The Dickinson press., 1905-02-18
Representative Phelan Comments Q
Primary Election Bill.

Representative Phelan Comments on
Primary Election Bill.
To the Editor:
In the discussion Of Senate bill SO, the
primary election measure now in the
hands of the house committee on cleo
tions and privileges, the Grand Forks
Herald assumes that it has few, if any
faults; others harp on the measure in
various ways, but as yet l have seen in
print not one specific comment on any
particular section or part of this bill.
To my mind, this bill No. SO is the fetch
the idol set up by the idolaters, who
holding an ideal in their minds forget
that those who are not excited on the
subject view with alarm the form Of idol
they wish to set up for the people. When
the attempt was made in the house to
railroad this bill regardless Of the wishes
Of the minority. the simon pure reform
ers out-ganging the gang in their meth
DDS, l pronounced the measure as infam-
Gus and charged the perpetrators of such
a measure with attempting to hand the
people a gold brick in place of that
which they actually required.
In the senate the bill was railroaded
through, amendments were excluded
and no adequate time given for proper
consideration Of the measure. | under
stand that this was accomplished by the
minority republicans combining with the
democrats Of the senate for the purpose
in view, that is, having suffered wrongs,
imaginary or otherwise, by a process of
manipulation and combination that they
condemn and wish a primary measure to
destroy, they adopt worse tactics in their
methods.
Section I of bill No. SO provides for a
liberal construction Of the measure and
says in plain language that if all pro.
| visions of the law are not complied with,
such provisions should not be strictly
enforced.
Section 2 provides for date OF primary
elections on Tuesday following the third
Monday OF July. when farmers are busy
and election matters can be left to pro-
f%essionals. Under our present law
primaries can be called to suit the best
interests and conveniences OF local COM
communities as suited to their occupa-
tions. Provision is made in section 2 for
including all officers from United States
senators down, including supreme and
district judges.
Section 3 provides for each candidate
to be hustling to get a petition signed
by three per cent Of the legal voters,
then you pass it up to the secretary of
state and pay 2 per cent OF the annual
salary anticipated, but further on in Sec
ton 8 a discrimination is provided where.
by those aspiring to gain an office as
against an incumbent are required to
pay only one-half Of the ice specified,
while the incumbent paysioo per cent,
a full fee. This | understand was de-
manded by and conceded to the demo.
Gratis by the minority republicans to in
sure the unholy alliance, and e~xemplify
purity in politics.
Imagine, please, how the writer or any
one else wishing a square deal may en-
joy voting for this measure. especially
when we have a policy established by
the republican party for protection to
farm products and other American in.
dustries, thus making it easy for men to
attain public office who work and vote
against the best interests of our state.
Section ; continues its provisions for
destroying the principle OF having the
office seek the men, makes every as
pirant for an Office get down and hustle
and adopt the principle OF the slot ma
chine where you drop a fee in the slot
and hope to pull out an Office. In this
line the Louisiana lottery principle has
full swing. One to get Office must make
politics a business and requires judge:
and others to solicit and hustle or pa.
some one else to do the work. State
senators are booked at $50 and repre-
sentatives at SIS per throw in this game
of dice and the fund like money flchee
from the social evil, goes into the gen
> eral fund,
In addition to all this, one must &c
=. a certificate OF character from five quail
, fed voters sworn to in form of an afh
davit before he can secure a place in tn
, lottery. That at least should help t
raise the standard of applicants. How
ever, with all those safeguards candi
> dates may merge their issues and com
!. bine in one continuous list of name
! and all a party has to do will be to al
range a caucus antedating the primar
election and fix it up the same as no"
y but the expense for gold bricking tn
q people will be double the cost, OF max
two elections instead of one
n The cost of such an election is not ur
derstood; for instance based or the aud
itor's report and the vote for governo
in 1904, the cost to Stark county amount
= to s865.5o, or sI.ie per vote, for eac
vote recorded. The cost to MoTto
county is sI,o81, or SLAB per head fo
each vote cast.
Total cost tn Amour