The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-27
Letters to The Editor.
Corruption in Convention.

Editor The Advertiser:
 It has been contended that the Demo- cratic system of selecting candidates for office is time honored." and consequent I ly cannot be disturbed without giving onense to the conservative spirit of the
 people The assumption that the system l IS time honored is clearly erroneous | and results. take it. from a failure .o appreciate the difference in meaning be-
 tween the words. time honored and long continued. Laws and customs become time honored by long record of honer- able and meritorious administrations: and institutions so administered are a source of just pride to any party or any people TOT many years, the management of our nominating conventions has not been satisfactory, and the opportunities fur nished, thereby, for abuses at once scan- dalous and subversive of the will of the people. have been manifold and deplora- bic The system has been long contin- ueo put It Is certainly not time honor eu Instead Of being venerable and worthy of honor and imitation, our con ventfons have become a market for the
 sale and trading of votes in most offen- sive and disgraceful fashion. A certain
 ty conventions as veritable financial har- vests. No candidate for an office of profit goes before County convention now sdays. with any hope of success in a close contest without being prepared to be rob. bed by these cormoraIts who prey upon candidates through the agency of these time honored' conventions. The modes or proceeding and tho large sums extort- ca are too familiar to require statement. Delegates of the class mentioned. are not seduced from their propriety. but hold blocks Of votes for sale. and demand the highest available price for their odiops conduct. I am not aware that money has been used in our State Conventions to influence | the votes of delegates. but the use of
 other valuable considerations for that l fa goods" are bargained for and deliver ed The transaction differs from sale Tor money. only in the article of value which is accepted as the medium of ex- change.
 'Tis true. and pity 'tis 'tis true, that bartering away of votes Is not so dis graceful in the eyes of the world, as a
 straight out sale. but the fact renders the evil practices more tempting and
 more common and consequently, more dangerous to the integrity of the elective franchise. Whilst the sales of County conventions. if discovered, are more ruin plcated, the evil practices of State con Ventions are more revolutionary and more disastrous to Democratic govern ment.
 the people. nominating conventions often proclaim the will of those who can buy the balance Of power or of political wire- pullers who plume themselves on their skill and success in manipulating con- ventions. I can understand why office-seekers with long purses and artists" with cum ming heads. are in favor of a system which offers opportunities to substitute their will for the will of the people; but cannot understand how electors who | wish the majority of Democrats to select | candidates for the party. can consent to have nominations determined by such art ful. corrupt and undemocratic practices as often control in State and County l conventions.
 Selection of State and County officers by direct vote of the qualified electors, is the best general rule which the wis dom and experience of the American peo-t 1 pie have been able to devise in regard to this matter; and with few exceptions. | that they shall be so selected. Is now and has been from the beginning, the law of this and every other State.
 In Alabama. the selection of candidates l for such offices by the Democratic party, l determines absolutely their election to | the offices for which they have been se- l lected. Such selection Is equivalent to an l election and this being the case, 1t is l clear that such selection by convention | instead of primary. is virtual denial | of the right to select such officers by | direct vote of the people.
 Verify. the party convention is the most cunning device ever constructed by the ingenuity of the politician to deprive the people of the right to vote for the can didate of their choice for any office.
 Why the empty show of an election by the people at all? Why cheat the people with the semblance of selecting an offi- cer by direct vote. when he has already been selected by a few score of politi cians in a nominating convention? Why
 not in the final election in all cases where practicable. substitute the Legis- lature for the people, and avoid aItogeth- CT the farce and the expense of a general election?
 Our United States Senators are elected in that way, and if the people are not to be trusted with veritabIe directly cleo tive vote, why hoodwink them with a sham. and at the same time tax them with the cost of the imposition? The se- lection of the Legislature Is provided for by law more carefully than State nom- mating convention, and Is more Demo- cratic. because selected by a vote of the pecSle without the intervention of a County convention.
 If the Caucasian as we'll as the negro Is to be disfranchised let it be done in an orderly manner and let the power pass to body carefully regulated by law.
 The temptations and opportunities for fraud in the primaries attach to both l systems, but the present system has the 1 additional opportunities and temptations 1 to bribery. trading and wire-pulling which | for years have been scandal and re- | proach to the system.
 To those who covet the opportunities of | State and County conventions for self | aggrandlzement the present system will | always have it's attractions and tempta- | tions: but those who earnestly desire the | nearest possible approach to honesty in 1 the selection of officers, and those who | favor a government in which the sov- | ereign power Is lodged in the body of the | people-who are Democrats in fact as | we'll as in name-will always regard this | system with aversion. and will oppose it | uncompromisingly. as long as vestige | of it remains in the party.
 The nominating convention has had its | day in Alabama: 1t is doomed it must | go. All towns and cities and many of | the counties have already adopted the | straight primary; and the sooner the pol. | iticians and their friends join the process 1 sion the better it will be for all con cerned.
 Primary Advocate
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