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To be Shaken Before Taken. Republican sentiment as it is now dispensed is a mixture of extremes and inconsistencies. From the beginning of the doctrine of the progressionists to the end of the doctrine of the reactionaries there is a wide range of opinion. When Senator Dolliver, of Iowa, began to forge ahead in the vice-presidential race, ex-Secretary Shaw called on Senator Lodge to stop the stampede and do it quickly. He asked the senator if he wanted another LaFollette in the senate, which the senator "Well then," said Mr. did not want, of course. Shaw, "don't open the way for sending Cummins to the senate, which you would do should Dolliver va cate his seat there." Cummins is to be feared because he is possessed of LaFollette characteristics, though a great many republicans have a high opinion of LaFollette. Mr. Hart, national committeeman for Iowa, tel egraphed Secretary Taft asking him to discourage the tendency towards Dolliver, saying: practically anarchy in Iowa, event to another, LaFollette is an anarchist and by inference Cummins is also an anarchist. President Roosevelt, being appealed to, said he would prefer either Dolliver or Cummins for the vice-presidential place, he didn't care which. This put Dolliver in rather a bad light from a reactionary viewpoint and indicated a willingness on the part of the president to have an anarchist nominated for the vice-presidency. As none of these bewildered politicians are ex- actly in the right in their estimate of one another, it does not follow that either is as bad as painted. - Still, if they can't get together, they might do well to divide. It is likely to come to that, if the chasm continues to widen. When Mr. Roosevelt says he would as soon have Dolliver as Cummins or Cummins as Dolliver, when he has never offered any encouragement to LaFoll ette, the only real progressive leader in the republi can party, he mixed things more hopelessly than the men in the mess at Chicago, where the Dolliver boom was in progress. The reform side of the republican party, as it is de lineated by the plain voters at home, was not conspic uously in evidence at Chicago during the conven tion proceedings, for it would hardly be an ex pression of truthfulness to say that Mr. Taft is one of the progressive republicans. His strength was in the backing of the administration and it is not easy to say where the administration is just now. It means In the relation of one The Principle of Protection. In the platform of the republican party of Idaho, adopted at Wallace as late as the 12th of May of the current year, that party was committed to the ex treme tariff protection of all the party's past. The platform declares that the republicans of Idaho oc cupy that position "unalterably." The Scimitar hopes it will be excused for casting doubt upon the reliability of that declaration. It does not believe that many republicans of the present . day are unalterably committed to a policy that is ad mitted by many republicans to have been responsible for the enthronement of monopoly. Everywhere republicans are conspiring among themselves to rid themselves of the burden imposed' by excessive protection, which gives to certain classes advantages not enjoyed by the masses. But for a promise to relieve the people of the con sequences of the excessive protection of the past and present, the republican party would have no hope of success in the pending national election. Whether the promise will be considered an equivalent to the act remains to be seen, and the ballots of November will decide the question. Yet the republicans of Idaho say: We declare ourselves unalterably in favor of the republican principle of protection as applied to raw materials as well as to manufactured articles pro duced in the United States. It was the "principle of protection" that created the Dingley tariff act and it was the Dingley tariff act that created the domineering trusts that are now demanding control of the government and are equipped to battle for their demand in conventions, at the polls and at the several seats of government. An expression of an implacable intention to stand by the cause of most of the nation's serious troubles does not properly represent the sentiment of the re publicans of Idaho, although the managers of their party have said so in their opening declaration of the presidential year, a declaration that instructed their delegates to the national convention of their party. In theory, the principle so stubbornly sustained by the Wallace convention maintains the excellent compensation of the wage earners of the country. In actual practice, the wage earners of the country exact respectable compensation from the protected trusts through organizations as implacable as the trusts and through threats of strikes that the trusts would be unable to endure. It was only a few days ago that the president of the national alliance of manufacturing trusts open ly repudiated the demands of these "protected" wage earners and said they ought to be sent to the demo cratic party with their tale of woe, for it was there that they belonged. Is it the workingman or the manufacturing trusts that the Wallace convention was so "unalterably" in favor of? The members of the republican party of Idaho will want to know. A Rejected Bribe. The game of politics that has enlivened the dull hours of preparation for the periodical campaign for ballots, in connection with the congressional candi dacy of Colonel T. R. Hamer, of St. Anthony, has been rendered interesting by a statement from the colonel. It was given out a few months ago that he aspired to the position inefficiently occupied by Congress man French of Idaho, and