Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-09
THE BEST SYSTEM IN VOGUE.
A NUMBER OF DEMOCRATS LIKE THE
CRAWFORD WAY BEST.

They Think IL Would be ms Well for One
Party ms the Other-A Belief That IL
wouId Insure More Honest Elections
Than the Present Way.
W. s. Guffy, Democrat, but clever
politician, said: "The Crawford county
plan Of voting for nominees is the fairest
system in vogue. remember when it
was first introduced the officers in charge
were not sworn, and not feeling any respon-
sibility, anybody could vote. The result
often was that more votes, by far, were cast
at nominations than were polled at the cleo
tions. The discrepancies in the figures
were SO great, frequently, that fraud
was written on the face of the
returns. But when the Legislature passed
q. law regulating the primaries and COM
pelling the election officers to be sworn and
making them liable to criminal prosecution
if an illegal vote was knowingly cast, all
these evils were corrected, and now the
system is as fair as regular election.
BEAUTIES OF THE SYSTEM.
"Under this system voters can be chal-
lenged, and unless a man is willing to swear
that he is a member OF the party and will
support tine nominee he can't have
the privilege of voting. This system
now prevails in Westmoreland county,
When it was first adopted by popular vote
some of the leaders desired to 20 back to the
delegate plan, and the Democratic party
did, but two years of this system was
enough for them, and the direct plan of
voting at nominations was readopted.
"Under the Crawford system the chances
for fraud are not so great You know it is
much easier to buy up convention than it
is to buy the people. The fact is you can't
go over district and place money with the
voters without deal of hard work. A can
didate, however, with little velvet, can
swing delegates into line without much
trouble.
MADE HIS FRIENDS SORE.
zone cannot help admire Colonel Bayne
in his withdrawal, but, of course, his friends
who worked for him feel sore. Bayne has
hurt himself with his friends, but those on
the outside who are not interested can't help
wondering at his disInterestedness. It is q
rare thing these DAYS for man when he has
a fight won to quit. Bayne made good
run and he would have been hard man to
beat with his standing and prestige"
SAID Daniel McWilliams, County Com
missioner: 81 think it would be a great
benefit, not only to the Democrats, but to
all parties. 1t is the only true means Of
representation, and no fraud could be per-
petrated if the system was adopted here. 1t
will only be a matter of time until we will
have to adopt it here, or make some change
of the kind.
GETTING TOO UNwIELDY.
'In the Democratic County Convention
we now have 429 delegates. Pittsburg
has 143, Allegheny 20, the boroughs IS
and the townships 1873. In the last
report made to court there is large In
crease, and there is every reason to believe
that the next convention will have about
500 delegates. The rules now are that there
shall be one delegate from each voting pre-
cinct, and each precinct is composed of 250
voters. When the natural increase of pop
ulation makes over 250 voters in one pre-
cinct the latter can be divided and
another district created. This makes
more delegates, and in short time
we will have SO many that we cannot
get a hall to hold them. Since the last re-
port there have been created five new dis
tricts in the Fourteenth ward, two in the
Seventeenth, and the boroughs have been
increasing in the same proportion.
cat the last county convention commit
tee was appointed to change the rules on
account of the continually Increasing num-
Der of delegates. The idea was to have only
one delegate from each ward instead of from
each voting precinct. This would remedy
the matter to certain extent, but the Craw-
ford county system would be better. 1t is
the only way of getting the voice of the peo-
pie. 1t also creates better enthusiasm and
the candidate getting the highest number of
votes is the nominee of the party.
DIFFERENCE OF THE RULES.
"Under the rules in Crawford county q
man can only vote at the nominations, who
has voted at the last county election. In
Allegheny county only those who voted at
the last State election are entitled to vote at
the primaries. The new system is
the clean cut thing and would
abolish the monkey business at
conventions. Such thing as appointing
committees on contested seats and have
them throw out certain delegates would be
unknown. We have seen too much of this
tavoritism on the part of Chairmen in this
county. am undoubtedly in favor of the
new system, and every man who loves hon
est government and fair elections will be in
favor of it"
j. C. Reilly, the well-known real estate
agent, said: "If the system worked all right
in Crawford county there is no reason in the
world why it should not work in Allegheny
county. think 1t would be good scheme
and would insure honest elections here.
The nominees of each party should be the
direct choice of the people,"
George E. Hopper, of Hopper Brothers &
Co., and trustee of the Randall Club: ''I
think the system would undoubtedly be an
improvement on the present one. If it was
adopted in Allegheny county it would GER
tainly insure honest elections. am hearth
ly in favor of it and would like to see 1t
tried here. The funny work at conven-
tions would be stopped and honest delegates
would not be thrown out because they were
in the minority and could not help them
selves.
WORTHY TRIAL.
John j. McCafrey, Recording Secretary
of the Randall Clup: II think it would be
q good idea to give the system trial here.
and see how it works. II it is good for one
party the change certainly would be advan-