Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-05-31
STATE CONVENTION TO STAY
No Demand in Minnesota for Dis
placement by Primary System.

placement by Primary System.
! Clerk of the Supreme Court D. f.
| Reese, one of the very beSt-known men
| in Minnesota and from the standpoint of
| political knowledge as keen an observer
| of the workings of the new system as
any, says: In my opinion there is no
| demand or even agitation for an extern
sion of the system so as to do away
| with the state convention for the nomi-
nation of state officers. There is, how
ever, lot of opposition to this idea.
In general, it is pretty good law for
| the politician, and the contention that it
| is one particularly in the interest of the
people is ridiculous. To start with, the
| expense of securing a nomination IS
| transferred from the individual to the
taxpayer.
IF the state convention is done away
| with there is no way in which platform
can be adopted unless it is made by GER
tain interested individuals. The voters
can have no direct voice in this. For
instance, l was made chairman of the
platform committee in the city campaign.
Presumably | might have called the COM
| mittee together and drafted a platform.
1t would have represented the ideas of
the members Of the committee and would
not have been an expression of the Re
| publican voters of st. Paul. The voters
would have no opportunity to ratify or
| approve of the same. In view of this
! situation, the Republicans have no plat
form of principles SO far as the city is
concerned The personal declaration of
the candidates in their public speeches
| may represent what the Republicans be-
ileye, but under the present condition it
is largely question of individual express
sion.
Law for Politicians.
fundamentally this is a republican
and representative form of government
In the past the country has grown great
and prosperous under the convention sys-
tenn and our greatest statesmen and best
men are the products of that system To
my mind the present primary law is a
law for the newspapers and politicians.
by assalling and attacking one candidate
and exalting another the newspapers can
WELD power and control over the Sc
lection Of candidates which at best can
not result advantageously to the public.
IF the plan is so extended as to do
away with state conventions party re-
sponsibility is entirely done away with
and our government instead of being
representative in form, becomes a pure
democracy"
Mr.. Reese gave specific statements of
the way the law worked in st. Paul in
reference to the advantages possessed by
a candidate who was in office, citing as
illustrations the influence of the vast
number of city employees and the extra
ordinary power under organization of the
ofticeholder. From q party standpoint
he said, there was no way in which to
overcome disadvantageous selections as
regards nationality or to observe geo
come from one ward or from one voting
precinct.
WheeIock for Convention.
Fewer men in the Northwest have ex-
ercised greater influence upon public mat
tiers than has Editor Joseph Wheelock
of the st. Paul Pioneer Press. Although
veteran in his work he is keenly alive
to all questions which concern the vel
fare of his state and takes no common
interest in legislation conducive to bet
ter all conditions. When he was asked
if he believed that it would be well to
do away with the state convention and
nominate state officers by direct pri
mary ballot he said:
The primary system probably is all
right IN small, compact communities and
cities In larger political divisions l do
not see how we can dispense with the
complicated the larger the political d-
vision is, and l am very much inclined
to think that we would have consider
able difficulty in getting along without
some representative body"
He spoke of the possibility of a minor
ity candidate securing the nomination
and the opportunity for a candidate IN
ferior i'll character to so manipulate mat
ters under the primary system by the
bringing out of other candidates that
very small percentage of the total vote
would serve to create a candidate for
the party. He suggested that possibly
some plan could be devised to permit
the result of a primary to be reviewed
by a committee or convention acting 10
a representative capacity. Under the
primary system he also appreciated the
disadvantages from the standpoint of
party organization and the futility as
well as danger of permitting the can
dldates to make a platform. To illus
trate this point he cited the fact that
in the municipal campaign in st. Paul
the Democrats in their platform-which,
by the way, was formulated by COM |
mittee in existence prior to the adoption |
of the primary law-pledge themselves |
to perform certain things which as city |
officials and councilmen they have |
strongly contended against and have op- |