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History of the Case. The case pending before the supreme court, to de termine which of two contestants is entitled to the and organization of democrats in Idaho is name interesting. The Dubois faction lays down the proposition that the democratic party has the right to determine the policies of the party, and to exclude from the party councils and conventions, those who have not and will not support the party unless certain principles policies are abandoned. In 1904 the democrats in convention at Weiser and later at Lewiston declared that the party if given the power would pass adequate legislation to punish polygamists, and would make effective the consti tution of the state in regard to the franchise. The constitution of Idaho contains a It is now a dead letter. or test oath which voters must take. The democrats in the Lewiston convention in 1904 pledged themselves to the separation of church and state in political affairs and the extermination of Mormon dele polygamy. There were a great many gates in the Weiser and Lewiston conventions, about fourth of the entire membership. They fought bitterly against this policy of the party, but without avail. The policy was adopted by the democratic con ventions. The Mormons refused to support the tick to contribute in any way to its success. one On et, or the other hand they openly repudiated it. In 1906 with this issue squarely presented to the democracy of Idaho the democratic party in vention at Coeur d'Alene unanimouslj r re-affirmed their position of 1904, and declared in plain language its intention to enforce the test oath and to pass legislation which would make it possible to suppress con polygamy. The Mormons announced in could not support a party which stood for such policies or purposes, and they did not support the democratic party in 1904. At the Coeur d'Alene convention in 1906 two sets of delegates presented themselves from Fremont Mormon and Mormon sympathizing non-Mormon delegation 1904 that they county, one a delegation, the other a which approved of the anti-Mormon policy of the party. The convention unanimously seated the non Mormon delegation. In this convention of 1906 three Mormon delegates from Bear Lake there were county, and there was no contest of any kind against ' The convention refused to allow them to sit, and left the county of Bear Lake unrepresented. The convention made it plain that in its judgment a Mormon could not and would not be a democrat or vote the ticket so long as the policy of the party force the constitutional requirement for them. was to en voting and to punish polygamists. The party refused to change its policy, in order to Mormon support, but on the other hand plainly showed that it did not expect or desire Mor This may have been bad judgment secure mon support, and bad policy, politically, yet it was the deliberate judgment and policy of the party, as evidenced b\ its action in three successive state conventions, i. e. the Weiser and Lewiston in 1904 and the Coeur d'Alene in 1906. After the 1906 convention the Mormons in their various counties, in county conventions, denounced in resolutions the democratic state ticket and plat form, and organized county tickets under various names, in Fremont, Bear Lake and Oneida counties. In these three counties there was no democratic ticket at all. In Bingham the Mormons and their sympathizers held a democratic county convention and nominated a democratic county ticket, but in their resolutions denounced and repudiated the action of the democratic state convention. democrats of Bingham held an The non-Mor 'American" 'American" county mon convention and nominated an ticket and in their resolutions endorsed the demo cratic state ticket and platform. In 1906 at Coeur d'Alene the democratic party selected a state committee in full accord with the principles and policies of the party on the Mormon question. At the Wallace convention Mormons and their sympathizers contested the democratic dele gates in Fremont, Bingham, Bear Lake and Oneida counties. They called themselves democrats, but avowed their purpose to change the policy of the party on the Mormon question. The state committee refused to recognize them as democrats and excluded them, and the convention excluded them, as it had done in 1904 at Coeur d'Alene. The democratic party has declared and still de clares that Mormons are not eligible as delegates to its conventions, because they have not and will not support the main issue and policy of the party . It contends that the Mormons desire to sit as dele gates in order to change the policy of the party on the Mormon question and if they fail that they will not support the ticket. The democratic party has made it plain also, that it prefers to lose the entire Mormon vote, as it has in the last two campaigns, rather than change its policy. The Alexander faction contends that if these Mormons held primaries or conventions in accordance with the forms of the primary election law and called themselves democrats that they should have been allowed to participate in the democratic con ventiom and determine its policy. The Alexander faction contends that the supreme court is in duty bound to go behind the action of the state committee and state convention, and deter mine as to the regularity, under the primary law, of the contending delegations. The Dubois faction insists that if a body of peo ple vote the republican ticket, and denounce the democratic ticket, that the democratic party is not bound to allow them to sit in its conventions and shape its policies merely because they say they are democrats, while openly opposing the paramount