Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-02-28

! NOuAu U6, IuG levi VI d SdlHC was lS,
he musingly continued. They may die
hard, he added, but we have got mos
Of the useless political barnacles
| buried up in Hennepin county"
How about the expense, I in
quired. A secondary consideration
he said. The entire election machinery
under the system of twenty years ago
the old vest pocket system, was not
one-half so expensive as the present
one. However, no voter makes com
plant as to the change. The question
cannot be determined by dollars and
| cents, but even ii that should prove {
factor the per capita expense through
cut the state is too small to be ap
! probable"
| Many of the supporters of the old
system are afraid it will remove thu
! power from the hands Of party mana
gers and insist that the old system is
q pretty good one, 1 suggested. He
| looked at me with quizzica1 express
sion and finally said. Did you evez
| try to eat pretty good egg? No, h
continued, it has outlived it's useful
ness"
This briefly was the result of M
| interview on the law so far as it has
tbeen tried in Minnesota.
Concensus OF Opinion.
To sum it all up the concensus OF
opinfon is, that the primary election
like the Australian ballot, is a move in
the right direction. 1t permits the
voter to be unhandicapped in hi
choice Of men and leaves him free
from the manipulation of the ward
heelers. 1t will not bring about the
millennium nor prove a panacea for al
ills but it will to a great extent re
move the autocrat and the middleman
from politics.
Present Laws openly Violated.
You gentlemen are constantly en-
gagged in framing laws for the pre-
Vention of crime. In these chamber
you provide suitable punishment TO,
the prevention Of corruption at the
caucus, the convention and the polls
i Every man is. presumed to know The
law and vet, gentlemen, the laws sc
written haye at times proved farcical
While the statutes of this state are
as complete as are the laws of any
other state, there is not a member OF
this committee nor Of either of thu
two houses of the legislature, verse(
in practical politics, so called who
! does not know that the laws of tn
state are openly violated in nearly
convention, aye, was about to say
times without number.
Read your own laws, section 4479.
(Mr Frear then read the law which
declared bribery to be the offering o
any pecuniary advantage, in order tt
secure a nomination and providins
sYere punishment for it's infraction.)
How would it do to strictly enforce
this law in every district in the state
How many prosecutions are yoi
familiar with that have been securet
) under this law or those which pre-
ceded it? Have you had any convic
) lions under this law? I have no infor
! nation on the subject, but vii
Z venture to say that all the conviction
secured in the entire state could b
J counted On the fingers Of one hand an
it is questionable if this is not allow
! ing five too many.
; You are all men of political affair
and yet you know this law is violate,
in spirit or fact numberless times a
every county convention held in wis
consln, wherever the nomination j
equivalent to an election.
Laws are valueless without enforce
, ment. They cannot be enforced with
. out evidence and it is impossible T
t secure evidence under the presen
law. Nor is the violation confined t
any party. 1t arises largely from tn
/ open invitation to barter and trade
S aHoTded by the present caucus an
convention system. Take the oppo,
;, tunlty. the temptation away from tn
] political manipulation, vest the powe
e OF government, the selection o. cal
4 dldates, the making of platforms. i
the hands of the sovereign people an
q they will not prove recreant to tn
{ trust
0 The delegate convention is not wha
s II was originally intended to be. whe
the delegate represents nobody br
e the candidate whose special represeI
S tat1ve he has become. The true pu
g poses OF the caucus and conventio
n system have become a lost art wbe
q ambitious individuals appoint the del
l gates to carry out certain pre-arrange