The Coconino sun., 1920-08-06
DEMOCRATIC OPINION
 OF THE TUCSON APPEAR

"I do solemnly swear that will
 support the constitution of the
 United States and the constitu-
 tion and laws of the state of Ari-
 Zona; that 1 will true faith and all
 legiance bear to the same, and de-
 fend them against all enemies
 whatsoever, and that will faith
 fully and impartially discharge
 the duties of the office of--
 according to the best of my abil-
 ity, so help me God."-FoEm of
 official oath of the state of Ari-
 zona, civil code.
 Candidates for office who before election pledge any group of the cleo torate that they will be given "the best of it" and who later take an oath to administer the law impartially, will have foresworn themselves. When they give such pledge, they promise that they will lie when they take such an oath. They declare, in effect, that they consider an "oath of office" to be mere form and they declare their in- tention to take it with the mental res ervation that they will give those who help them to get into office, "the best of it." And, if the oath of office is not a pagan lip-service, they declare their intention to blaspheme God when they take an oath to administer the law impartially "so help me God"
 A more nauseating scene was never enacted in a free country than that which was staged in Tucson. Such bartering of favoritism for political preferment is not new, unhappily, hut it has been reserved heretofore for back-room seclusion, with the shades drawn and lookouts posted. The meet ing at Tucson was not convention of people," nor was it spontaneous coming together of men seeking the public good. The public, something apart, merely looked on-ard heard. It was a meeting of representatives of special groups, frankly seeking spe- cial privilege. It was not political convention, in fact, politics, in the sense of the applicability of that word to the general veal, was disavowed. It is frankly an auction promising to Knock down" the political support of the special groups interested and rep resented, to the candidate who would forswear himself, blaspheme God, and administer the laws in the interest of a few. Yet it can not have escaped notice that in this meeting, domin- iscent of days in Arizona-before the war-when the stench of carrion rose from the political flesh pots of state administration. 'Non-Partisan' though it claimed to be, the convention was unmistakably inspired by that element which at one time dominated the dem- ocratic party in Arizona and which now seeks to regain that domination by pledging candidates to give them "the best of it" in the administration of the laws.
 Such endorsements as were knock ed down" to the highest bidder, have not been effective in the past. The solidarity" of support for which the political bootlickers bid, is fiction of the imagination of the politicians and the auctioneer is selling something which he does not himself own. Both are cheaters, and the public (which can not be arbitrarily divided accord ingly as one works with saw or a pen) knows it, but each fatuously be- lieves he is fooling the other. Even those professional dissensionists who can still refer to American labor as "the toilers" without smiling and whose jaundiced eye sees only bond age in employment, however volun- tary or remunerative, have no stom- ach for the groveling, bootlicking, hand-kissing bidders. To quote one such: "You ought to know that some of them will swear against their own mother in order to get what they want" He urges the enactment of a law which would make candidates who promise to give them "the best of it," stay bought. It is a novel idea and casual consideration commends it to us only there are not jails enough. Having in mind the bidders at the Elysian Grove auction, this innovation urges that now that the contract has