principles of the party. It would be a parallel case of S. P. Donnelly, Charles O'Callaghan, and eleven other equally well known democrats of Bonner county, had called republican primaries in accord with the law, and selected themselves as re publican delegates to the Wallace republican state ance convention. The republicans held no primaries in Bonner county. Under the contention of the Alex ander faction had Donnelly and the other demo crats in Bonner done this, and contested the repub lican delegates who were selected at a mass meeting or by a committee they would have been entitled to seats notwithstanding their well known opposi tion to republican candidates and policies. Bracing Him Up. Representative Littlefield is assisting Brother Can non in his defense against the assaults of the Metho dist church, Mr. Littlefield having been the author of the bill that Mr. Cannon is charged by the Methodists Mr. Littlefield publishes a letter with having held up. in which he says that he has authorized no person to place the blame of failure at Mr. Cannon's door. Continuing, he says : It is not to be assumed, I take it, that when a member is elected speaker he ceases to have opinions and is deprived of the right to express and maintain them that other members enjoy, without subjecting himself to the charge of being a dictator of the house. The election of a speaker should not, in my judgment, emasculate either the speaker or the house. Thus encouraged, it is possible that Mr. Cannon may brace up and express an opinion or two and not remain under suppression merely because he presides the house of representatives. With such strong over encouragement, Mr. Cannon after a while will dare assert that his soul is his own. Defection in Latah. A newspaper writer of Moscow, Idaho, who opens with the announcement that he is a republican, says it is the general impression that the straight republi vote of Latah county will be less than it ever was can before. He notes the collapse of confidence in the party as of the causes of impending defection. That one of itself ought to be sufficient to defeat the party and it probably would but for the machinations of the Mormon wing of the democratic pretenders. As a contributory cause of disturbed conditions, the Moscow scribe mentions "the dictatorial attitude of Mormon delegates to our state conventions and Mormon members of our legislature, through which republicanism has prospered in the past are likely to prove its undoing, for there is al ways a limit to toleration. The cause of Idaho may yet have to be adjusted by the Americans of Idaho, acting as citizens and not politicians. The north is taking the initiative and it will find plenty of support in the densely settled Mormon counties of the southeast, where disaf fection is rampant and intention solidly entrenched. The methods as Buffet Car Traffic. It is stated in a news dispatch dated at Lewiston, Idaho, that one of the buffet cars of the Northern Pacific Railroad company may be seized by the gov ernment and the porter placed under arrest, the charge being the introduction of liquor into the Nez Perce Indian reservation. While the train to which the buffet car was at tached was passing through the reservation, the traf fic in intoxicants was not discontinued and its cus todians are of course liable for an infraction of a federal law. The general government gives more attention than the state government to such misdeeds. On most of the railroad lines within the state the buffet cars do business while the trains are halted at stations and it happens that they sometimes serve a regular line of customers, who hold their thirst in check until the cars come in. This is a practice that is complained of by dealers paying local licenses. They contend that the cars should take out licenses if they do business in the communities of the state. Tbe Indian appears to be more carefully protected than the white man. Not Qualified. The Scimitar is of the opinion that Chief Justice Ailshie is not qualified to sit in the contest involving the placing of a democratic state ticket on the official ballot. We feel that it is proper for the Scimitar to express this opinion. We base it on the revised statutes of Idaho defining the "disqualification of judges." Section 3900 of the revised statutes, 1887, reads : "A judge cannot act in any of the following cases: 1. In an action or proceeding to which he is a party or in which he is interested." We are clearly of the opinion that Judge Ailshie is interested in this action or proceeding. He is a candidate for re-election. If the Dubois ticket, so called, is placed on the official ballot there will be a candidate against Judge Ailshie. If the Alexander ticket, so-called, is placed upon the official ballot there will be no candidate against Judge Ailshie, as that ticket has no candidate for supreme judge. We do not say, and do not mean to say, or to be understood as suggesting, that Judge Ailshie will be influenced in his opinion, by the fact that one ticket has a candidate against him and the other has not. All we say and mean is, that Judge Ailshie is un mistakably interested, and therefore under the stat utes is disqualified from acting. There is evidence abundant that a democratic wave is sweeping over the country and it may elect the democratic ticket in Idaho. By the decision of Judge Ailshie and his associates, Judge Ailshie will have no opposition at all, or he will be opposed by a candidate who may defeat him. Candidate Taft declines to continue the newspaper discussion with Mr. Bryan that was becoming quite interesting as a joint debate. Mr. Bryan was accorded the advantage of the last word. as