Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-06-29
SOME PRIMARY POINTS.

Speaking OF the recent senatorial
primary in Tennessee the newspapers
say: ''To-day's balloting marked the
close of long drawn-out campaign
which has aroused more bitterness in
the State than any other political strug-
gle since that in which Andrew Johnson
was elected to the Senate shortly after
the close of the Civil War;
The growth of the primary system in
this country within the past decade has
been something wonderful and is strong
evidence of the oft-repeated fact that
revolutions do not go backwards. 1t
cannot now be recalled that a single
State save North Carolina, has tried
the system and abandoned it.-Rich-
mond Times-Dispatch.
The difference between a primary
election and legal election is that one
is the expression of the will of a party
and the other is an expression of the
will of the people. The expenses of a
legal election are betrayed by the tax
payers through the agency of the gov
eminent, whereas, the expenses of the
primary are betrayed by assessments
laid upon the candidates, the effect of
which is, in many cases, to deter men
of ample ability but of limited means
from becoming candidates for high
and important Offices. For all practical
purposes, the primary has supplanted
tho 1oerol olocxso, -, U,r<v,vx,, &ho Ice
ter being merely formal ratification
of the former. 1t does not seem to us
that it is consistent with sound Demo-
cratic principles that price should be
put upon nomination, the effect OF
of which is to disqualify poor men from
becoming candidates for office; nor
can we think that mode is best which
elevates party above thepeople. Under
existing conditions in Virginia we alb
surdly take two bites at one cherry in
our elections. In abandoning the pri-
mary system, North Carolina has set us
a wise example, as she has in many
other things. -Index-Appeal.
Says the Washington Post, owned by
Jno. K. Mclean, Democrat, on the
Kentucky movement: 1.-THE machinery
of the Democratic party, of Kentucky.
that is the State executive committee,
on Wednesday last made an assault on
the Constitution of the United States
by ordering a general primary election
for the purpose of selecting a Demo-
cratic candidate for United States Sen
ator. This is in spirit notification of
clause l, section 3, Article /, of the
fundamental law, which commands that
Senators shall be chosen by the legisla-
lures of the States. 1t is subterfuge
and breach of faith to forestall the
action of the legislature by the result
of mass primary. 1t is destructive of
the Federal feature of our government,
and the Senator so chosen will not be
the ambassador of Kentucky as were
Clay, Crittenden, Breckenridge, Beck and
Carlisle, but the delegate of mass con-
vention, for that is what it amounts to.
But it is done in the name of the dear
people. There is not demagogue be-
~"N~h Vic AtShhS SCtIAitk sui WIO Is
not for it. and the demands for it are
the promptings of ignorance, prejudice,
aud cunning. Can the people do wrong?
Yea, verify. Some twenty centuries ago
vox popui was heard in Jerusalem, and
it sounded something like this: Release
unto us Barabbas.' Now Barabbas
was a robber. The Constitution was
made simply because the people can dc
wrong. In every article, in every Sec
ton, in every clause the Constitution OF
the United States is protest against
and denial of the assumption of voS
populi vox Del. That was what it was
made for-to protect minorities from
vox popul. That is all the use it eve,
served. That is all the good it ever did
and here is the Democratic party, thai
claims to have mortgage on all tn.
doctrine that is left in the land, tryine
to extirpate the very flower of all the
doctrine that is the basis of our gov
ernmental system