Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-04-04
MiSQUOTEO.
Say Minneapolis Men Regarding Pri-
mary Elections.

Minneapolis, March 27.-W. S
Dwinnell and A E. Allen, two OF the
! three local men quoted in a recent
article in the Milwaukee Sentinel as
being opposed to the primaryH election
law, declare that they have been done
an injustice. Some things were put in.
to their mouths, they say, that they
never said. and in other cases what
they were particular to say was sadly
garbled or omitted wholly. The Sen
tinel's interviews with them put them
in quite wrong light, they declare.
Says Mr.. Dwinnell:
The zeal of the representative of
the Milwaukee Sentinel has placed me
in false position did not say, and
never have said, that favored the re-
peal of our primary law, unless it
should be possible to substitute for it
a convention law based upon methods
entirely different from anything which
has ever obtained in this state What
| did say was that in my opinion
there were dangers attaching to a di-
rect primary and, III my opinion, it
would be we'll for Wisconsin to forego
any legislation along this line until
we had had an opportunity to give
our law another test. l have been ad-
vised that Cleveland has been operat-
ing under direct primary law for
about ten years and that the same has
not been satisfactory in any respect,
that If hoe TncII1tn1 in rho -
as corrupt judiciary as is possessed
by any city in the nation, one of their
district judges having been recently
impeached In view of this fact, and
also in view of some of the strange
things which occurred at our last
primary, l have, felt it my duty, when
called upon to express myself, to adj
wise against hasty action. | am in ia
vor of good government and my only
desire is to secure those methods
most conducive to it. | fear, however.
that the danger Of manipulation is
fully as great under the direct pri-
mary as under the convention system.
In addition to this two serious
dangers are: FIRST, the lack of ac-
qualntance which the voters have
with the various candidates for office,
and, second, the amount of work and
expense entailed upon candidates. |
think it is safe to say that of the $50
candidates at the last primary the
average voter did not know either di-
rectly or by reputation more than 10
per cent. How can he be expected
under such conditions to exercise an
intelligent choice? Again, think of
the work and expense necessary to
the organization of this county by an
individual; it means a vast outlay
OF money and energy and it will be
impossible for any candidate to hope
for success who does not undertake
such organization on his own account.
| fear the result will therefore be to
deter our best citizens from becoming
candidates. These fears may be
groundless, but it seems to me our ex-.
perience has been such as to war
rant me in cautioning against undue
haste in the enactment of similar leg
islation in other states.
L observe an unpleasant reference
in the Sentinel interview to Mr.. Bell,
our county treasurer. While both Mr..
Bell and Mr.. Holton. the candidates
for county treasurer, had many
friends | have seen no one who has
not accepted the result gracefully, or
who does not believe Mr.. Bell will
make an excellent treasurer"
Mr.. Allen insists that his real SEN
timents in the matter are quite at
variance with those expressed in the
Sentinel article. He says: Il told
the Sentinel man plainly that l be-
lieved a popular vote for party nomi-
nations was just the proper thing. But
| did find some fault with the system
that allows democrats to control re-
publican nominations. l insisted that
one Of the first things to do was to
amend the law in this respect"