The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-05-28
G. o p. MACHINE DISRAN-
CHISES THOUSANDS OF vOT-
Frs. DECLARES REPUBLI-
CAN STATE CANDIDATE

trolled Missouri, according TO the
logic of James l.. Minis of St. Louis
candidate for the Republican nomina.
ton for United States Senator, who
spoke here recently before a meeting
of the Missouri League of Republican
Clubs. Mr.. Minis, billed to talk or
"What Republican Missouri Means
painted the horrors of G. o. P. ma.
chine rule in st. Louis in vivid colors
and admitted that the city organiza.
ton was seeking to extend its con.
troll over the entire State.
"A candidate for State office in the
Republican primaries may be the
choice Of a large majority of the vot-
ers," said Mr.. Minis, "but the polit-
ical machine may count up a suffi-
cient number of votes to nominate his
opponent"
Making fiat charges that Nat Gold
stein and John Schmoll, Republican
bosses in st. Louis, and Hank Weeke,
a citizen of Germany, have such a
grip on st. Louis that 100000 good
Republican citizens" have no more
voting power than "if they were so
many Chinese" Minis said political
machines in ST. Louis should follow
the saloon to the scrap heap.
why should Weeke have a repre-
sentative in the National Conven-
! tion ?" asked MINIS in commenting
on the fact that Weeke named his
daughter as district delegate to Chi
cago. "He is not citizen and there
fore cannot have any interest in pub
| lie affairs"
Weeke, it will be remembered, long
held high position under the present
city administration, being removed
during the war only after a wave of
public Indignation threatened to sweep
the Kiel-Schmoll machine from power
because of its favoritism for the Ger
man. Denunciation of Weeke from
the Federal bench by United States
District Judge David p. Dyer, Re-
publican, added fuel to the storm.
Republicans and Democrats here
are commenting on the fact that the
st. Louis Globe Democrat, the larg-
est Republican newspaper west of the
Mississippi and sclf-styled "independ-
ent" in its news columns, did not print
a single line of Mr.. MINIS speech. 1t
lis not known whether the attack on
the st. Louis machine was in any
way responsible for this lapse on the
part of the Globe-DemocIat.
How &. o. p Machine Works
Mr.. Minis said in part:
mo issue in the campaign is more
vital than the restoration of the fran
chise of the Republican and Demo-
cratic voters in the primaries and the
general election. Free government
depends upon its restoration. The suf-
frage of women, as well as the suf-
frage of men, depends upon it. We
do not have to go to the trenches in
Flanders and in France to fight for
Democracy and Liberty; the political
machine denies US both. We will, my
fellow citizens, lose the spiritual eff
feet of the war if we do not eradicate
these political vipers and restore our
franchise"
MINIS devoted most of his speech
to denouncing the city bosses, whose
political domination, he declared, dis
franchises the voters of the State as
well as the people in the cities. Con-
tinuing, he said:
"A candidate for State office in
the Republican primaries may be the
choice of large majority of the vot-
ers in the counties as well as in the
cities, but the political machine may
count up a sufficient number of votes
to nominate his opponent, and thus
disfranchise every Republican in the
State.
what is political machine? Com
mittees of political parties and their
leaders serve a useful and patriotic
purpose when animated by desire to
promote, through their party, the gen.
eral welfare; but when they set up
business for themselves to promote
their individual interests.
We have at least two Republican
machines in st. Louis which have
grown so bold as to claim the right to
boss the party and name it's condi-
dates for office in the State as we'll
as in the city. In speaking of the ma
chimes, do not refer to the members
of the city committee, because be-
lieve if they were not bossed they
would direct their efficiency to the
public good. These machines are
more easily illustrated than described.
"Nat Goldstein, the city clerk of
st. Louis, has on his payroll in sub
ordinate positions number of COM
mitteemen who, as a rule, to hold
their jobs, take orders from him and
Hank Weeke who is allied with him.
Mr.. Weeke lost his office when it was
discovered he was not citizen, but
he retained his interest in the ma
chine. Nat Goldstein at a machine
convention elected himself and Mr..
Weeke's daughter (Mr. Weeke being
ineligible on account of not being a
citizen) delegates from the Eleventh
Congressional District, to the Nation
al Republican Convention to be held
in Chicago in June. There were cast
at the 1916 election 17,434 Republi-
can votes in that district.
"In the Tenth Congressional Dis
trict, John Schmoll, who holds lu-
crative city office, has many commit
teemen on his payroll or on the pay
roll of those with whom he acts. He
is also chairman of the city commit
ZEE, and in addition, the machine cam
didate for sheriff of the city. He
elected himself and Fred Essen, at a
machine convention, delegates to the
Republican national convention. At
.he ltl6 election, 1868 Republican
utes were east in that district