The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1903-07-03
The Present Duty of Michigan Repub-
leans.

| more imam llttle cOinlueHt anu
discussion has been aroused through
failure on the part of the legislature
which has recently adjourned to enact
a primary election lava law through
which candidates for Office would be
nominated by direct action of the
voters without the Intervention of
caucuses or conventions. The major
ity of the newspapers thus far COM
menting on this matter seems to as
sumo that the primary election law
was desired by all sections and that it
would have given satisfaction to a
large majority of the people of our
state. The writer sincerely favored
and urged the adoption of some fea-
lures of the primary election law, but
we very much doubt whether even a
modified primary election law would
have met the general approval ex-
pected, and we are quite confident
that any practical application Of the
extreme measure adopted in the house
would have aroused opposition and
would have been condemned in three
| fourths of the counties of the state.
The first purpose of the primary
election bill, as urged by its friends,
was to prevent the purchase of nomi'
nations by Office seekers, and in the
direction of such purpose it seemed
to be assumed that conventions should
be the point of first attack. But it is
not forgotten by those who were dis
gusted with the spectacle that the pur-
chase of delegates in the disgraceful
gubernatorial nomination contest of
several years ago was made at the pri-
maries. Hired representatives of the sew
eral candidates were sent out into county
districts of the counties they wished to
capture; they went to farm houses and
hired farmers by the day to work for
them; they gave exorbitant prices for
the use of horses and teams to gather up
voters, and canvassed many counties
by townships and school districts in
behalf of their miserable efforts to
carry out the instructions Of their
masters and employers. More money
was spent in some single counties than
had Heretofore been spent in the
entire state for similar purposes.
There was nothing in any of the
primary election bills presented at the
last legislature which would have
prevented repetition of this de-
bauchery. 1t is further true that
through the operation of the bill pro-
posed in the house, the nomination
of the county and the state officers
would have been almost entirely con-
trolled by the larger cities of the
counties and the state. Cadillac, for
instance, with conditions such as have
existed heretofore relative to county
nominations, could have controlled the
selection of every man on the county
ticket. 1t was not necessary through
the provisions of the law proposed that
any one candidate should secure ma
jority of all the votes cast, but only
that he should have che more than any
of his competitors for the same Office
The more limited the territory the less
satisfaction this provision would have
given, and in most counties it is quite
certain it would not willingly have
been given a second trial. AS the mat
ter has been presented in the newspas:
pers of some of the larger cities, it
would appear that the great body of
the people have been demanding the
extreme features of the primary cleo
ton law as against the protests of a
small body of political machinists. The
fact is, however, that the controversy
started through the efforts of one ma
chine faction against another and real
or assumed factional interests have had
too much to do with movements both
for and against primary reform. 1t
was originally suggested and urged, as
will be remembered, by Governor Pin
gree, who was made use of by one of
the most corrupt and dishonest gangs of
politicians that ever disgraced any state
in the union. Governor Pingree him
self was doubtless an honest man. but
he was surrounded by self-seekers, of
every sort who sought to use his popu
larity and his hold upon the people as a
means of advancing their own corrupt
ends. 1t may not be fair argument
against primary reform that many of
its loudest advocates have been those who
were deepest dyed in efforts to debauch
the primaries and conventions Of our
state through the use of money, but it
is good reason why dishonest and i'm
proper motives should not be attributed
to all who question the wisdom, of
adopting its extreme measures.
Most of those who have been honest |
and earnest in their desire for effective
primary reform legislation have been
driven to such demands through the
humiliating and demoralizing spectacles
they have witnessed in recent years,
and the resolutions in the state conven-
tons and by other than political organ
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