Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-10-26
CRACKS STALWART NUTS
Chicago Tribune Pa ivsrizes Pflstsf's Sentinel
on Important Issues
tFrom Chicago Tribune. September 29l

! The Milwaukee Sentinel, the main
organ of the Wisconsin stalwarts, thinks
the Tribune underestimate the sta.
warts when it said that their way Of
arguing against q direct primary law
was to accuse La Toilette of ambition.
The stslwarts, it appears, would be
against a direct primary Law even If
La Toilette had never been born, and
they would know why they were against
| it Their reasons would amount in
number to at least fifteen Here follow
those reasons with comment:
! I Because the voters cannot have personal
knowledge OF the com paratiye fitness OF the
| candidates with whom they are not acquaint-
| ed and sre in danger OF voting for persons
1 unworthy OF trust and who would not, II
known. command their confidence and sup
port.
Under the convention system the
voters have to elect delegates to the con-
yentioD ln case the delegates are
pledged to certain candidates the voters
! have to choose between those candidates.
So even under the convention system
| the voters may have to make the trem-
endons intellectual effort of which the
| Sentinel believes them incapable. But
in most cases, it is true, the delegates
are not pledged. Then the voters have
w AOA III ODiliOh WIN iGRhAA w bAP
| personal qualifications of each delegate.
| This process is as much more difficult
| than the other in proportion as there are
more delegates than offices Under the
! direct primary system the voters noml-
nate one man for each Office. Under
! the convention system the voters elect
many men to nominate the one man.
Which system demands more of the
yoters2
| Because the direct primary system nee
essarily keeps out of office every body but
| olliceseekers and tends to swell the number
| of that class.
| [Pretense aside, the Office doesn't seek
the man once in a thousand times. The
man seeks the office. Is il better that
he should seek it from a boss or from
the people?
Because the expense OF making a can
| vass TO secure nomination IL a practical bar
TO Door man,
ION the contrary, money will buy q
boss far quicker than whole electorate ]
| Because 1t gives the rich an advantage
| over the poor.
[See No. 3.
| Because It authorizes the nominations
| by mlnorities which, In case of large NUM-
| Der of candidates for one Office, might be only
u small fraction Of the people.
TT is seriously commended that boss
nominations are made by majorities? In
Chicago the boss nominations in the
senatorial districts are often so made
that not hundred people in the district
have ever before heard the candidates
name
| Because It subjects the people to the an
noyance and burden OF two campaigns In
| stead OF one.
The bosses who at present relieve the
| people of the annoyance and burden of
! going to the primaries have charged
such an excessive price for their time
| that the people are driven now TO doing
their work themselves.
| Because It secures to men in office a
| manifest advantage over new men and pre-
vents rotation.
In other words, if a man proves his
fitness the people will keep him in Office.
| The politicians will not be able to throw
| him out because he would not play with
them.
! Because 1t takes from the people the
| right to draft their own platforms and confers
! that power on candidates, which is putting
/ the cart before the horse The people should
| never surrender the authority to make their
| own platforms and require the candidates to
/ stand on them and carry them out.
II the people now made their own
platforms and if the stalwarts of Wis
consin had not repudiRted several plat
forms this argument would mean some
! thing. Under direct primary system
the candidates would have to announce
their opinions and if they failed to live
up to those opinions their next appeal to
the people would have it's inconvenien-
ces and embarrassments
Rocauco ha abrarotfO, ~ no a 30 non
| vention would mean the disintegration and
disruption OF party organic alton.
| lit would. OF the present kind of
organization. OF the slush-fund padded
payroll organization. But there would
! be different and better kind of orgaui-
cation. People with identical Opinions
will always organize.
| 10 Because It enables men who could not
! get home endorsement to seek office with
the same prospect Of success as men In good
standing, If they have the money to pace
! their workers in the field.
| 4 man is far more in need of q home
| Endorsement when his neighb0rs vote
on him than when he is picked by the
| boss
II Because II legali1es and sanctions office
| eeking and tends to increase the army Of
candidates, already too larGe.
Is officeseeking now Illegal? And are
there too many candidates in Cook
county for the legislature Sixty Tor
| fifty seven,
l2 Because 1t practically shuts out busy
men who cannot and will not spend the time
and money required TO secure nominations.
Those busy men who have time to
consult the bosses but haven't time to
consult the electorate will not be Miss
ed
- Because a system which makes nomi-
nations expensive tends directly to d0morali-
cation and graft.
See 3 and 4
II Because it lowers the standard ofcttizen-
ship when nominations can be secured by the
free use of money in hiring workers TO ctrcu-
| ate petitions aud In substituting mercenary
newspapers.
fSee 8, and 13. To say that money
would count for more in appealing to
the people than it now does in appealing
to bosses shows more valor than discre-
ton
| Is Because IT Is the absurd and fanaciaI use
| OF an agency which has undoubted merit, on
the same principle as giving the ballot to
men. women and children because IL is a good
| thing.
If the people are wise enough to
elect, why is 1t absurd or fanatical to
suppose that they are wise enough to
nominate?
The fact is, as the Sentinel clearly
shows, that the direct primary system
cannot be assaulted without invoking and
revealing distrust of democracy The
| object of the direct primary system is
] simply TO give the voters what they are
supposed even by the present primary