Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-24
Pee;ticA ;~
Pe~~eqGso~io
BY the Ex-Committeeman

Not a move has been made as yet
in the matter of choosing a new
Democratic state chairman to sue
ceed Mclean. The Palmer McCor-
mick wing of the party is bent on
keeping control of the organization
and Candidate Bonniwell is just as
determined to have as chairman this
fall a man who will (be really favor
| able to his candidacy. Bonniwell un-
questionably believes that If Palmer
and his friends remain bosses of the
party machine they will spend most
of their effort the coming fall on
| the election of Democratic Congress-
men and permit the head of the
ticket to be beaten. 1t is no secret
that the Palmer crowd
feel that to save thei rown skins it
would be better to permit Bonniwell
to be overwhelmingly beaten. The
Philadelphia Press ommenting edi-
torially on the situation says: The
recently elected chairman of the
Democratic state committee has gone
to Washington-where all deserving
Democrats now go for the purpose
to take a job in the Department of
Justice. This leaves a committee
vacancy over which the Bonniwell
Democrats and the Palmer Demo-
Gratis and perhaps other Democrats.
have fallen into another controversy.
We presume it helps to fill in time,
but what good is any kind of DEM
ocratic chairman going to do this
year in Pennsylvania? The only real
thing there is to fight over is the
campaign fund which will be con-
tributed by the federal offlceholders,
but even that would not be con-
tributed if an anti-Palmer chairman
could be elected"
Frank S. Magill, candidate on
the Republican ticket in Franklin
county for the Legislature, isn't
worrying about politics these hot
days. With Mrs. Magill. who is a
daughter of Thomas M. Nelson,
president of Chambersburg Trust
Company and for many years
widely-known bridge builder. he has
gone to Camp Keoka, near Naples,
Maine, for the summer.
&C. w. Black, assistant postmas-
ter of Mercer, and who recently was
appointed post office inspector, has
received word from the post Office |
official to report at Kansas City, Mo. |
He will look over territory COM |
prising Kansas, Nebraska. Missouri |
and Oklahoma.
The Scranton Republican, com
menting on the marked failure of |
voters in Pennsylvania to exercise |
their franchise, has this to say of a
similar situation in Massa achusets:
Indifference of a great many cit
izens to the Importance of having all |
qualified voters participate in cleo |
tions has moved the Massachusetts, |
constitutional convention to consid- |
er the advisability of making voting |
Many delegates are said |
to favor such a change but later in
dications are that the movement will |
fail.
"The wisdom of compelling men
to vote whether they desire to do |
so or not is seriously questioned by
many close students of big public !
questions. 1t will be applying Kaiser
ism to American methods and insti-
tutions, they assert, and throughout
the country they will find a large
and influential element in agreement
with them.
"Unquestionably all communities
have suffered from the fact that
many good citizens have neglected to
exercise the voting privilege, because
of the belief that it would not inn
prove conditions or alter results for
the better.
Were the best elements of all
communities to go to the polls both
at primaries and regular elections
the result would be the nomination
of a higher type of men for the
various public offices. 1t would also
result in the defeat or a greater
number of candidates who do not
measure up to proper public stand
ards.