The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-05
THE cIIrR SYSTEM

The Republican committee has finally
adopted it's rules for primaries, and has
adopted what has been called the
'wide-open" plan. Any qualified voter
can participate in the primary, provid-
ed he first signs the roll of a precinct
club The alternative proposed for this
was some sort of a pledge that the per-
son proposing to vote at the primary
and thus use his vote to control nomi-
nations and party management, is a
Republican, and will support the Re
publican nominees, the Republican plat /
form and Republican principles. What
ever may have been the objection to the
mere wording in which this alternative
was proposed, it seems hard to conceive
any valid objection to the principle of
the thing 1t is however, probably use
less, to discuss the issue involved in
this particular matter. The committee
has formulated rules for the primaries,
All interests and factions know the
rules of the game, and can fight out
their battles and differences according
10 them.
But the whole theory on which the |
committee seems to be working, and
out of which has grown much of the
controversies in which it has been en-
gagged, is fundamentally wrong, is OPP
posed to the practices of the party on
the mainland, with perhaps some iso-
lated, local and temporary exceptions;
has been shown by our own experience
to be Disappointing, and must always
work out to the detriment of the party
and the multiplication of dissensions,
and the creation of factions.
This erroneous theory consists in
making the precinct clubs, or any set
or series Of clubs the basis Of party
organization.
The basis Of party organization
should be the whole body of voters who
believe in the principles of the party,
and will support it at the polls. \ man
may be strong, reliable, even stall
wart Republican without feeling called
on to join a Republican club. Indeed
there are hundreds of thousands of Re
publcans who are not members of any
club, precinct or otherwise The entire
party organization Of the Republican
party on the mainland, practically
ignores the club system except as an
auxiliary at election times. The whole
organization is built up without re-
ference to clubs or systems of clubs,
and in fact the club system has been
consistently kept out of the party or
ganizaHon against the most determined
efforts to break into it in many locali-
ties, and nationally by the League OF
Republican Clubs"
And the reasons for it are in the very
nature of things, and patent to any one
who will give the subject consideration.
The object of party organization is
to secure success at the polls for the
purpose Of carrying out the party prin-
ciples in legislation and administration.
A mans vote counts for no more at an
election because he may belong to one
or a dozen political clubs. Very often |
his influence counts for less. The great |
body of men, who believe in the princi- !
pies of a party can be counted on to |
vote the party ticket on election day. /
But the great body of men who believe
in the principles of a party can not be /
counted on to join precinct club. The .
result is that the clubs, except during ,
the activity of a campaign, dissolve into /.
nothingness, or are managed by those
who have a personal rather than
party interest in them, Therefore, to
make the clubs the basis Of party or
ganization, is to throw the control Of
the party into the hands of those who
are doing politics for their own person |
al ends, and thereby ALLEVIATE and drive
away from the party great numbers of
voters who belong to the party and
vote its ticket because to them it re-
presents principles and not men nor
factions, 1t is just these voters who
make majorities. They represent to the
party the difference between defeat and
victory
The general plan of party organlza-
ton throughout the states is a nation
al committee consisting of representa-
tives from each state and territory cho-
sen by the state or territorial delega-
tons at the national convention. These
delegations We're in turn chosen at the
state convention, from the several con-
gressional delegations and these in turn
were chosen at congressional conven-
tons composed of delegates selected
directly at primaries in large cities, as
rule, or at county conventions in con-
gressional districts which include more
than one5county, and in this latter case
the delegates to the county convention
are chosen at township and precinct
primaries
State organizations follow the same
general principles, either through coun-
~ or congressional district conventions
down to the precinct primary. Legisla-
tive, City~and county organization all
proceed on the same lines, and all end in
the primary, The primary itself being