Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-01-11

selection Of candidates for the general
election. Some most excellent men
who are opposed to primary elections
seem to think that the only purpose OF
such system is to prevent cheating and
that sordid form of bribery commonly
observed in crowded populations. Such
men fail to discern the still greater evils
| against which the proposed enactment Is
directed. The chief object of pri-
mary election law is to make it certain
that the voice of the plain common man
will be heard and needed. 1t is pos
sible for him to be heard under the pre-
system, but it requires an effort that
ne VIII not always make, and which he
never ought to be compelled to make.
All men will agree that the voters
any political party should determine
VINO Its candidates should be. This,
assume, Is fundamental truth, held
as hrmly by those who are against the
primary as by those who are for it,
Those who are against it, however, seem
TO believe that the voters can work out
their desires as effectually through eau
causes and conventions as through pri-
mary elections, and here the issue is
joined In caucuses and conventions
the leader, the alert and successful or
gamer, the man ready with speeches
ana motions, the INSCRIPTIONS manipu-
lator, finds his completest opportunity
Lor mnuence. Some of the things done
may be innocent and some of the things
done may be wrong ami vicious; but
Whether innocent or vicious, the ordi-
nary voter who gives no further atten-
tlon 10 politics than to become familiar
win public questions and to vote when
the time comes, has no fair chance in
the mysteries of the caucus and the
convention. If there was no other
reason for a primary election law, it
would be needed to eQualize the capaci-
ties OF men for management and to
make 1t more difficult, at least, for the
man who promises to bring in a town
snip or county, to fulfill his promise.
There is, however, another view
which appeals to me still more strongly.
Our country has changed nightly in
the last quarter of a century. Bust
ness and commerce have passed, in
large measure, from the individual to
the corporation. The corporation has
well nigh captured the industry of the
United States. There is a close associ-
alton and sympathy among the great
combinations of capital which enable
them to move as though directed by
single will. They are vitality concern
ed in the laws which are, from time to
time, adopted, and therefore one part
OF their gigantic purpose is to control.
to a degree, the government-national
state and municipal. He who does not
see and feel this effect is both blind and
insensibIe. These corporations and
combinations have at their command
untold wealth, the strongest intellect
ual force ever organized, and an infinite
variety of channels through which to
work; and they intend to prevent any
government from enacting or enforcing
any law which they think ought not to
be enacted or enforced. They will do
r.
casual student of human nature must
perceive that the attempt springs from
the commonest characteristic of the hui
man race. There is just one way in
which they can do it effectually, and
that is to determine who shall be nomi-
mated and elected to Office.
Their arts cover the whole range of
influence. AT one time they bride, at
another they browbeat. Now they de-
ceive and now they seduce. They
take one man to the top of the noun
tain and show him the world that may
be his, and with another they take from
his shoulders a burden that is too heavy
for him to pear. They run the
whole gamut of human affections, and
sound every note in the chords of both
virtue and vice. In short, they are
equipped to do whatever the occasion
requires. Their chief officers are usu-
ally men of standing and morals, but
their operations are so vast that when
they issue an order to accomplish a
certain result, they do not feel respop-
sible for the manner in which it is at
taineG.
In this state the railway companies
are the political corporations, and while
they have not introduced here all the
methods which have been observed else
where, it is manifest that they have in
tnndnh IN Hipaof ha A.
and that they still intend to direct it
If 1t be within their power. The rail-
ways and their allied forces want to
preserve the caucus and the convention
simply because they know that they
will have a better chance through this
system Of dominating the affairs of the
state than they would have through
primary election system. They cam
not so easily spread their nets about
the voters as they can about delegates.
Their leaders cannot be so intimate
with the body of the people as they are
with the managers of caucuses and
conventions. A primary election law
will minimize. if it will not destroy, the
power of railways in politics; and If
there were no other reason for enacting
such statute, this would be sufficient
l look upon the abolition of passes and
the adoption of primary as parts OF
the same remedial legislation. They
are both needed to secure the desired
end, and neither will be entirely effec-
tive without the other.
| must not be understood as even
hoping that a primary election law will
bring about the millennium in politics.
There will still be fraud, selfishness, de-
ceit; but l am sure that when the law
is passed we will have taken one step
toward purer and better government.
l am quite aware that there are some
counties in the state. whose representa-
tives will not feel the necessity of
are concerned: but trust that they
will not measure their responsibility
by the condition of their own communi-
ties, but on the other hand will view
the proposed law from standpoint that
will enable them to see the welfare of
the entire state.
cannot dwell upon the details of the
law. There may be and probably are
the scope as well as the detail of the
features, however, which venture to
suggest.
First-The law should provide for the
dates for all Offices filled by the voters,
and the Office of senator In the con-
gress of the United States.
Second-lt should provide a primary
election for all political parties, to be
held at the same place and time.
Third-It should provide that the
person receiving the highest number of
votes for any particular Office should be
h., xit,oa Of ha nj For Ot,nb of,