Senator Taft's slick political devotees delivered a solid knee to the groin of the Republican Party this week, both figuratively and geographically. When the GOP's strongest appeal is based on charges of dishonesty and corruption in the Democratic administration, the bare-faced theft-of thirty-eight convention delegates is well calculated to deprive this campaign issue of much of its force.

Taft's backers have manifested all along the coolest disregard for honesty, consistency, democratic ideals, and simple fair play. Apparently they are so convinced that Taft should be the next president that they do not care how he gets there.

Perhaps there is nothing reprehensible about writing a book claiming to support and to have long supported a foreign policy against which one has always voted and continues to vote. Possibly it is out of order to complain that Taft's last campaign for the Senate was run in flagrant defiance of the laws regulating contributions and expenditures, even though Taft is the loudest howler for honesty, efficiency, and economy in government.

But when the Taft-dominated Texas Republican executive committee blindly expels the legally elected majority of delegates to the state convention in order to make sure that Texas unanimously supports the Senator at Chicago, it seems permissible to say that this is going too far.

The Taft men had an interesting argument to justify their wanton behavior. They averred that they had no way of knowing whether the people who voted for the pro-Eisenhower delegates were Republicans of long standing and protracted loyalty. They said they rather thought not.

We are inclined to agree, for the Republicans have failed to carry a single major election in Texas since the Party was formed a century ago. By the Taft Texans' standard, when the last man living who voted for Alf Landon passes away, the Republican Party would do likewise. If they meant what they said, perhaps that is the way they want it to stay.

As a matter of fact, if the national convention in July upholds the Texas swindle, it may accomplish just about what the Lone Star leaders asked for. Once the Party approves the ban on new voters, they are not likely to fight for long to get in. And the Texas Democrats accept all the votes they can get--white votes willingly and Negro votes by order of the Supreme Court.

The South is just where the Republicans must gain strength if they hope to compete with the Democrats nationally on an equal basis. If only in the interests of the two-party system, we hope that the national convention doesn't squelch that growth just when it was getting started.