St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-19
DELEGATES BY LOT.


c. ID. O'Brien, in an address to a
Democratic club the other evening-in
which. by the way and incidentally, he
said that he had to look to the Republi-
can papers for reports of the meetings
of Democratic clubs, a remark which
| only tetrayS Mr.. O'Br;en'S preference
for fiction over fact in these reports
propounded a novel scheme for the Sc
lection of delegates 10 The nominating
| conventions. That he and other
thoughtful men should be examining
! and proposing methods different from
those in vogue, and that legislatures
should be considering-andd defeating -
bills looking to the regulation and con-
troll of the primaries. only shows that
our civilization is yet in condition of
progress which refuses 10 accept the eX-
listing as the best or right.
Mr.. O'Brien would have an enroll
ment of the members Of party in any
of the various political subdivisions
made. the names written OH slips and
put in box. which, having been we'll
shaken before being taken, like lily
compounded medicines. the number of
names corresponding to the number of
delegates to which the subdivision was
entitled should be drawn, and these
should constitute the delegates from
that town or ward TO the convention.
With the natural bias of a lawyer for
legal methods when called to apply a
remedy TO evils outside his profession,
he would apply the jury system to the
selection of delegates. A doctor Or a
dentist Or Il minister, if asked to devise
some plan for the same purpose, would
doubtless find his materials in the ex-
perience he had gained in his profes.
sion.
Ii the jury system as an aid to justice
mad proven to be 50 iiuDeccable a device
this suggestion would carry great
deal more weight with it than it does,
except to those who are endowed with
we'll developed bumps of veneration and
who look with reverence on what exists
simply because it has grown hoary with
age. Buff we do not mistake the gen
eral judgment, juries are looked on as
Anticipated devices which have long
outlived the causes and the reasons of
their creation and are much more fire.
quently hindrances to the execution of
justice than helps TO it. No man ana
no lawyer who feels his quarrel just"
but would rather dispense with jury
and submit his cause to an Intelligent
judge, and Oh the other hand. no law
yer or man whose cause is doubtful
h;
b efuddlinga jury.
But we do not propose to discuss
juries here. There are some other
thoughts suggested by Mr.. O'Brien's
proposition which are more pertinent.
We do not understand that the plan
allows of any discrimination. Al the
names OH the roll Of say the Democrats
of ward or town are to be put into a
box. mingling the good and the bad. the
wise and the ignorant, the honest and
the corrupt, and from these hit-or-
miss selection is to be made. getting a
preponderance of good, bad or inditfer-
ent as the chance of the shuttle and
draw might determine. 1t is clear that
this flies directly III the lace of the
i
as fact what dem0cracieS in all times
have denied-the mental and moral
equality of men. Theoretically, a De-
mocracy called Oh to select delegates to
a nominating convention, say, would
meet and with judgment and care Sc.
lect its best and wisest men as repre-
sentatives. This is as plain an admis-
sion OF the fact of differences in men as
could be made, and in making it Democ-
racy simply shows its common sense
and appreciation Of one Of those immu-
! table facts of life which it is folly tt
| deny.
We are not sure that the "boss.
whose Vaccinations, we take it, MIR
| O'Brien is trying to thwarl, would NO
| find way to manage majority of :ht
delegates select by lot even il lie die
not devise some way to control theil
| selection, and, should he discover it, he
would be more strongly entrenched
than ever. Now. when he goes too far
becomes too arrogant, too "bossy." anC
all the indifferent elements Of the com
munity get aroused, they can swarm
into the caucuses and conventions ane
smash him, or if this is too much of al
eXertioD. they can smash him and hi:
machine at the polls. But if we were
tied to a jury method of selecting dele
gates and he controlled that-and W.
rather think he would find way to-
we would be more helpless than ever.
We share neither that pessimism
which regards all existing conditions a:
productive only Of i'll nor. ON the Other
hand, that optimism which looks or
present conditions as the full ripe frui
of mankind's best development, either
OF which turns a deaf ear to suggestion:
of betterment, the pessimist because hi
dispairs of success: the optimist be
cause the existing is all right. Nor dt
we believe that evils having thei
source either in the cussedness or the
Indifferent laziness of men, can be
cured by legislative panaceas. Things
are as they are pretty much because
men are as they are, and, in the evolu
ton of the race, evil conditions disap
pear only when and because the major
| ity OF men have outgrown them. s.