OCR Text |
Show NI-PAIIIISI LEAGUE FACTOR - II COLORADO Kaclical Farmer Organization Strongly Participating in State's Affairs Bj 11 UIK st i i.i National Political orres! indent fr the New York Evening Pi CHICAGO. Ill . Oct 16 When 1 was a 'olorado a week ago the debris of, the Septomber primaries had not cleared up sufficiently to make possible possi-ble en intelligent surmise of the slt-j slt-j uation of the state. During the week It has cleared up t.. pome extent. Hut it is still full of complexities. These complexities do not so greatly affect ' he race as between Harding and Cox. Colorado, of course, ought to be ex-pected ex-pected tp go D.mocratlc, In 101C. It gave Wilson the exceptionally large majority of tu.uoo l ot the best Judgment today Is that Colorado will go Republican for tho inn reason that Is almost unl.ersal throughout the west. That reason is Irritation against Wilson und the De; i-locratiC i-locratiC administration and the WISH ! to change It. LEAG1 I is p v i i ,x On the senatorship the t.'olerado Situation is less simple. In ihe primaries pri-maries m September there were two leading candidates for the Hepulli-i jean nomination for senator and two. Leading candidates for the Democratic 1 nomination. Because there wa more! Interesl In the Republican race, a godd many of the 'Democrats left1 their own primaries In Order to have I hand In the more exciting race be-! tween the Republicans At the same time, the non-partisan' league, which is very ably managed from a politlt ,il point If View slipped i Into the Democratic primaries bodllv and practically succeeded in capturing i i the Iieinocrallr organlzntlon. The non-partisan l;tgve candidate for the Democratic nomination lost, by the narrow margin of 711 votes. But the man who won. a Justice of the supreme su-preme iourt of the state, Tully Scott,! has been considered as leaning toward ; tin radicals in many of his judicial I decisions and In his attitude generally. Tiv consequence is that many eonser-1 eonser-1 vatlve Democrats are disposed to with-hpld with-hpld support from him. This tendency has been increased by a development of the last few days L Present Democratic Senator, Charlei . Thomas, had determined to retire to private life, ajld had formally refused to be a candidate In the Democratic pCn.arle-;. Sin.-, he result oP thosn primaries, however, he has determined .to run independently and has come out on a platform which opposes the league of nations, giving among other I re ions, that the league "Commits the 1 tm. d Stales to direct participation In I tio political, religious, racial und geo-j graphical differences and controversies! (Continued on l'nc Two.) v 1 l Non-Partisan League Factor in Colorado (Continued From Page One) present and future, between nations, races, and creeds the world "over," This emergency of Senator Thomas' Is naturally disturbing to the Demo- ! crats and Is one of the things thai tends to make Democratic success in J the I presidential ticket unlikely. I fact, some of the Colorado Democrats have appealed to Cox to repudiate Thomas, but Cox has so far refused Thomas is universally recognized as i an able man, with a fre.- and Independ-ent Independ-ent mind, and his candidacy undouht- I edly will commend itself strongly to his state. But this Is not the en1 of the com-' plications. The result of the Republi-CUD Republi-CUD primaries lor senator wan almost' as close oi the Democratic primaries, I A wealthy mining man. Samuel N'lchol- I son, won by less than 100 votes. This left Sum- dissatisfaction in the Re-j p ibJlcan ranks, and an effort will be m ide to run anotth r Republican, Wa- j terman, on an independent ticket, Wa- j terman toyed with the situation for a while, but has now finally decided not j to rum . To attentat, to aredl I what will I come out of all these complications would be vain. As one Democratic congressman expressed it to mo. "This sr'e campaign la the worn muddled mlxup we have evr-r had In Colorado The one clear and conspicuous fact , is the emergence of the Non-Partisan league. I METilODS LAW ri r Colorado Democrats speak of th' I ague as hevlng "stolen" the Demo-' ; cratlc organization. That Is a word that many of us tend to use when someone else Jus been a lltth shrewder shrewd-er The truth is all the Non-rartlsa.i bague did wns wholly according to law, and was Just whai any group of voterS tii- a iicht to do and could do provided ih. acted compactly under IP bl leadership The merely did ! in ruche a T'let and effective Way that the DOlltlCians of tj older parties il d not wake Up until It was too late The total membership of the Nop- 1 Partisan league In Colorado in onh nboul 20.000; but what they may hie In Ifumbers they make up In cotnpno-ness cotnpno-ness and unity. Each member pays a 1 fee of lis to the orgaiiiatlon. and thoj at u der itrongly disciplined leader- i Khlp and unity in something of the ' spirit of a fraternal society. Their pro-gram pro-gram except for one or two particulars, par-ticulars, cannot be considered wlldlv imdleaL It calls imoni other things for stute packing plants, sta'. 'cold storage warehouses for farm pro-luce, rural credit banks to be optratod a; cost, the exemption of farm impu ments from taxation, and atato operation opera-tion and distribution of water power !t i)K i I EAT! BEd. The more radical parts of their pro. , gram eat! for the state opr.itlon of coal mines, which are araedjf owned , by the sLite on its school lands, ami tor state smelters, sugar mills, flour mills and terminal elevator.. This Xon-Partisan league movi menl. iqldantaUy, Is the one facior in west- t rn politics this year Which bus the t.ilit of something spontaneous and Indigenous. The Non-Partisjn league Is a dominating factor in three northwestern north-western states, and close to a dominant factor In four state Nevertheless. In spite of lte Increasing political s.:c-: s.:c-: cess, there are factors at the heart of the league which are working against Its life. The Non-Partisan Teagu- may possl-! bly go on and grow, but It m i nis '.6 ' me more probable that the same thing' I Will happen to the league that hap-' pened to other ngrarlon and radical j : movements in the west during the past forty years. The greater probability Is that the lues v'.oientK- radical pari of he leagrm principle-, will be adopted bv one or the other of the er parties and will gra lually come I Into at least tarttal effect through that avenue, while the ISaaTue I's.lf 1 as a separate at tlty Is mor likely Ul ! tlmatfly to go the way of the Populists Pop-ulists and the free Sllverltis. All this, i however. Is i eibject for more careful , .-onslderatlon thin can bo gtVoa tj It here. Cop right. L9Se, by the N. , 1 r,. e- . nliiK Post. Inc. 1 |