The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-05
THE COOP ouT OF 1T.

The primary bill as amended is now
reasonably certain OF adoption in the
condition in which the senate has left It.
with a strong probability Of receiving the
executive Endorsement 1t is a remark
able piece of legislation; and, but for
the foolish extension OF It's provisions to
offices which shouldsnor have been In
Guided. might haze proven desirable in
it's results
The agitation which has attended the
closing days of the Consideration of the
measure by the Legislature could not be
regarded as legitimate discussion. Hys-
terical nonsense has passed with the
friends of the measure as advocacy; and
abuse for reasoning. Its passage has
been forced against the intelligent judg-
ment of both houses by a system of po-
Htical bull-dozing which augurs but poor
ly for the future of the measure.
1t is worthy of recognition that the
amendments advanced during the last
days debate in the senate, and said by
the friends of the measure to have been
designed for purposes Of obstruction.
were nearly all of beneficial kind. and
will materially aid in securing for the
measure some at least of the success
which its friends have been predicting for
it, if, indeed, it is not foredoomed to
complete failure.
We are seriously told by those who
have brought all their forces of coercion
and hysteria to bear uron the legislature
in connection with this measure that we
are now to have practically the political
millennium The dear people themselves
and nobody else will have anything to
say about who shall fill the elective Of
fees; and all the arts and devices Of the
skilled political manipulation viii be sent
forthwith to the lumber room Of politics.
This sort of prophesy is of course IN
dulged in most seriously by the class,
newspaper editors prominently included,
that rarely if ever attend either primary
or convention. and do not always vote.
The men who prove the superiority of
their citizenship by active work in the
primary, in the convention and at the
polls, and whom the dilletanti of poll
tics are proud to designate ward heel
ers and machine politicians, will go on
under the new scheme-conceding to 1t
all the practical success that is predicted
for it-controlling the political situation,
securing the nomination, appointment
and elections for their friends, as they
have always done. The people who have
but a languid interest in political con-
tests will have no more influence than
they ever did The masses will have no
better opportunity to control the result
of the primaries than they ever have
had, and it is doubtful whether they will
make much better use than they ever did
of that opportunity.
The good that will be accomplished,
assuming that the measure does not
break down by the weight Of the stupid
additions that it embodies to the orig
inal conception of such a measure, will
consist chiefly in doing away with the
political striker who finds his way into
conventions and holds his hand out for
the money of candidates, allowing his
vote to be made a mere matter of sordid
money gain to him. One of the evils
which will attend the measure will be an
unavoidable increase i'll the expenses of
candidates who will find themselves oblig-
ed virtually to run the gauntlet twice in
stead of once. With real corrupt
practices law enforced, as the present
law is not, this result could be avoided;
but as political contests are now being
conducted there is no man that ever ran
for Office that will not agree that this
result is inevitable.
The G o b e is anxious to see free and
honest primaries in force. 1t would have
welcomed the enactment if it had come
in some form which promised future
success. All it can do now is to- hope
that the present measure will not be
found i'll operation wholly abortive for
the purposes of the friends of straight
primaries. -