The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-07

ton. Therefore, urges Joseph Choate,
 What l plead for is little more-yes
 a great deal more-of attention in ordl- nary times to public duties on the part
 of those who are qualified to discharge
 them; and so, and so only, shall we
 have purer politics and better govern ment."
 Governor Theodore Roosevelt joins the
 company of distinguished men urging
 forward their countrymen:
 Tt Is not the man who sits by his
 firesde reading his evening paper and
 saying how bad are politics and politi-
 clans who will ever do anything to save
 us; it is the man who goes out into the
 rough hurly- -burly of the caucus, the primary and the political meeting, and
 there face his fellows on equal terms
 Another apt exhortation may be quot
 ed from the pen of the statesman and
 historian, Henry Cabot Lodge: Give
 what you can of your time and thought to your country's service. Give as much
 as you can, but in any event take an interest in public affairs and do some
 thing
 All of these well known men, as well as every intellectual patriot in the land, | is anxious to see American citizenship unitedly express itself in the primaries first, and at the polls afterward. First by attending the caucus, secondly by acquainting itself with men and issues and taking active part in selecting and electing candidates We must do it, if the great principles of our government ! are to survive. One of those principles, l ia, tla ,f toI ot, star ic That the right of suffrage shall be guarded, protected and secured against force and against fraud"
 1 Whatever opposes or trammels that right must be met and overcome by popular impetus. As Grover Cleveland has expressed it, in application to the primary where suffrage begins:
 Tt is quite apparent that the primary election or caucus should be surrounded by such safeguards as will secure absolutely free and uncontrolled action. Here the people themselves are supposed to speak, here they put their hands to the machinery of government, and in this place should be found the manifestations of the popular will. When by fraud Intimidation or any other questionable practice the voice of the people is here smothered direct blow is aimed at a most precious right"
 The time may come when the caucus will be abolished and other machinery put in it's place. But, if done, it will be because a popular uprising demands It. In the meantime the institution is with us and we must make the best of it by attendance and activity therein. Think of it. When the population of New York city was much less than half what 1t is now it was estimated that 10000 men, mostly of the would-better class. habitually refrained from voting, while the number of those who never visited the primaries was vastly greater. pr. Howard Crosby said at the time:
 These could turn any election in New York city for good if they should exer- else their right and do their duty, for not only would their votes count, but the knowledge that there was such an army of righteous men about to vote would purify the list of candidates"
 The percentage has not altered mate rially since in that great city, and the facts can be duplicated. on smaller | I
 Let the people rise in their strength | and throng the primaries with intelli- gent, earnest purpose to select their own candidates and set forth their own views, and any machine that stands in the way will go down as fated Johns town went down before the waters of | the flood.
 Roosevelt and some twenty-five other young men once reyolutionized an elec- ion district by devoting Ia large part )f their time to thoroughly organizing md getting out the respectable vote. For the first time in the politics of hat state the primaries were carried against the regular machine In Ohio, where revival of patriotism is going m. there are thirty or more towns where eight years ago only twenty to orty politicians and their henchmen at ended the primaries, held, frequently, n groggeries. but now 200 to 400 attend
 (Continued on Eleventh Page)