Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-05-13
pUs NEXT UNITED STATES sks.1
ATRR


State two years ago. Recently he has |
taken occasion 10 reiterate it, and va
rious exchanges are discussing its
merits. We have refrained from ad-
verting to the matter heretofore for
two reasons.
First, we do not wish to multiply the
issues before the people. Putting too
many irons in the fire at once, some
ere liable to be neglected. Our con-
ception has been that the best policy
would be,to clear away the county
elections before trenching on those of
November, so far as possible.
Secondly, the suggestion of any plan
Of choice for Senator, by primary cleo
ton or otherwise, presumes the proba-
bility of Several candidates, and we
have been curious to hear the views of
other aspirants, not that the manner Of
selection should be left to these gen.
tlemen, but an agreement among them
selves would give more force to any
proposed plan
4ais Is an era of change, and the
election of Senators direct by the peo-
pie, without the intervention of Leg
islature has been suggested in various
quarters of late years for adoption
throughout the country. The staple
objection against it is that, while the
lower house Of Congressrepresentspop pop
aletion, the Senate represents States,
and the Legislatures are, or ought to
be, the embodiment of the respective
States. 1t is argued that the Inroads
on State lines are already serious,
and this would be another
step toward obiterating them,
which would soon result in a
reorganization of the Senate on some
basis of population, instead of mere
States. The force of this argument,
however, is much weakened by asking,
In what manner the Senate has Of late
years tended to preserve the States
from the encroachments of Federal
power. Certainly, that body has fallen
from its once high estate. There is no
use Disgusting the fact that our fore
fathers, who devised the present sys-
tenn, were, however wise in their gen.
Grafton, tingedwitha spiritof aristocra-
cy, and expecteda higher grade of intel
lect to be sent to the Senate by the
Legislatures than to the House by the
popular vote. In other words, they
had the British House of Lords in
their mind when framing the American
Senate. The value of the expedient
can best be judged by its results in our
history thus far. 1t is plain enough
that the purchase of Scholarships from
corrupt legislatures formed no part of
the original plan. How shall the evil
be remedied? 1t seems to us that, for
thousand other reasons besides the
election of Senators, the people should
lay the axe at the root of the evil, and
elect honest men for legislative pur-
poses.
To revert to the proposition of pri-
mary election In Tennessee this fall for
Brownlow's successor OF course it is
easy to raise objections. First, would
half the people vote on the question,
and how much weight ought such a
half vote 20 have with the Legislature?
Surprising all should vote, would the
verdict be anything like decisive?
Would not each county or section mass
on its favorite, so that no. one man
would receive even one-fourth of the
poll? Would not the result be exactly
like the first complimentary vote in
Legislature, without any chance for SUBJ
sequent votes to unite the majorityP
Shall the Legislature be bound by the
highest plurality, even though it be only
one-fourth? If the Radical minority,
to whom this primary election would
be equally open, should mass on May
nard, or even on Brownlow himself,
giving him much the largest plurality
of any, we presume no one would hold
a Democratic Legislature bound by
such result. Again, there is the ques-
ton OF whether, in Republican coun-
ties, the Republican officers of election
would make any returns of this unof-
fetal vote, and what reliance could be
placed on such unsworn returns, if
made. We do not cite these difficulties
as objections to the plan, but as
matters that should be con-
sidered and settled beforehand.
If 1t were understood, for instance,
that the Legislature would not be
bound by less than a majority of the
Democratic-C Conservative voters, the
people might make some effort to con-
centrate their strength. Without
some such understanding, the plan
would be liable to fail or only produce
discord. Thus a reform, good enough
in itself perhaps, might incur Odium
in its incipiency and be delayed for
years. We are cognizant of no tribu-
nal that can either inaugurate this
primary plan, or provide for its con-
tingencies, unless it be the Democratic
and Conservative State Convention,
and we are the more willing to remit
the whole subject to their consideration
because our information from all sec
tions is that the people are fixed IN
the determination to send their
best representative men to that
body. Our greatest fear about
this whole Senatorial question and its
agitation thus early, has been that it
might be magnifed into such proper
tons as to eclipse all other interests in