The Russellville Democrat., 1882-05-25
Read and Reflect.

l onS Oi bhS III POi babt thihSo tb2b
 will come up for consideration at the
 county convention IS the method to
 be adopted thls year of making nom nations. Your ideas on this ques-
 tion, as enuneiated through your
 paper, are, I think, correct. And
 the sooner we can get back to the time-honored usages of the party on
 this point the better it will be for Us; ;
 not merely because the convention l plan is the oldest, but because it is
 the best, the safest, the most con
 venient and the most democratic.
 The Primary Election System is
 an innovation which is Nlsound and
 unsafe. In our county, just at this | particular time, 1 presume it don't
 make much difference whether we
 adopt the one system or the other,
 for the county is undisputedly dem
 ocratic, and, so far as the question
 of mere party utilization is concerned
 it won't change the result. But there
 are, in all parties, men of different
 degrees of competency to fill the va rious offices, and unfortunately some
 mems aspirations toward official pro-
 motion are not always proportioned
 to their competency. Men who are totally incompetent often have the presumption to offer themselves for offices where much competency is required; and under the Primary Election System such a man is just as apt to be made the nominee, as a more competent man. If any one asks why this may more easily be done under the Primary Election System than under the convention system, l answer: Because under the former system the nominations arc made by a bare plurality vote, where as under the latter, no man can get the nomination unless lie has more
 strength than all the other aspirants combined. The old majority princi
 pie, the very foundation stone upon
 which tirm"cra,ic ideas all rest, has to be recognized in the convention system, whereas it is totally ignored in the Primary Election plan. go farther, and say that an incompe- tent man is more apt than any other to secure bare plurality at a Pri- mary Election. Why? Because a man of recognized competency and good business qualifications always has some employment to occupy his time-is always in demand, and is ft ,.f a li nN1 1r,f. have the lei ure timc to swing around and electioneer for votes, and urge his friends to go to the primaries and vote for him. The man, howey- CT, whose competency is far exceeded by his presumption and egotism, generally has plenty of time, and is always greedy for an office, and he never fails to make a desperate struggle for the nomination. Now, bearing these things in mind, you see how easy it is for even very inferior candidate, Tn a race with far more competent men, to secure the presence of almost every one of his friends at the primaries; and in race where there are four or five as pirants, if he happens to get four hundred votes he is made the nomi. nee for perhaps sixteen hundred democrats to support.
 If the republicans in our county were anything like nearly as numer- ous as the democrats, they would beat us every time with our candi dates nominated in such a way. In fact the primary election plan has but one excellence eff excellence it can be called ], and that is this: It is an excellent thing for weak man. So let Us discard this innovation and return to the old, time. tried and safe convention system.
 What would any sane man think if it were proposed to make nomina- tions for the state officers by the primary election plan. It would be simply ridiculous, and defeat and disaster would inevitably result.
 Let democrats be careful about this matter, and let not this primary election delusion be nursed until it | ''N "i'NN bAt IfIiioi ldHCS Ol a pESCG- ! dent in the usages of the party.
 And now just few words more, in regard to another subject ot i'm | portance. Our county convention [ ought to be certain to send the right kind of men to the state convention. What do l mean by the right kind of l menI Why, l mean delegates who will have the nerve and moral cour age to stand up and demand better men for our standard bearers. We must demand men who are worthy men whose personal habits and asso citations may be held up to the young men as an example worthy of emula- tinn-men of sufficient fidelity and to see and know, of their own personal knowledge, that the in- terests of the state are not being haz- arded and suffering damage at the hands of clerks and employees men distinguished for q high sense of honor, for influencing integrity, for sobretY, for their knowledge of the business that will come under