The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-10-09

limportant office--one a good man and
the other bad. The aforesaid r. p.
citizen desires to participate in that
primary and support the good man
for Office, because he believes IL is the
first duty OF citizen TO see that good
men are nominated by his party, and
the second duty of a citizen to see
that the best men are elected to Of
flee. He votes at the primary, but
1.-The bad man, very bad man, is nom
linated. to oppose an excellent man
for the Office.
Now, the question is up to the T. p.
Icitizen. There is no doubt as to his
duty as a citizen of the United states
he must vote for the best man for
office. But his party leaders tell him
he is in honor bound to support the
nominee of that primary, although
that nominee may have won by the
purchase of votes. or by the rankest
fraud Must he then support for Of
flee a man, whom he knows to be I'M
fit and corrupt, and fasten on his own
that will grow to curse his own chill
dren, and impose on his neighbors
and fellow citizens a bad official,
simply because he participated in a
primary for the very purpose of pre-
venting that bad man from securing
the nomination?
Everybody can see what the result
must inevitably be. Men, who can
not conscientiously support bad men
for Office must refrain from partici-
pating in the primary, thus permitting
the worse element to have absolute
control of the party; or else, having
voted at the primary, they must re-
frain from voting at the election,
thus indirectly aiding the worse ele-
ment by not opposing it.
Sometimes in a three-cornered race
the primary nominee receives less
than half the votes cast, and yet
those who go to the primary for the
express purpose of voting against
him. are compelled by the pernicious
doctrine of primary obligation to sup
port him. Such belief is urged by the
who see in it an oppor-
tunity to control the nominations. and !
at the same time bind the decent vot-
ers by an imaginary obligation.
Is a primary always fair?
Let us see what our esteemed fell
low citizen. Hon. John X. Hendrick |
ssid about the Democratic primary in |
Kentucky in his famous Nicholasville !
speech:
Governor Beckham says that it is
impossible to put through a slate in
a primary election. Everybody
thought until it happened that it was
also impossible for a committee to
abolish the party convention that ere
ated it, but the governors committee
has not only accomplished that feat, !
but have perpetuated themselves in
office for a year longer than they
were elected, and the good Lord only
knows how much longer they propose
to hold their committee places if the !
usurpation is tolerated by the people
If the governors committee can deny
the party that created it the right to
hold a convention and adopt a plat
form, and likewise perpetuate them
selves in office, why may they not put
the people take hold OF the matter
the people tack hold of the matter
and protect themselves?
"The committee for the first time
in the history of the Democratic
party. created a money standard of
qualification, and for the first time
within the history of the party has
said to the aspiring young men of
Kentucky that they need not apply for
official preferment unless they can
afford the price"