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Show IDAHO FIGHT EARING CLOSE Unusual Situation Confronts Con-fronts Voter in Gem State BOISE. Nov. 4 --With Idaho facing n throe-cornered fight on tho eve of 'election tin situation is almost parallel paral-lel With what it v:is two years ag. There- is, however in" outstanding feature, fea-ture, tho widespread discontent throughout the state. There was a I financial depression. Markets were down and farm produce was not bringing the prices that it should. There had been eight years of Democratic Demo-cratic national rule.- The people wen1 I restless. They wanted a chance. And they oted the Republican ticket to gel it. President Harding's ovcr-I ovcr-I whelming plurality was the result. There has been little chango In the pa.t two years Markets are do-pressed. do-pressed. The financial stringency makps it Impossible for the prducer to borrow the necessary funds to give him ri-lii-f. Idaho lnis a great crop from thi fields and tho orchards, but the growers are not going to receivo the price they should Taxes are high land going higher, The state has had four years ot Republican administration. administra-tion. Tho administration has established estab-lished one of the lowest ta xrates in 'the state's history, but local taxing powers have kept the taxes mounting higher and higher. The administration is generally blamed for the high taxes. Idaho is classed as normally Republican Repub-lican by some 16,000 votes, but the records in this state on governor show that the Republicans and the Democrat Demo-crat have divided that position pretty pret-ty evenly between them sinco Shoup first took the oath of office following tho fidmiff-.iuii Into the union as a state. The division favors the Republicans Re-publicans rather than the Democrats. The Democrats nominated M Alexander, Al-exander, twice governor of the state, serving four years in that capacity. It was conceded at the time he was thp most dangerous man that they could name becauso of his campaigning campaign-ing abilities. , The Republicans nominated C. C Moore, for four years lieutenant governor gov-ernor of the state during tho Davis administration now in power. Moore comes from the southeastern part of the state. He is honest, sincere in his belief and qualified to be governor gover-nor of the state. The Nonpartisan league amalgama-d amalgama-d with the Progressives or third party par-ty after six years of unsuccessful attempts at-tempts to elect its candidates for state office an.i entered the race, nominating nominat-ing H K Samuels, former mining and hotel man of northern Idaho, as its candidate for governor. The Progressive Pro-gressive party is practically the Nonpartisan Non-partisan league in its entirety. These three gubernatorial nominees are the products of. three conventions The same conventions nominated candidates can-didates for congressmen for Justice of the supreme court and for the balance of the state ticket. I ,AM GJIAB MEASURE Becauso the members of Idaho's; 'congressional delegation voted for and! supported what is known as house bill Xo 77 a fight is being made on both' Congressman Burton L. French of the First district and Congressman Addi-I son T Smith of tho Second district.; iThls bill came into prominence last February when Miles Cannon, present' Istate commissioner of agriculture, called the public's attention to It, ehargin it to be a lund grab measure. jThe bill sought to exchange certain ; lands granted to the Northern Pacifi''1 railroad In northern Idaho for lieu land.-i in southern Idaho, by the rail-1 jroad deeding the lands to the forest service, which in turn would permit the use of scrip to be placed on grazing graz-ing lands In southern Idaho. Southern South-ern Idaho sheepmen, including Fred Gooding, brother of United States Senator Frank R Gooding, formed a! company, took an option on 2f.0,000i iacres of the railroad lands and the bill I known as No 77 Was Introduced in congress to make the transfer possible. pos-sible. The company Intended to take Its lands In a block on selection in jtho sheep grazing portions of the southern part of the state. PRIMARY TK( KRSY Interlocked with the gubernatorial i fight Is the controversy over the primary. pri-mary. This started In Ada county, of, whiih Boise Is the capital. A hard fight was made here to control the county conentlon early In August. Thc primary advocates were success-ftll. success-ftll. They controlled the convention and elected twenty deb Kates to the state convention held at Wallace later I These delegates were directed to use; all honorable means to