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Show H TO AIR. KELLY. WE iiro in receipt of your letter this week confirming and sup- H plementing the report that you are a H candidate for the Republican nominn- H tion of Secretary of State, subject to H the action of the State convention to H lie held in Ogdcn, August 9th. We H note your explanations as to why you H are a candidate for this particular of- H flee and your qualifications for holding H it. We are also mindful of the fact H Unit your record in the oflico of State H Auditor is good and clean, and that H you have been a good state ofllcial, H and yet there is one reason why in H the opinion of this p.tpor you should H not bo u candidate this year for the H office you seek, H Eight years ago tho writer was in H the Rcbublican State convention which H nominated Jesse Jukes for the olllce j which you now hold, and to which he H was elected tho following November. H At that time no one outside perhaps of H your own county had heard of Lincoln H 0. Kelly. You know. Mr. K el ley, that H it was Mr. Jukes that first brought H you to the Stato Capitol and taught H you the duties of the office you were H subsequently elected to, the same time H he was elected State Treasurer. By H the terms of tho same senseless con- H stitutional provision which you quote H to show that you cannot aspire to the H same office you now hold, Mr. Jewkes H is nlso barred from succeeding liim- 1 self cither to tho office of auditor or H treasurer, having held both positions. H Yet you will not attempt to deny that H he has mado good in both offices and H has dono much to establish them on a H modern busincss-liko basis. We all H know that ho is honest, and an ideal H public ofllcial. He has dropped his H private business afliairs to servo the H public, and if ho roturno to private H life he will havo to seek out tho rav- H cled threads where they were broken H eight years ago and in a sense start H over again. Wo said a moment ago H that it was a senseless provision of H our Constitution which precludes an H official from succeeding himself to pub. M lie office as many times as tho people H sec fit to honor him with their H suffrage; but that provision, good or H bad, is in the Constitution, and there H is no getting around it now. It takes 1 a state officer the best part of one 1 term to become fully acquainted with H the needs of his office, and if each man H is to be "kicked out" at tho end of one M term, good, competent men who stop M to weigh tho matter will not become H.t' candidates for these offices, for the B reason that a term is too short a time H for which to lay down their private H affairs and take up a new and unfn- H - miliar calling; for a man who has no H private affairs to lie down is not apt H to be a very competent public official. H Now, wo want to ask you, Mr. Kel- H ley, if you think that Mr. Roosevelt 1 did a wise thing four years ago when H he insisted upon running for the pres- H idency of the United States, and di- H vided tho Republican party by insist- M ing upon forcing his candidacy upon M them? Would it not havo been far M wiser for him to havo encouraged the H re-election of Mr. Taft at that time M and have deferred his ambitions for 1 four years, when tho country would M almost have elected him by nccluma- M tion? Mr. Roosevelt can seo this now, H but it takes a wiso man to look into H y the future and forsco these contingen- m cies; and one is apt to overestimate 1 ' his own popularity and fitness and to M under estimate tho strcnght of his ri- 1 ) val. And the question of harmony M and good feeling, even in an ofllcial M family, is always worth considering. M Wo all admiro a royal good fellow M a man who appreciates a good turn 1 and shows an anxiety of returning it. M We equally abhor an ingrate a man H who like a snake is warmed in his M benefactor's bosom only to turn and M fasten its fangs in his bosom. Do M not lay yourself open to nn accusation H of this kind. H i Jesse J. Jewkes is deserving of four M more years of service in the state's B ofllcial family, based upon his record Hj for the past eight years. The office M of Secretary of Stato is practically H the only one to which he is eligible j under the terms of the Constitution. H It would illy becomo you, whom he set j up in business, so to speak, to block M his way to this position, even if you 1 havo enough influence to do so. It B might be attended with a similar ex- m perienco as the Rooscvelt-Taft episode H above roferrcd to. You are a good H fellow and qualified for the position H of Secretary of State; but we aro tcll- m Jng you candidally and fair that in B our opinion this is an inopportune m time to push your candidacy for this B particular office. Why not either run for the ofllce of treasurer or drop out of the race for four years, and then come out for it? You arc a young MSH man and will doubtless havo plenty of time to run through the category of HH state offices to which you may aspire HB boforo you arc very old, if you have K tho votes of tho people, without lying Mm your self open to an accusation of in- H gratitudo at this time. |