The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-04

right Let US adopt it,
IN month ago the world looked on
hisfnry monaer at scene unriyalled in
49,, bttWeen sunrise and sunset en-
lavender sixteen million men went
SSu.y 70 q hundred Thousand ballot
gpeafes ana , determined the policy OF the
y , There had been months OF agfta-
uion ana Tremendous expenditures OF time
a 90 snergy and money. When the verdict
~ muse ballot boxes was rendered al
tnough TO those who lost II blasted hopes
anu AMBITIONS, shattered ideals and
shadowed the future with oninous por-
neal ,s ys. had any man suggested an APP
peai from that verdict to the court Of
rsNpiutlon, he would have met with the
righteous Indignation Of unsnimo1s
nns,,ican citizenship The voice of the
people ~ not always the voice 81 God
put IN true republic It Is rightly re-
1890 "ith as much reverence as II il
wers. American citizenship respects and
needs the voice OF the people
bui when we come to consider the
nSa,erlcah party convention and It's pre-
ceding caucuses and primaries, with its
ma n as o. voicing the peoples will. we
nnu an institution receiving neither re-
npcct nor reverence. Its verd cts are
snameIessly rendered after open traffck-
ins- those who win are lost to sense
o. seif-respect. those who lose are en-
bittered and rebeilious at the result The
institution Is destructive OF every ideal
o. good American citizenship Men use
IT,
OF hear of dirty politics and call upon
clean men TO enter the primaries and
improve the situation. Such attempts are
wei,nigh futuie and must be so as lang
as the present primary and convention
exist. The entire institution lis one which
IN its very nature places a premium on
pad ciuzenship by .afrording 1t every OPP
portunity 10 control. II is useless to rail
az the individual corruption and trading
and trafhcking which characterize toe
present system. The average caucus and
age Is game with men as pawns and
ofnes and power as the goal IL YOU
enter the game at all Ii In TO win. That
means to employ the tactics calculated
70 beat your opponent. Not TO enter the
game ~ TO become a cipher In citizen
ship and influence.
:. The remedy lies, not in railing and
kicking at the bosses and Combines and
rings, but in abolishing the institution
which gives them life and power. Let
the people nominate their candidate for
elect them. and the day OF the boss Is
done.
There is nothing partisan in the direct
primary movement. 1t ~ Ike the Aus
trafian ballot-simply an advance in
methods Of free government. Once adopt
ed the people will look back to the days
u caucuses and primaries and conven-
tlons. with their corrupting surroundings
and influences. as memory Of days Of
primitive government.
Put me down first. last and always in
fhNor OF TINS ana every other methOi OF
getting government where II belongs--in
the hands OF the people direct. The 'di-
rect primary viii give the people the
best men from whom 10 choose their pub
lie servants. Al the best, the convention
system usually compels the people to
chose between two evils. Supplement- the
direct primary with direct legislation
and then in deed and truth the people viii
rule"
George H. King
II favor the direct primary because it
brings the nominations close TO the peo-
Pile The choice OF the nominees OF the
political parties rightfuily belongs In the
hands Of the people, but II Will never be
there unti the diyect primary a similar
system Is adopted and the trading and
pickering OF the present conventions be-
come a thing OF the past. This trading
now absolutely controls all nominations,
much Of the time In actual opposition 60
the will OF the people, and there can he
no pure. clean politics until such methods
are made absolutely impossible.
II am pleased to observe In the Minne-
sofa law a provision calculated to guard
primaries OF another In the primaries In
that Etate man IL allowed to vote on
only one ticket and he cannot participate
IN thu primaries OF another party without
voting Its entire ticket. This Is great
Improvement over the present system
which permits men 10 vote at every pri-
mary.
''The direct primary will do more than
anything else to sound the death knell IT
the political machine and II will make the
expenditure Of money In politics a much
more diffcAt matter. Under the conven-
ton system a vote can bs purchased and
the buyer has an opportunity 70 soc that
the goods are delivered Vote buying UNI
der the primary election law VII he ~
FUN of difficulty as under the Australian
haiinf "