The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-29
WAYS OF NAMING CANDIDATES.

Both the News and the Tribune at
tempt, covertly. to justify the method
of nominating. candidates adopted by
the nonTpartisan committee, by trying
to throw ridicuEe on the Democratic
conventions nominations. saying they
we're made by -ssIate-makers. The
facts are all against them. In the
/ convention were nearly 400 delegates
who had been elected by more than
1000 voters at primaries. II the con
vention the nominations we're made,
and as many as chose made them. The
/ delegates voted for the candidates Of
/ their choice. and there was no secrecy
about how they voted or about the an
/ nouncement of their votes. The Dem
( ocratic convention adopted the Amer
lean way OF naming candidates, and
any American citizen who chose was
1 free 10 go in and see exactly how ii
was done.
What was the method of making
nominations adopted by the non-parti-
san committee? Well, nobody knows
what it was save that the committee
IL
( tains were drawn and the doors locked.
Were the people in whose behalf we are
told all this secret work was done free
to so into that private room and make
suggestions to the committee as to
what they desired and what they
deemed best for the public welfare?
They were not asked in, they were not
wanted there, for their presence would
have interfered with the committees
plans The gentlemen of the commit
tee had no use for the people in making
up ticket; their only use for them in
this regard being TO have them vote
their ticket. They had no faith in the
people when it came to naming candi-
dates for office. not believing they
would name fit men and women for Of
flee. There never was more magnif-
cent display of contempt for the PEG
pie than was made by the bipartisan
committee in making up a list of c4n-
didates for office.
If the method pursued by the non
partisan committee in making nomina-
tons is superior to that adopted by the
great political parties and is a much
better guarantee Of the selection of the
best men to serve the people in Office.
why dc not the News and Tribune come
out and show wherein it is better, how
it is that by adopting it better men for
Office can be named? If they have a
great light, why do they seek to hide
it under a bushel? Let them tell the
people Of Salt Lake City why it is thai
q few gentlemen. who hold secret meet
ings behind closed doors, are better able
TO select a ticket than they are; let
them tell the people why it is not wise
to consult them when candidates are
to be named; let them tell the people
why they cannot be trusted in this mat
ter; let them tell the people why pri-
MARES and nominating conventions
have ceased to be st instruments for
free people to express their desires in
the matter of naming candidates for
public Office through. Let them tell the
people all this, and how they know
what is better for them than they
themselves do. Surely if they love the
people they Will confide in them; and
as surely as they do not trust the peo-
pie they will not confide in them
The Democratic convention has
named as good a ticket as the non
partisan committee; and even if con-
Tentions could not name as good tick
cts as oligarchic committees could,
still it would be better for the people
to name their own officers than to have
a committee that sits in secret and
works behind closed doors do it. When
it becomes necessary to have a COM
mittee acting for nobody but them
selves make nominations for public Of
fee it is necessary to have a new form
of government instituted. In free gov
eminent there should be nothing but
free methods.