The Columbus weekly courier., 1920-10-08

elions with i. o. Bursum: no nl-
tempt 10 dlaprovo he fact that lhe
state coavcnuon VIVA overuhc|m-
lnHly fer Larralolo or that he was
dciealcd in desperation" and rob-
bed of the nomination hccnusa ne
Was pledged 20 make mo Chino and
other. pay their taxes
Instead. these pupcrs are anerlly
donounclns the New Mexican Tor "a
personal grudge" against Judge
Mecheuh
II l. necessary 10 repeat that the
New Mexican ia not resorllnF 70
personalities IN this campalan. We
s'arlei Cui by stating that Mr.. blo-
chcm Ia pleasant lll1lo fellow; per-
sonally be has many friends. nis Of
flcial record and his polilicai afflll-
alions arc something separate and
distinct They are public properly.
they unfit him for the office of eov-
crnor and Il Is due The public that II
be kept entirely familiar with them.
Only by dccelvine the voters as 10
these disqualificalions could his
hackers hope 10 get him into office.
A number of untrue statements
have been published 10 the effect
that Judge Mechem sent the editor
Or publisher of the New Mexican 10
inil and forced Il 70 pay a heavy hhel
penalty. As the public "a aware.
these slatemenls are quito false.
Il may be well to set the record
straight here and now. Later We
shall 80 into further details. The
fact is that the New Mexican con-
victed Judge Mechcm Of seeking 10
abuse the powcr OF hfs office for
political rcprisals. II became ncces-
sary for The state supreme court 10
tebuke Judge Mechem for his H.
leEal and unconstitutional attempt
10 establish a precedent whereby no
newspaper in New Mexico could ex-
pose the records Of political bosses
und their puppets lie was held IN
all over the United States In the
press as a Judge who tried 20 misuse
his office as a result Of his political
enianglcmenls. The New Mexican
and The press Of New Mexico won
complete victory and Judge Mechem
injured his official reputation. MAI
urally the loser in this little cnenge-
ment Is the one who might be- ex-
pecled 10 have the grudge. whether
Judge Mechcm j. sim sore We are
hot informed Fully realizing Judrr
hechem's political obligations We
nave never questioned his LOYALTY In
ms political friends although W.
have never admired his discretion
While We sympathiEe with him In
lis unfortunate predicament We
could hardly help beng Eratified M
the opportunity 10 demOnstraie ~
publicly and convincinely the meth
ods OF Mr.. II. o. Bursum and his
group and al the chance 10 score so
complete a victory over the man
who attempted 10 stop the mouths
state. W"
We believe that all friends Of
Judge Mechem viii coneedo thai he
y not The kind of man io hold n
grudge against Certainly he was
NOT officially such an imposing fie-
ure IN his late Judicial difficulties
~ 70 arouse lmpoleni resentment Al
The Majesty Of TIE Law. The whole
episode was entirely entertaining
ana would have been pure onera
houife save for the serious issues
underlying u. II now becomes Of
deep Interest 10 the voters. moi an
account Of any part the New Mex-
lean took In the incident but as
throwing the spotlight on The polit-
iral character of the candidate for
the highest office IN the state
The "grudge" has always been ON
lhe other foot II was 10 gratifv a
grudge" that Mr.. Mechem lrIed 10 !
put The New Mexican out OF bust |
ness; an effort which. IN success !
inl, would have put every other !
newspaper In the stale out Of buei-
ness 50 far as telling the facts abou, |
candidates. aud public men Is con-
nerned