The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-11-21
from no partisan standpoint.

/
say whether he will serve us any longer
or not We are the ones to say whether
ne shall serve or not, and it is for us
10 say TO him, IL we want him TO serve.
as they said TO a traitor on the battle
field In the Civil war: stand up and
serve or be shot"
Elliott H. Pendleton OF Cincinnati, the
! next speaker. declared he could not sup
port Secretary Taft for the presidency
because he had not persisted in opposing
the Cincinnati machine that he denounced
| two years ago
I'VE must not be afraid 10 criticse and
10 night whoever is against u.s. and II we
Keep IL up the time will come when
they VIII say 10 us, Take the city out OF
politics. "
George Burnham, Jr, treasurer of the
league, said he thought the sentiment In
faVor or the separation OF national ana
municipal Issues was increasing He ad-
Vocated taking away from the national
parties the monopoly which they NOW
ENJOY OF making nominations, and admit
tlng citizens OF all parties 10 the prima-
rles.
Hon. Robert Luce OF Somerville. member
OF the Legislature OF Massachusetts, read
an interesting paper on the primary cleo
uon laws In that state. lie said:
a system which can bring TO the
primaries four-fifths OF the election day
vote can at least claim the merit OF hav-
ing done much To solve one OF the great
problems OF the suffrage, that OF getting
men TO take part In nominating candi-
dates.
Undoubtedly the attendance in Massa-
chusetts would be larger still II the state
had not committed itself TO the plan OF
confnlng party action to party members,
If party responsibility is worth while
there Is something yet 20 be said
iOr contning party action to party men,
oers' Al any rate four-fifths OF the vot-
ers or Boston have shown themselves
wiling to accept party obligations for
the sake of sharing In party decisions
III was hoped that the new law would
check an evil that had reached serious
proportions In our state-the evil OF in
nuenclng the action OF one party I'm its
caucuSes by the vote OF members OF
ahother party. In many parts of the
state there Is still altogether too much
1t turns out that where
there is any selfish motive at work to
induce men TO stay within their own
party lines, they do It, as where II NAV |
AFFECT their receiving party honors or |
party rewards Wherever the forces are |
nearly even, tho new law works perfect |
~ In this regard. But where one party Is /
IN a hopeless minority. it's members too |
frequently are found ready to play the |
hypocrite and help nominate men for
whom they have no idea OF voting on |
election day. The new law Is n deter
rent and not n preventive
1T has absolutely stopped fraud The
oid FAMILIAR scenes OF tumult, confusion. |
riot In city wards have wholly disap- i
peared' Pugihsts no longer stand at the
rall ana by brute force carry caucuses |
NO count has ever been questioned save
,n the ground OF the ordinary errors.
! ! ne nominating process has been made
iecent, dlgnf1ed and convenient
~ In,
'iple has neither lessened nor increased
iSe power OF the boss and the machine. |,
inder ordinary conditions
When there Is real occasion for re-
'olt' that is far easier under the new
system than 1t was under the old. In
Irler, We nave made II far easier for
ne members OF a party to have thejr
'wn way when they want II.
rs the net result the noninati of
'etter candidates? No man can say An ,
We hnoW ~ that we have made II easier
or the popular Will TO express itself.
IN general, the same thing is to be
arc OF the results OF what we have tried ,
u the other branch of nomination re-
orm-direct nomination. That. however.
las worked much more for the Iessening
" the power Of the boss and the ma.
nine ~ gives any man an even chance
n running Tor office. and let's him stand ,
snoliy on his own merits II upsets the :
hreWuest plans OF the manipulation and ,
ne schemer. Its application should no )
made possible In all cases when the Nom ,
'ers or party are divided I'm opinion. in /,
rder that the will OF the majority NAV /,
20 known" '''
EXPERIENCES IN MICHIGAN.
Dr, Delos T, Wilcox. secretary Of the ,
,etrot Municipal League. related some
~ - tne experiences OF attempts I'm Michi- |
elections. " 'P'i
we have constitutional convention
II session now" he said "and hope We
',i,,,,Secu ~ secure from II the initiative on con-
,Ivuuohal amendments. "If we do we I
VII be able TO so into any city and ad- II
.otdle q change in the municipal election f,
avs, NJ WIN fair chance OF success" a..
iorace Il, Deming OF New York said:
we have not democracy in this conn lc
~ yet We are still struggling with the
'iVpi.,h OF electing men who will exc
,uoe ~ ine VIII OF the people. When you I
~ eItCtlhs men To run your city. don't 7
'usy yourself with questions OF who they ,
aNor Tor president or for governor or |
,o ,or any other national or state office En-
leaNor TO adopt methods that will make |
ne municipal government more simple g
20 that the people will know where 10
place The @ responsibilty.'
PRESIDENT BONAPARTE.
PRESIDENT Bonaparte was warmly re-
,eived. lie said:
The problem OF getting good govern.
@ment @ appears to me simply getting good
4 b..
method employed is only valuable i'm SO |
IAr as " brings about the result I'm view l.
we must bear I'm mind that in all cit |
os the people have 10 deal with the ac-
compushed fact of party political DON'T
nation OF municipal affairs While YOU
arc waiting TO discover the ideal medi- |
'lne YOU cannot let the people die
fherc Ia always the Difficulty that the
Votcr does not know tho mon he is called |
upon To vote for. At the last election
there were ~ names on tho ballot that
was called upon TO vote FOR Eighty OF
-hcse were absolutely unknown 10 me |
ma the only thing | had TO guide me was
nc party designation. But for this they
might as well have been OF Alaska as OF
Maryland I had not the opportunity, nor
lid the majority OF voters To 40 around |
md get character concerning all these |
. men. Under such circumstances the
,oiitical party designation seems 10 be
he only possible guide.
THE end OF government is 90 get the |
est that the people want. The end of
'olitical reformers is TO make the people
Fant TO get the best possible"
Robert Treat Paine. Jr.. moved the
doption OF the following resolution,
hitch was unanimously passed:
THAT committee OF three b. appoint
4 by the chairman. OF which the chair
IAN shall be an oN-officio member, TO