The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-16

I'm a trifie of my text. but I'll get
back to it all right. What l. desire as
beneficial to all, the railroads included.
Is to carry out the provisions OF the
state constitution and obtain the COM
petition that instrument calls for. IL
is a law that would be of benefit to the
railroads as well as other people and
prevent the wreck toward which bad
management Is surely leading them, for
monopoly ends in wreck sooner or later.
There must be a strict enforcement
Of laws and constitutions made for the
general welfare. There must be no op-
preston of any class or corporation.
All must be subject to the same bur-
dens. The word class should never be
used. In the great human family there
! should be no favorites. Even the
semblance or shadow of oppression
must cease to exist"
TO REFORM THE PRIMARY.
One of the most important measures
that Governor Pingree will father in
the Legislature will be a primary cleo
ton or caucus law that has been for
some time u hobby with him.
Yes, sir" said the governOr-elect.
you may say that am going for that
law. There ought to be a change.
There's too much trouble, crOOkedness
and expense connected with the pres
ent system. We can't have conven-
tion but the smoke Of 1Obbery rises
right away. 1t costs us here In Detroit
several thousand dollars for every con-
vention. and each party has to have
one before each election, you know.
There is not much to my plan. but
here you have 1t: 1 want all candi-
dates, for whatever party voted for.
chosen on the same day and at the
same time. ANY man wanting to run
for alderman should have his name put
on the ticket as a Republican and the
Democrats as Democrats, just as we
do in elections now. The regular cleo
tiOn commission should take care of
the work. The voter would take his
ballot, Just as he does now under our
Australian system. and mark it for
those he wished to vote for. He could.
of course, vote for only one candidate
for each office. and If ne marked two
names he would lose his vote entirely.
CANDIDATES BEAR THE COST.
"All there is to it Is that the go-as-
you-please caucus would be done away
with. Every party would nominate its
candidates on the same day and every
man would have an equal show II he
wanted to run for office. The cost OF
the caucus or nominating election
might be borne by fee charged upon
each candidate to pay printing ex-
penses and so forth.
Don't YOU see that we should not
need any packed conventions? Every
man would he his own delegate and
there would be no chance to carry
convention by buying up few votes
for a small price. 1t would simply be
determined which man of party was
the man wanted to run for the office.
/ tell YOU it's a sure cure for good
deal of the caucus jobbery that bothers
us and that makes our present system
so OdiOus to good people.
I'm connection with that, there's an
other matter that ought to be attend
ed to by the legislature, and that is
this matter of coercing voters by meth
DDS that are not just right. You know
these big quasi-public corporations.
and some that are not quasi-public. but
just as big and powerful aften take
advantage of laboring mans depend
ence upon them by gently suggesting
to him for whom he shall vote. Such
tacit force Is unbecoming an American
institution and law to stop it should
be passed at once"
VOTE ON FRANCHISES.
Municipal legislation affecting De-
troit is looked for at the coming ses-
sion of the legislature. Much of it will
be purely of local Importance, and a
majority of people are as much inter-
ested in 1t as Is the mayor. But one
thing he does advocate and will
try to get a measure thereon through
the legislature. and that refers to the
passing Of the people themselves on
valuable franchises given to corpora
tions such as street railway companies
or lighting concerns.
Oh. 1a To-,
gree. $50 that the people would have
a chance to pass their opinion after
their representatives, the aldermen get
through with their work. There Is a
good deal of jObbery among the latter
in such matters, and often an Objec-
tiOnable clause that would do the peO-
pie millions Of dollars worth of harm
goes through creased by the applica-
tion of a few hundreds In silver. Give
the people opportunity to kill any such
legislation.
yes, it is the referendum applied in
a special case, but, then, that Is moth
ing new. Here a year or two ago we
voted whether we should have free text
books or not. It's on a similar princi-
pie. It's plain what l mean without
any further explanation.
FEDERALISM IN CITY RULE.
i tS, ! all Ill ldNOT VI tHe ItueTdl
system of city government, making the
mayor the direct head of all affairs.
with the commissions, like the public
works and lighting board, directly re-
sponsible to him. As 1t is, our munic-
ipal business Is disjOinted, because a
half dozen disconnected commissions
have charge of them. But under the
federal system. the heads of all would
meet weekly. or at stated intervals.
for conference. and all parts of the
municipal service would have cOnnec-
tion that would be beneficial to 1t.
There would be a definite RESPONSE
bility to the mayor, and he in turn
would shoulder the load of RESPONSE
bility to the people,"
The fourth class of legislation that
the new reform governor will attempt
will be rather negative in character. 1t
refers to many statutes on the books
of the state that are practically dead,
or worse than dead, repealed by the
will of the people. though not by law,
and standing daily as violated laws,
q reprOach to the community.
Il want to get rid Of some of those
old laws" said the gOvernOr-elect. "fOr
they don't do any good, filling up vol
ume after volume of statute books.
forceless and forgotten. There are too
many of them numbering up the stat
utes, and l want to see to 1t that some
of them are repealed and taken Off the
books. l can't specify. but everybody
knows that the statute books are full
of them. 1t will be simply a cleaning
up process. That's all.
HOW THE LEGISLATURE STANDS.
Mr.. Pingree's election to the chair of
the governorship was distinct express
sion of the peoples will. His plurality
was some $4,000 votes, and this IL taken
as an Endorsement of his reform meth
ods by the people Of the state. He is |
not allied with corporate concerns. but
is peculiarly independent of them. He
owes not an iota to the corporations or
trusts of the state for his election, for
they opposed him with all their pow
l,o fBno