
and disgrace. The same state treas
urer was accused of manipulating
loans thru the land board, and altho
it was discussed openly and thru the
public press, the party leaders did
not take action and keep him from
being a candidate again. They shirk-
ed their duty and it cost the party
it's governor. 1t was not until the
treasurer was known to have robbed
tu6 TREASURY VI 90G,UUU LIdI IIlO
party leaders came from under cover
and took any action repudiating the
man who was untrue to his trust.
In Bingham county in the last
campaign, party leaders had an OPP
%portunity to request a man to get
off the ticket who had already dis
graced the party in power, and they
made excuses for the situation and
shirked the task. The result was that
the people, patient to a marked de-
gree, rose to the occasion and cut
that candidate out of the column at
the polls, and returned him to pri-
vate life and prevented him from fill
ing a position for which he was in
every sense radically unfit. The
party was rebuked, by the action but
it may not have learned anything
by it. 1t seemingly did not, for
when the county clerk was known by
party leaders to be dishonoring him
self and his party, no action was
taken to save him from himself and
to save the party from him. The
party leadership remained silent un-
til matters came to the worst, and a
public scandal resulted, with all its
influences. Other matters