brine about the nalllncr ot a primary plank in the platform. Thc-y were unsuccessful. The' state convention was overwhelmingly, in favor of a convention plank which (it placed In the platform. Tho Ada, bounty delegation voted flatly against thc platform in toto. I Thereafter there entered into the campaign an insistent fight to get Re-publlean Re-publlean candidates, particularly the ; governor and those running for the senalo and house of the next legislature, legisla-ture, pledged to the re-enactment of a Idlroct primary law. And that Is wh re Senator Borah entered the scene. Senator Sen-ator Borah had been In communication With Mr Moore, National Committeeman Committee-man John Hart and other Republican party leadery: urging them to place a primary plank in tho platfrom. He warned thi m that the people of Idaho i and a majority of their party would nji be satisfied if a primary law was not, 'pledged for. Tho warning was unhec-d-: ed. BORAH PROVES THORN Following tho adjournment of con- 'Kress Senator Borah returned to bis orno state and immediately took up stump for tho direct primary He declined de-clined to travel under the auspices of Uhe Republican etato central committee commit-tee or statt headquarters. He traveled on his own Itinerary, which was made up by the Idaho State Republican Primary Pri-mary league, organized with headquarters headquar-ters In Bolso. Senator Borah's campaign cam-paign has been an intensive and effective ef-fective one. He has been greeted by I monster crowds In every city and town jln which he has spoken. He has openly defied the leaders of his party and has cast aside the Wallace platform as a Jblunk plcco of paper. He has advised Mooro to "kick It Into the dust heap" and make a constructive platform of his own Borah insisted that Moore come out ifor the primary. Moore declared that the Wallace platform -was "right and water tight," and so far has refused to take a stand for and on behalf of the primary. All Democratic and Progressive parity par-ity candidates are pledged to such a bill. The fight for the enactment of a primary law Is, therefore, held to be won in the coming legislature REFUSE TO BUDGE Realizing that the primary campaign cam-paign hid become a serious development develop-ment within the rank and file of the Republican party, former State Chairman Chair-man John Thomas and National Committeeman Com-mitteeman Hart came to Boise to confer con-fer with Senator Borah after his Caldwell Cald-well address Senator Borah refused to recede from his position that the Republican party and the Republican party candidate for governor should go before tho people and promise to give them back the right to directly participate In tho nomination of their officers through a primary. The state central committee had previously met and reaffirmed its pledge to stand by the Wallace convention plank. Moore refused to abandon the convention plank. Borah wants all candidates nominated directly, congressional, state and county. Sin A 1 Ids SUMMARIZED. Summarizing the situation then, it would have been a hard gubernatorial fight between Moore and Alexander without the primary issue being raised. The raising of that issue would not havo been serious to Moore had ho swung over to the sldo of Borah. Unquestionably Un-questionably that would have elected him. He would have had the benefit of Borah's support, which no one familiar fa-miliar with Idaho politics will discount. dis-count. But Moore elected to stand on the convention plank. That has placed h.fii In the attitude of denying to the electors something they believe they havo a constitutional right to. the right to participate directly in the nomination of their party candidates for office. Moore's position has, therefore, there-fore, been weakened. It certainly has not been strengthened Next Tuesday either one of two things will happen Alexander will be elected governor of Idaho by a substantial sub-stantial majority, evident on the early returns, or a tight three-cornered race will develop with all three candidates Moore. Alexander and Samuels In a free-for-all, with the result very much in doubt until most of the returns are in. Idaho has never elected u. third party candidate for governor. Samuels Sam-uels is not likely to be an exception to the rule, irrespective of the claims of his backers. The Republican state ticket 'will likely be elected, although thero is always the possibility that the loss of the head c-f the ticket may lose the balance of It, tho state ticket meaning all officers excepting governor gover-nor over whom the controversy Is being be-ing waged. |