The labor world., 1922-06-17
LA7EELECTI0NS
RAISE HOPES OF
LIBERAL VOTERS
By0okhart in Iowa Is Like La
Toilette in wisconsin.

Tho real significance OF the Bev-
eriGgc- Piuchot- Brookhart elections
ut recent primaries has not even yet
dawned upon the minds of our
trained politicians who are accus-
toned to but mock battles between
"regular' candidates seeking only
personal glorification, and who, aft
CT the smoke clears away, bury the
hatchct for partisan reasons. Their
minds are incapable of comprehend
ing the present situation.'
In such manner j. a. H. Hopkins,
executive chairman of the Commit
tee OF 4S commented on the recent
primary election contests in Indiana,
PENNSYLVANIA and Iowa. He express
es qualification over the results, not
so much in the character of the can
djdatcs nominated, but in the man.
ner of protest registered by Repub-
lican voters.
Old Guard Rules.
''The startling results of these
elections" continues Mr.. Hopkins,
simply mean that the voters are
realizing their power The old party
machines have for generations,
through a minority bureaucratic
control, have named their own can
didatcs and robbed the voters Of their
constitutional rights.
AS in the days Of the Roman en-
pire and of Louis XVI in France, our
governmental affairs have been adj
nlinistered by small political CO.
tcrie dominated by the still smaller
, financial group whose interests II
serves. Cynically Indifferent to pub
lie sentiment, frankly S"ornful of
the apathy Of the voters, they have
ridden rough shod to their own de-
struction and the day of reckoning
is at hand.
Assert Their Rights.
'It is a hopeful and encoura ging
moment. yet with all moment that
is flaught with danger, when the
majority Of the electorate who have
for years been swindled, deceived
and robbed. realize their power and
rise en- masse to assert their rights.
Hopeful and encouraging, because
it,, means that the individual citizen
has awakened to the sense of his
responsibility; dangerous because
without proper leadership and di-
rection the rising tide may become
an irresistible torrent.
*Mr. Beveridge and Mr.: Pinchot
: failed to realize the significance Of
the vote which carried them into
} power when they visualized it as a
, demand for the rejuvination of the
l Republican party and an endorse.
ment of the Harding administration
1t is safe to say that Mr.. Brookhart
5 will make no such announcement.
: Harding Repudiated.
: The enormous vote which they
= received was, on the contrary, re
. pudiation not only of the Harding
L administration, but of the entire ex
+. listing regime. It was a notice II
2 both the DemOcratic and Republical
t parties that a new day is dawning
l and that even in rock ribbed Indiana
and Pennsylvania the party ma
chimes and the fetch Of party 10y
f atty have lost their power.
1T has been we'll said that Brook
hart in Iowa. like the La Follett.
: forces in Wisconsin, is not a Re
y publican at all except in name. It il
t safe to say that the result of tn,
North Dakota primary on June %
< Notwithstanding the factiOnal differ
I ences in that state, will reflect th
} same demand for political real
: ignment.
= All the voters need is standar(
. and a standard bearer with the cour
8 age to lead them into action, and i
is quite reasonable to expect that tn
: tickets nominated and backed b,
:. the Committee Of 48 in Nebraska
S Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota
Idaho, and Wisconsin, will registe
: the same results in November AM
: pave the way for the new part
i movement. Their rallying cry
n Equal opportunity for all-specia
r privilege for none,' is ringing ou
d like clarion call from every stat
t in the union.
f From the business office, from
e the farm and from the industria
center alike comes demand t,
t place human rights before propert,
n rights, and the ranks of the po!itica
: army which in 1922 and 124 will
= sweep the dead wood and rubt:sl
s from our legislative halls are filling
up fast" 1t:g+5.s .5 d. ,lr..ys... ~ H., 4