The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1904-11-18
Edit0riGI oo7nenf.
A SUGGESTION as to Primaries.

il you please, in the line which our
friends the democrats have been calling
primary reform" during the recent
campaign, and have been accusing the
republican leaders and the republican
press with attempts to throttle in it's
cradle. The elections are now over and
the republicans have triumphed on the
primary reform issue The democracy
did not succeed in fooling the people.
1t is perfectly safe politically to expect
the republican party to take advanced
ground on any question involving purity
and honesty, and it is equally safe to ex-
pect the democracy to take radical, ex
treme ground and to cry REFORM in
voice that it takes more than capital
letters to express, and to brand all the
more conservative element as enemies of
the people.
But this is history. 1t is not our pur-
pose in this article to dwell in the past,
but to make public some of our own
ideas concerning the kind of primary
law that should be enacted by the repub-
lican legislature of Michigan. We do
not pretend for moment that our wis
dom is superior to the collective wisdom
of the gentlemen who will meet in Ian
sing this winter to make our laws, but
they will be greeted with a mass of sug-
gestions and many fantastic notions on
this matter of primaries that has attract
ed so large a share of public interest,
and from these suggestions and their
own Investigations will frame the law
that, in their judgment, will best serve
the public interest, give fair expression
to the will of the people and protect the
purity of party nominations.
In our judgment, the convention sys-
tenn, as applied to districts larger than
the county, should be retained These
conventions are not the place of corrup-
tion, but the caucuses at the base of the
system are where the dishonest poll
ticians get in their work If this be
true, then the abuse will be corrected by
reforming that part of the system where
the dishonor exists namely, the caucuses
or present primaries. We would sug-
gest the division of each county into del
egate districts, from each one of which
delegate or delegates in proportion to
population should be chosen direct to
state, congressional and minor conven.
tions. This would bring the representa-
ton nearer to the people, and would
prevent the refusal of representation to
whole townships in the minority, as is
now done frequently in county delegate
conventions. As to better representa-
ton and a better expression of the
peoples will, that would depend largely
on whether the voters in any particular
delegate district attended the primaries
more generally than they do the caucus
es. The best class of people. many of
whom consider themselves too good to
mingle in practical politics and others of
whom are too engrossed in business af-
fairs to devote an hour to the first duty
of citizenship and attend their party
caueuses, are to blame for the control of
caucuses by professional politicians and
the consequent outcry against the sys.
tenn. The better element is in the ma
jority in nearly every township and ward
in Michigan, and if the moralists would
spend half as much time in attending
the caucuses and doing their duty there
as they do in criticizing the system,
there would be little if any ground for
fault finding left. If larger number of
people would attend party primaries
than now attend party caucuses, the sys-
tenn would be an improvement, other
wise not. An experiment alone can tell.
Party delegate primaries of one party
should be held all over the state on the
same date, and the most stringent posi-
BILE rules. with heavy penalties, should
prevent the participation of democrats
in republican primaries, or vice versa.
The primaries of each party should be
separate and distinct. We believe the
blanket ballot of all parties used in the
Wayne primaries is distinctly bad.
Coupled with delegate primaries,
should be local option as to county and
local nominations, to be decided in the
primaries of each party. For instance,
il the democrats of Van Buren, county |
and Paw Paw township wish to make
their nominations by primary elections
they should have that privileges; il is
none of our business by what method
they make their nominations if it be
honestly done. On the other hand, If
We of the republican party wish to re-
tain the convention system, the demo-
Gratis have no right to find fault with
our choice. Isn't that fairY This is
free country, and we believe majority
in each party should rule.
IL n IA. 4.