The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-08-12
Dur Method of Selecting Candidates
s8HE for Office.

fsta4isE tst+ Tor once.
NJ, au II IL announced that in the Republl
-gaq can COnvention soon to he held in thi
34 county, the question MS to whether
III change shall be effected in our mode o
i introduced and decided. There are some
lfl we have not yet heard of many, wht
. Iesire to have introduced the system o.
4 choosing our candidates by primary
4 >sacctions instead of as now and in times
i past, by delegate conventions. They
seate that this system Of township eau.
,C0Ses aud . recruiting saui~s"t. ee"nty
!. .rcoRvcntion, though fair and complete
i In theory, presents in its practical ope-
.s'asasidn many grave errors: that sufficient
sr saunders Of the party masses do not at
49,, ssssd the caucuses to preventtheir being
u controlled by wire-workers who man
~age either to have majority present in
their interests, or else minority which,
lss Actiug upon preconcerted plan and in
\ perfect uuis0n, is almost invariably able
to have its own way in a meeting to
which the majority come as individuals
without leader or a common end in
view. The result attained is, of course
that the delegate convention defeats its
aq own aims, and candidates are put in
nomination by it who are not the choice
Z Ofs majority Of the party whom they
represent. A split would, perhaps, ill.,
i eure the election of the more objection
I able candidates of another party, and
20 the vUter will swallow his scruples |
and cast his ballot toward the election |
Of officials whom he does not like and |
s.1Oes not want. These are facts III the |,
ssapfesent working ofthe system, and are
undOubted defects; but are they inhe- |
rent in the system, or only incident to
i the careless way In which il is usually |
. put In practice? We claim the latter to
Il b their cause; and their only practicable
remedy to be in the interested attend
Snce Of the great majority Of voters in
ward or township at the first meeting
looking toward the selection of candi-
date for official position. Nothing could
b. fairer than u preliminary meeting of
this character, and the tricks of packers
md wire pullers would be powcrless to
control it. Aud OH the other hand, SO
long as the preliminary meetings or
eaucuses are only attended by mere
Z handful, say from one-tenth to one-ti flh
ef,tbose qualified and expected To have Il
voice therein, and very many Of these
only attending in obedience 10 prom
tse extracted hy some urgent ami int
rested trlckster, the result will be that
% lirh IL complained of rs the fault OF
fhf. system. Not SO, it is the fault OF
cArelessiiess and Indifference; and it is
sOOltshness itself to lay ii to the charge
III = radical defect Of the method, when
tll4sse who work by it alone are to blame
Ia that they Only give it onr-ten,h or
one nth OF chance. according to the
pS6pOftiOu nf those who ito a,tt nj
ttlase meetings to those who shoutd do
~.
And what are we 20 gain from prima-
~ elections ut all commensurate. with
the Increased compleXity, trouble and
EXPENSES which they insure: Simply
nothing! The attendance at the polls
OF ward Or township TO vote at u pri-
mary election would be no greater than
10 hOw found ut the preliminary meet
iays ar caucuses. and the same proper.
ton would come To the polls by reques,
and vote rs requested, rs now 20 to the
Caucus and act with and for an interest
ed party. There Is therefore, rs We
view 1t, neither "A reason for or IA gain IN
the change that some desire to make in
our method of political organization,
and We hope ii Will not be done. The
true end to be attained Is To bring out to !
participate in these affairs numbers SUI
ltciently great To overruie the narrow,
local and merely selfish purposes of
tllQee who make Il business of politics,
nsd We think this can be done quite "a
eftscfnaliy under the present system as ,,
ulsder that proposed as a substitute.