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Show WASHINGTON STANDS PAT. Tho indorsement- by ex-President Roosevelt of Mr. Poindexter in the State of Washington for United States Senator docs not seem to have cut any figure at. all. In the Republican State convention at Tacomn on Wed-desday, Wed-desday, tho progressives did not have even a look-in. Tho only appearance ap-pearance made was when it was dragged in to be kicked and cuffed. The niachino was in complete control, and standpatism was triumphant. Tho convention declared for a Senator Sen-ator west of tho Cascades to- succeed Senator Piles, which is a direct slap at Poindexter, since he lives in Spokane. This is also a direct snub lo ex-Presidcut Roosevelt, tho second ho has received since his triumphant return from Africa and Europo, tho first being in New York, with respect to the primary law. The Washington convention did one good tiling, in specifically indorsing Secretary R. A. Ballingor of the Department De-partment of the Interior. The assaults that havo been made upon Secretary Balliuger are not only unjustifiable in law, sense and morals, thoy are an unmitigated outrage. Mr. Ballingor has served the people well as Socrotary of the Intorior. His only offense was in checking the lawless attitude of some subordinates in his own department depart-ment and going counter to the lawloss policy of Gifford Pinchol in the Department De-partment of Agriculture. Wo arc glad to see that Mr. Ballinger's homo State gave him an emphatic indorsement, and doubtless the fact that his course was tho issue had much to do with tho defeat of insurgency in that State. For it is likely that tho triumph of insurgency in Washington, being', in effect made a local attack upon Mr. Ballingor at homo, would have been construod as a defeat for him, and this would have been cntirol' unfair. We do not doubt the strength of the progressive element in the Republican part' in Washington, but it was a mistake mis-take there, as it would bo elsowjiere, to couple the progressive policy of the party with the Pinchot policioB of conservation. con-servation. The effort to do this and the necessary inference that any triumph of insurgency in Washington would havo been construed as a victory vic-tory over Ballingor, undoubtedly was the controlling influence in the poor showing that the insurgents made in tho convention of that State, and as the fight was framed on those lines, the result was inevitable. No Republican Republi-can in Washington wanted to couple progression with an attack on Ballingor. Bal-lingor. Wc do not consider that the indorsement of the progressive policies in tho Republican party ought in the least to bo construed as hostile to Mr. Ballingor; yet!, as they would inevitably inevita-bly have .been so construed if triumphant trium-phant in Washington, it was quite as well that insurgency so construed was an utter failure in that Stato convention. con-vention. The true progressive policies of the so-called insurgents relate chiefly to the bad faith exercised iu the passage of the new bunko tariff law; and on that issue, disconnected from tho personality per-sonality or .persecution of Mr. Ballingor, Bal-lingor, wo believe that the insurgents would win in Washington as thoy won so gloriously in Iowa and Kansas. In the latter two States Ballinger was in no sense the issue. The attempt to make the attack upon him the progressive progres-sive idea in Washington rosultcd in failure, just as it ought to have done. Insurgency, confinejl to its proper ground, is undoubtedly iu tho vast majority among American voters, but it will not do to attempt to wrest it from a question of principlo and make it a question of personal persecution or vindictive hate. N |
