The Alaska daily empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1912-1926, 1926-08-28
SECOND AMERICAN WOMAN SWIMS
ENGLISH CHANNEL; FEAT AT NIGHT
SEN. JOHNSON IS ISSUE
IN CALIFORNIA VOTING:
PRIMARIES ON TUESDAY

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 2S. - Cali
forna's primary campaign has taken
on a new interest, due to the en-
trance into it of Mr.. McAdoo. His
wish to control in his own interest
Caifornias 2S delegates in the Demo-
cratic National Convention of 1929,
while not declared, has been made
evident by activities plainly calculat-
ed to that end. The McAdoo cam.
paign is hinged upon the candidacy
of one Elliott for the Democratic
Senatorial nomination. 1t is opposed
by Isadore DOckweller. representing
the presidential ambitions of Gov
ernor Smith of New York
The contest as between Elliott and
Dockweller is of small significance,
excepting as above indicated, since
the election of a Democrat from
California to the Senate in November
is a possibility so remote as to be
wholly negligible
But the main interest in the com
ing primary is the effort of Senator
Hiram Johnson to re-establish his
hold on the California State Govern
ment, and to so readiust the political
geography of the state as to make
practicable his own reelection to
the Senate in 1928. For the guber-
Material nomination johnson has put
forward Lieutenant Governor Young.
his personal friend and devoted po-
litical follower. For the Senatorial
nomination, to succeed Shortridge,
he has put into the primary cam
paign Judge Clarke, whose main
qualification is his Identification with
the southern part of the state.
Hopes to Elect Governor
Johnson's hopes are centered upon
tho governorship, and the contest
between his nominee, Young, and
the incumbent, Richardson, is the
high point in a campaign that is
profoundly stirring California.
1t was through the governorship
that Johnson built up the personal
machine that made him, in a polit-
zeal sense, the master of California,
finally landing him in the United
States Senate And it was his loss
of the governorship four years ago
that so weakened his prestige and
the powers of his organization that
he failed in an effort to control in
his own interest the Republican dele
cation to the Cleveland convention.
Perhaps in no other state has the
governorship an Importance compar
able with its powers in California
II is the custom of the Legislature to
pass all money bills-this in the
knowledge that the governor has
and will exercise a reviewing author
ity. Practically, the legislature pass
es on to the governor power to make
the state budget; that is. to allocate
state funds at his pleasure among
the many state institutions. Who
ever knows anything of the political
game will understand the meaning
of this practice. In connection with
the appointing power it gives to the
governor a tremendous political lev
erage Able to give or to withhold
at his pleasure, he holds a whip
over every member of the legislature
Had Smoothly Running Machine
Nobody ever knew better how to
use this power, whether himself the
governor or in control of the govern
or's office, than did Johnson. His
organization, created and sustained
by the powers of the governorship,
became all but absolute.
Richardson came into the govern
orship four years ago and the effect
of his administration has been, at
least in a large measure, to destroy
the Johnson machine. In the making
of appointments he has Disseminated
adversely to Johnsons friends. He
has scrapped much of the costly ad
ministrative machinery created by
Johnson, apparently for the purpose
of multiplying jobs and in support
of his political organization. In brief,
the whole course of Richardson in
the governorship has tended to the
notification of Johnson's political
powers. And to a degree Johnson
has. in his attitude of open resent
ment, contributed to this destructive
process.
All this makes plain Johnson 3
interest in the pending primary cam
paign. Republican success in the
November general election is prao-
tically assured, and If in the pri-
mary, next Tuesday, sJohnson can
put over his man Young, there will
be automatically restored to him
the powers he once exercised so
effectively and, in political sense.
so advantageously to his own inter-