that he intended to exercise the right of an aspiring citizen and make an earnest fight for the place, through the agency of the republican party convention. Shortly after the promulgation of his intentions, the president appointed him receiver of the land office at Blackfoot, Idaho, and the senate promptly con firmed the appointment. It was presumed that Col onel Hamer's ambition had been appeased by the paying job adroitly conferred by Congressman French and that he would not oppose that gentleman's endeavor to succeed himself. But the colonel declares that he is still in the field. He makes the further surprising statement that he was not an applicant for the Blackfoot receivership, that he has not yet qualified and has not decided to accept the place. All this is very discouraging to Mr. French, who seems to have presumed that it was only necessary to fling a bribe at the head of Colonel Hamer to bring him to his knees. He will be supported in the convention by his own county delegation, if instruc tions are obeyed, and is likely to accumulate con siderable southern strength, for the Mormons are dis posed to favor their own section. A Paine-ful Effort. After limping through about three columns of space in a local paper in an effort to enlighten the public mind on the subject of the differences between the democratic party and his bunch, Karl Paine leaves the impression that the explanation does not explain. It is not easy to write convincingly when one avoids the real cause t of an effort and endeavors to substitute something that is not a cause. If Mr. Paine had stated in the requisite number of printed lines that he and his associates were making trouble for the purpose of destroying the influence of Senator Dubois, his explanation would have been clear and convincing. Mr. Paine and co-workers are endeavoring to usurp the regard of the democratic party for Mr. Dubois and are employing the pro-Mormon pretext because the hierarchy is addressing itself to the same task and is willing to furnish the sinews of war to destroy a champion of a constitutional clause that would eradicate polygamy if enforced. In a late issue of the Salt Lake Tribune it was stated : "It is said that Dubois will be fought in the church democratic state convention and that resolutions con demning his attitude will be passed, if present plans are carried out," said the Prominent Politician to The Stroller on Wednesday. Concert of action all along the line, from the sub urbs to the center of the polygamous settlement of saints, and St. Paine is the mouthpiece at this end. He addresses himself exclusively to the democrats of a number of northern Idaho counties that have not yet elected delegates to the Wallace convention, covering his design with a rambling recital that reads as though it might have been constructed in the circle of the prophets of the holy city by the salted inland sea. Personal motive seeks devious pathways, but Mr. Paine has hopes that his stumbling feet may yet lead him out of the maze to the seat of political exaltation to which he aspires. The effort is not a new one to him. An appreciation from the pen of the Boise correspondent of the Salt Lake Tribune says: Another of the anti-Dubois crowd, one of the bolt ers, is Karl Paine of Ada county, who has an ab normal development of the big head. He is a lawyer. He is a Payette product, went to Washington Lane school for a season. There Senator Dubois became acquainted with Paine, took a liking to him, and spoke well of him as a high-grade, well-meaning boy and worthy. Friends of Dubois, accordingly, took him up and ran him for attorney-general. Paine made such use of Dubois as he could until Dubois was out of the senate and Paine figured his power was gone, and then deserted the principles he repre sented and joined in the fight with the arch enemies of Dubois. These scraps of information will enable the people of the north, to whom the Paine essay is addressed, to understand the motive behind the shower of mud he has projected into their midst. Agricultural Training. Former Congressman Edgar Wilson presented the diplomas to the 1008 class of the Boise high school on June 12th, acting in this capacity as presi dent of the Boise board of education. In his address he dealt with the progress of new branches in the present public school system of this day, especially pointing out music, domestic science, manual training, and commercial department work. He admitted his skepticism as to the practicability of these branches being made a part of high school curriculums before investigation, but admitted his complete conversion to the propriety of each being taught to high school pupils. Later in his address Mr. Wilson took the audience into his confidence concerning, as he stated, his "hobby", which is the addition of a branch of agri culture to the high school course. This branch Mr. Wilson insists, is essential to the complete education of a boy or girl, especially in this country, where the highest forms of agricultural development can be easily obtained. Like the new branches now taught in most high schools, as above mentioned, Mr. Wilson would limit the researches of the student to an hour or two each week. But the study, he insists, is an essential and should be added. Mr. Wilson will present his ideas to the next session of the Idaho legislature in the form of a bill, authorizing this study to be provided by the boards of education of the high schools of Idaho. Scarcity of beef and higher prices are attributed to the panic of last fall. Cattle men were unable to produce money with which to purchase food and rushed their cattle to the market places, when they would otherwise have held them until the spring and summer.