The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1890-03-29
QUEER LOGIC.


position among the many valuable
exchanges from our neighboring state,
Washington; but in its opinions on
the caucus we believe it assumes a
position which cannot be maintained
by logic, or from the history of po-
itical organizations. We quote its
language:
The nearer we can get to the people,
the more closely we follow the true
spirit of American institutions. Back
of the president and congress, back of
the governor and legislature, back of
the mayor and council is the people
and the caucus is the agent of the peo-
pie through which its voice is spoken.
Abolish the caucus and you take away
the first step in our system above the
allotment of universal suffrage and the
important step through which suffrage
is made valuable. If nominations
were made for them and on election
day two tickets were offered the peo-
pie with the alternative of voting one
or the other, themain idea of our pol
itical system would be abolished. 1t
is through the caucus that the voice
of the people must be heard, and the
caucus should be preserved as an all
important institution. Every possible
safeguard should be thrown around it
to prevent scheming sharpers from
defeating the will of the people.
We agree with our contemporary
that ''the nearer we get to the people,
the more closely we follow the true
spirit of American industries )" but it
does not follow as natural sequence
that "back Of the president and con-
gress, back of the governor and legis-
lature, back of the mayor and council
is the people, and the caucus is the
agent of the people through which it's
voice is spoken" If the editor had
stopped at "the people" we would
have endorsed his views; but when he
state that the caucus is the "agent" of
the people he assumes premise which
cannot be substantiated. In pri-
maries-the only purely Democratic
element we have in our fabric of gov
ernment-county conventions, legisla-
tive Assem- blies and even congressional
bodies. the caucus" destroy the SOW
ereignty of the people, and gives pre-
cedence to the mandate of cliques and |
bosses. Instead of the caucus being |
the "frst step above the allotment of
universal sugrage," it is the one thing |
in American politics that has rem
dered nugatory any beneficial effect of
the unIversality of the elective fran
chise. Wherever the caucus prevails,
whether in the democratic primaries,
in the representative elements of our
government-county and state con-
ven tions, and state and national legis-
latures, it tramples on personal lib
erty, and sacrifices the rights of the
minority to the bidding of despotic
majority. # the rule were in
vogue in this county, the wishes
of the interior would always be
subservient to the dictation of The
Dalles and other towns; in state mat
ters, Multnomah and Ole or more
counties would control the legislation
of the state, and Wasco and other
counties might as well not send any
representatives to Salem; and in ma
tional affairs New York and other
states would control the nation. What
consideration would Oregon and Wash
ington receive, with one member each
in the lower house, when New York
and Pennsylvania could consolidate
under the caucus and have fifty votes.
Aside from these reasons against the
combination of populous precincts
in county conventions, populous coun-
ties In state legislatures, and populous
states in the national congress, the
caucus makes politics simply game
of chess, at which professional politi-
clans work out any result desired, and
the people are simply the dumb figures