The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1900-09-07

rings for the political control of the
| greatest county.
"The pools work it in this way. They
! select a man honest in every other
way, and thoroughly we'll known, to
/ hold the stakes or pool. The moneys
| therein are assessed upon all of the
candidates, and rarely, indeed, will a
/ candidate be slated unless he prompt
| ~ pays his assessment. When the
| two rings are close, each will seek a
| comparatively poor and able man and
| run him for congress or some repreSen-
| tative office, with view to pretend a
virtue when they have it not Other
| mOneyed men, with future ambitions.
and those looking for contracts, con-
| tribute to the pool. They call
! the one described the Hog pool, So
called because it tries to hog every
thing in sight. The Bull pool which OPP
crates against it has usually more hope
than cash, though when ambitious and
wealthy candidates for United States
senator and governor come along, it is
we'll supplied, and then Il primary bat
tie royal is the result All too sadly,
the biggest and best handled pile in
variably wins.
More Hopeful View.
At this point, interrupting Mr.. Coop
er's discussion. | insert another esti-
mate of the Crawford county. plan by
Mr.. Talcott Williams of the Philadel-
phia Press. He writes me:
ut is the universal opinion in this
state that the Crawford county sys-
tenn, as it is called, does more for a
machine than any other questionable
device. 1t saddles the cost of gen.
eral election on the party, and all the
difficulty of getting good men to neg
lect their business to go to the polls,
which bad men find it their profit to
attend. My own personal impression,
however, is that it is passing through
exactly the change which our elections
did, of which | think there is indubita-
bic proof that they are growing purer.
less corrupt and more directly repre-
sentative of the average good sense of
the community during all the three
centuries during which men have been
voting among the Englishry. This is
not the general impression, but | be-
lieye that it is not merely because men
have not patiently studied the cleo
tons Of the past"
Delaware's Compromise Plan.
Reverting to Mr.. COopers essay, |
quote again:
SIN the early struggles looking to
improved primary methods. Delaware
county enjoyed the distinction of de-
viSing system comprising all the vir-
tues of delegate representation with
the popular vote. The delegates are
appOrtiOned according to the number
of voters, the latter instruct them for
first and second choice as to all can
didateS, the returns must be sent with
instruction certificates in advance to
the chairman of the convention, and if
q delegate violates his instructions, the
chairman is directed in the presence
of the whole convention to cast the
vote in his place. Under all ordinary
circumstances this system works we'll.
and yet wealthy candidates and pow
erflll rings have conSpired to break it's
force, and they have succeeded in sew
eral instances, but they have never
succeeded in abolishing the plan. Ia
ken in conjunction with the state pri-
mary statute, which makes the pri-
mary rules of any party the law, it is
the best of all the systems known.
Bradford, Chester, and many other
counties have adopted it.
What LaFoilette Proposes.
1.-THE higher need, however, is for a
primary election law, enacted by the
state, and suited to all parties-such
law to be as rigid and as binding as
any other election law, and to be as
close a copy of good general election
laws as it is possible to make it.
''In no other way can perfection be
oh
it's 81 counties. an old state, with
primary system nearly century old,
has had every variety Of experience
with the results stated. Indeed, the
stated results herein described, and
the methods leading up to them, are
the most general and popular. Their
defects have been plainly stated.
Contracts Control in the Cities.
I'm the great cities of Philadelphia
and Pittsburg contracts control all To-
cal politics. The men behind the con-
tracts and those fed by them, the lit
tie and the great, and the men who
are given municipal places land there
are 5000 of these in PHILADELPHIA as
a rule run the primaries of both par
ties, and the better citizens stay away
occasionally making a fight at the
elections. These are hopeful battles
when they unite the better elements of
both parties, but not otherwise.
"City administrations, from the
mayor down, all as a rule bow to the
potent power beneath. and that is the
power leading the boys who have the
places, and the power leading the boys
as a rule operates the contracts. It is
Tammany rule which is copied in
Pittsburg and Philadelphia and the
people pay the bill, Philadelphia and
Pittsburg both adopted reform char
tiers with view to get rid of the boss
rule encouraged by primary plans, but
these charters are daily circumvented
They heva rather injured, since they
conveyed the impression that the law
and not the people, would look to the
remedy. 1t is the old. old story, that
only by eternal vigilance can we pre-
serve our liberties.
Eternal Vigilance Necessary.
Laws may come, and laws may 60,
but the people who are to stay on for
ever. must be ever ready to seek SAT-
err and higher forms of liberty. and