The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-06-14
THE RULE OF THE PEOPLE.

the i1fflcS-DefnOCTat fdVOrS the rule Oh
the people and is aligned in favor of pri-
mary elections for the nomination of
candidates instead OF the effete system
of conventions, cut and dried affairs,
where the few manipulate and pull the
strings for the select. The people, the
Democrats who vote and carry elections
in Louisiana have been insisting on the
rule Democratic.
In an editorial in an issue of recent
date the Times Democrat under the
head of louisiana Supreme Political
Need" says:
I'm theory Our government is the
servant of the people,; in practice the
people are serfs of the Governor.
These problems are not 10 be solved
through academic debate. A simple and
efficient remedy for the evils must be
found. 1t is the cause, not the effects,
that we must take in hand. Twas said
of old that all roads led to Rome In
Sai NooSs aii tiiS petils vi tiS epollSHldA
lead to the device by which elections are
made to defeat the popular WILL Candi-
dates are named behind the closed doors
of the caucus, instead of being chosen
at the polls. The convention is a slaugh-
ter house for every aspirant who dares
to call his soul his own. Delegates are
chosen, but nobody knows what they
will do when the master intriguers pull
the wires. In reading the ticket, one sees
but too clearly that the survival of the
unhttest is the law of our political be-
ing.
I'VE are firmly convinced that this
evil order must change, giving place to
saner methods. A reformed suffrage has
begotetn an electorate which is thor
oughly competent to rule, without the
intervention of niddlemen of high or
low degree. We need thorough-going
system OF primaries, SO that every hon
orable politician may find fair field.
The Democratic party must be truly
democratic once more. Platforms must
no longer be written in back room, but
must be traced by referendum. There
must be no more of this swapping of
nobody against nobody, no more pooling
of patronage issues The average Demo-
crat must have chance to speak his
own mind in his own way.
With this central reform accom-
plished, all other reforms will become
easy Consider for moment what such
revolution would mean for New Or
leans. The props having been removed,
the detestable superstructure of ward,
politics would come down of its own
weight. The boss would be relegated to
innocuous desuetude at once, since
every ballot cast in the primaries would
tell. The electors must vote in the open,
and candidates would have to- declare
themselves in advance. Great measures
would be discussed in a rational manner.
The community would thus be enabled
to realize its highest ideals and would
have no difficulty in rising to the full
stature of its nobier self.
We should therefore fix our attention
on the placenans citadel and resolve to
carry it by storm; from thence we may
dominate all the outworks Of peeulation
and pelf. A failure Of the siege will
leave the beleaguring army helpless and
disorga11ized. Capitalization and au-.
tocracy may serve to bridge over a
crisis, but will not avail an ordinary
means of administration. We want the
substance, not the shadow, OF. freedom.
We must choose the heads of the State,
instead of delegating the function to
pigny Caesars who, in the anxiety to
grind axes, forget the CONFERENCE.-The
dearest concerns. The old farce-tragedy
has held the boards long enough; the.
curtain should be rung up on more
pleasing and more profitable stuff, :
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