The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-08-25
VALUE AND DUTIES OF
PRECINCT Committeeman
How the Republican Party Went Wrong. How
1t Staid Wrong. Who Kept 1t so and How
1t can be Brought Back.
DAYS TO GET STARTED RIGHT

Inc people OIL bluSudm Coulty
have ten days left from the date of
this publication till they will be, en-
titled to go to the polls and attend
to the most important duty of self
government that will be left to them
in his campaign and for two more
years. We refer to the matter of
selecting the men to act as precinct
committeeman and who also act as
members of the county central COM
mittee. The central committee con-
stitutes the working body Of the po-
litical party, and is the supervisor of
the acts and policies of its members
and especially the members of the
party who are holding office.
If public servants are going wrong.
the party to which they belong owes
At to the people and the party and to
the erring individual to bring pres
sure to bear upon him to discard the
wrong and adopt the right. If a
mistaken policy is being followed
that is likely to bring bad results,
it is the duty of the party organiza-
ton to meet in council on the sub
ject and attempt to set matters right,
If public money or public property is
being mis-used or mis-spent, it is the
duty of the organization to call the
offenders to account and demand that
the wrongs be righted. If this is
refused the party organization can
bring pressure to bear to enforce
their demands, and finally, If neces-
sary, invoke the strong arm of the
courts to protect the public against
a wrong,
In Bingham county the Repub1i.
can party has been in power for a
number of administrations, and cor
ruption in office has been carried sc
far that there has been not only nc
restraining influence brought to beal
but corrupt practices have actually
been protected by the organization
or by it's leaders and officers, and nc
protest has been made by the pre-
cinct committeeman. Thus the whole
organization has been either actively
protecting the wrong or by their ST.
lence the members have endorsed it
The party organization consisting OF
20 men in the 20 precincts and its
chairman and secretary for the year
1914, went along in silence with full
knowledge before them that the
county business was being conducted
in a shameful and dishonest manner
The Republican voters made no eff
fort to elect others in their places al
the primaries in September and they
have in most instances held over
Two years have passed and occasions
have arisen when the committee
should have been called together tt
take action on matters that were q
disgrace to the party, and the chair.
man of the central committee was
as passive as a tabby cat, even when
goaded by the newspaper which by
it's activity and aggressive campaign
in 1914 became the recognized
spokesman of the Republican party
in the county, he, ignored the grave
situation confronting the party an(
declined to take any action. If hi
had even called the committee to-
gether and r%epudiated the official Of
the eX-official who was openly dis
grazing the party it would have Sc
the seal of disapproval on such con
duct. On n occasion this paper
called attention to the holding o:
county property by an official whose
term had expired, and stated that hi
should have turned it over to the
county when his term of office eX
pired and he had not done it, althC
seven months had elapsed. So glar
ing was his attitude that he rushed
into public print and acknowledged