Evening star., 1936-04-24
Will of the Voters.


tinent question to Col. Frank Knox. The
Idaho Senator wants to know If the
Chicago publisher is trying to persuade
delegates to the Republican National
convention, elected in districts carried
by Borah in the presidential primary.
to disregard "the wishes of the people"
and vote for Knox. Thirteen of the
States hold Republican presidential pref
erential primaries, and two of the States
of the South hold Democratic primaries
In the majority of the States holding
presidential primaries the primary elec-
tions are advisory" rather than man
datory"
Senator Borah, having carried a dozen
of the congressional districts in the
Illinois presidential preferential primary,
insists that the delegates chosen in that
primary should vote for him at the Re-
| publican National Convention. 1t is a
! reasonable demand, if the wishes of the
voters are to be given consideration, even
though the primary is not mandatory by
law. There is a moral responsibility rest
ing upon the delegates. Particularly in
this case, because both Knox and Borah
were entered in the presidential prefer
ential primary, and Borah was the victor
in each of these districts.
Ever since the Illinois primary was
held the Knox campaign managers have
insisted that Col. Knox will have the
votes of all forty-nine district delegates
except one, and of the eight delegates OF
large. Since COL Knox had a majority
of all the votes cast in the Republican
presidential primary he would appear to
be clearly entitled to the support of the
delegates at large. On the other hand,
it would seem to be just as reasonable
to assume that the districts carried by
Borah and those carried by Knox would
vote according to their respective returns.
The presidential preferential primaries
have been too often joke because the
delegates elected in many of the States
have disregarded entirely the wishes Of
the voters expressed in the primary
elections. Candidates for presidential
nominations have, for that reason, re-
Trained frequently from entering the
preferential primaries, believing that the
leaders-the bosses, if you prefer-would
turn the delegate votes over to them at
the conventions. 1t has been the con-
tention of Senator Borah from the start
of the present pre-convention campaign
that the aspirants for the Republican
presidential nomination should present
themselves to the voters. He has tried
in vain. however. to get his opponents
Illinois, where Col. Knox could not avoid
the issue; in New Jersey, where the
friends of Gov. Landon of Kansas have
entered Landon's name, and in Califor-
MIA, where William Randolph Hearst in
sisted upon entering a Landon slate of
delegates. Borah himself has not en-
tered the California primary, feeling
that he could not take the time to travel
to the coast to make campaign.
Borah carried the Nebraska primary.
He was the only Republican entrant.
The Landon people put on write
Landon-in' campaign. The vote, how
ever, was about to in favor of Borah
Yet the Landon people in Nebraska are
claiming most, if not all, of the Nebraska
delegates. Borah is the sole Republican
entered in the Pennsylvania presidential
primary. Yet former Senator Reed, Re-
publican national committeeman for
Pennsylvania, is authority for the state
ment that the delegation will go to the
convention "uninstructed." There is re-
ported to be much Landon sentiment
among the Pennsylvania leaders, and
they may swing the delegation to the
Kansas Governor.
Either the delegates elected in these
presidential preferential primary States
should pay attention to the results Of
the primaries, or the preferential pri-
maries should be abolished. There Is
no reason on earth for holding primary
the results of which are to be treated
as mere scrap Of paper by the bosses.
Such primary is mere waste of time
and of money.