The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-10-14

very quickly when the adoption Of the
law can safely and advantageously be
made general : and would undoubtedly
be made SO. even under tho county OPP
ton system. they cannot be elimina-
ted then the only safe way is to keep
on trying the system on a small scale
and to keep studying the means for inn
proving it and eliminating these de-
fects. So much is only common sense.
Now for the experience of the four coun-
ties above referred to.
In Altoona county the system was tried
this fall with the result that the repub-
lican vote for sheriff was 146 more than
the average vote in the county for gov
ernor on the republican ticket during
the last three elections. and yet the
successful candidate received less than
one-quarter of the vote cast. This shows
on the one hand democratic interior
ence with the republican nomination
and on the other hand that only a
small minority of the entire number
voting had any hand in naming the
candidate. A minority candidate and
no one knows how many democrats
voting in that minority
Take Alpena county. Everyone
knows by this time that every nomina-
ton on the county ticket there went to
the city of Alpena. Not much encour-
agement there for the farmer population
If by the trial of the new system they
had hoped to secure representation on
the ticketl 1t does not alter the argu-
ment to say that the farmers have not
in times past had representative on
the ticket because the new system is
said by its advocates to make more
equitable distribution of the nomina-
tions probable. Not much satisfaction
in the record of the new system in AL
pena
Now look at one or two instances in
the working of the new system in Kent
county. In 1902 the republican vote
for governor was 9,706; the democratic
vote for governor was 5000. At the
primaries held last month the vote for
the republican candidate for sheriff was
1858 and the total democratic vote for
the entire county was 5O4. In other
words the vote for sheriff on the republi-
can ticket was 1907 more than the re-
publican vote for governor had been
and the votes for the democratic nomi-
nations for sheriff were 7,7SS less than
their vote for governor in the same
election. Any evidence of democratic
assistance in this case? Any republi-
can particularly anxious to have the
assistance of several thousand dem
ocrats in nominating his candidates.
Then, too, in Kent county, every candi-
date nominated lives in the city of
Grand Rapids. Is there much pleasure
in that statement for residents of the
farming sections of the state?
Then look into the record just. made
by Muskegon under the new system!
At the 1900 election the republican vote
for governor was 5,162; democratic
2 947. In 1902, republican 3,672; demo
cratic 1,911. In both years the demo-
cratic vote was more than one half as
large as the republican vote but look
how they PANIED out on the day of the
primary electionl The supposedly re-
publican vote for sheriff was 1857
greater than the real republican vote
for governor in 1909. The democratic
vote for their candidates for sheriff was
1,724 less than their vote for governor
at the same election. In fact so much
interested were the democrats in Muske