New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-09-05
MR.. PARSONS AND THE PRIMARIES

President Parsons of the County Committee
takes up the Tribunes comment on Congressman
Bennets letter regarding the primary instruction
for or against Hughes projected in Mr.. Bennets
district and certain other districts in this city
and calls public attention to the fact that MI.
Bennett himself is favorable TO Mr.. Hughes. Our
opposition to binding the party through the ac-
ton of the enrolled voters in few typical dis
tricts in this city has nothing to do with the
personality of Mr. Bennett, but is based on much
broader grounds Mr. Parsons may think that
the plan is likely to afford a good test of public
sentiment generally. or of that section of public
sentiment which he may feel bound to follow
But in our opinion the situation calls for leader
ship OF the same sort that the party has often
REQUIRED when it came TO make its nominations
a leadership which will, if necessary, as has
been the custom in the past, look beyond the
results of the primaries. and which will inter
prct and carry out the desire of that wider
public 10 which the party must appeal to be
successful. It does not call for that sort of
leadership which will merely shackle itself with
a mandate from its own loyal following, even
when that mandate leads straight to defeat
It will not do 10 treat the situation as if the
state had already direct primaries suthclcntly
popular adequately, TO register the party's Will
The primaries in this state have never had any
such binding force as direct primaries have,
nor should they have. Inc enrolment Is CoHlhi
atively small and, as this paper has already suf-
ficientIy pointed out. majority of those VINO
arc likely to attend the primaries are active
organization men, whose ideas are formed by
contact with leaders sub-leaders and district
CAPTAINS and through clubhouse associations, so
that when appeal is made TO the primaries
for instructions it is practically an appeal by
the leaders to.men whose thinking Is done Tor
Them bv the leaders In no respect is the vote ac
the primaries typical If the party leaders
wished TO bind themselves TO do something
which they planned and desired to do, they would
naturally appeal for instructions to primaries
which have been over and over again shown to
be in their control If the primary vote should
be against Hughes, and the leaders should deter
mine TO be governed by It, that excuse Will not
helm them with the voters when it comes to
eIectng their candidate, for the voters will ques-
ton the good faith of treating primaries as at
present constituted as fair test of public SEN
timent and as binding upon the party.
Mr. Parsons says he must be governed by the
action Of the enrolled voters, for they are the
narty. So they are for the control of the ma
chinery, and that is all that primaries have
hitherto decided. Will Mr.. Parsons attempt TO
elect his candidate with his enrolled voters
alone? Suppose the unenrolled voters desire
something exactly the reverse Of what is called
for by the wishes Of that small minority Of the
party. the majority Of the enrolled voters, what
would be the position of the party on Election
Day if the Will of the latter should prevail:
Leadership is necessary to determine what the
unenroIed voters want and how to get their
SURFACES The machinery attends to the rest.
To make the primary voting minority the con
trolling factor is TO lay stress where 1t has
never been laid before and where shrewd cam
paigners DESTROYS of victory, would not lay it
now.
Mr Quigg put the stress upon that section in
1897 when he received mandate against MI
Low III Halpin similarly ignored the impor-
tant for the trivial considerations when in 1905.
he acted on his mandate against Mr. Jerome
The result in both cases was fasco. Mr.. Par
sons himself showed his superiority to his pred
ecessors when, two years ago, he ignored the
desires Of the primary voters, who were for
Mr. Bruce and insisted that the party, with MI
Hughes as its candidate, make its appeal for
every vote it needed to win the election. The
situation to-day calls for just the same sort OF
courage. independence and res0urceful leader
ship from aIr. Parsons as it did two years ago,
and he will make q mistake TO begin now 20
treat the primaries as binding, even If they lead
to defeat 1t demands the leadership Of the
President and of Mr.. Sherman, whose judgment
as TO the partys course is of infinitely more
value than anything which the primaries are
likely to show, and who know the wants OF the
great silent section of the party upon which
dependence must be placed to win the election
Mr.. Parsons says we fear an outcome from the
primaries hostile to the Governor. We fear
nothing but the obstacles to the Governors sue
cess are enormous. The minds of large por-
ton Of the primary voters have been poisoned
against him. Then. too, as THE New YORK
Evening Mali pointed out, he is unfairly run
against the field. The leaders are TO be bound
by the results Of the primaries if against Mr..
Hughes yet left free to exercise their own judS-
ment in selecting Il substitute for him-which
shows the emptiness of the pretence that the
primaries control the nomination Why not run
Mr. Berri Nh Wadsworth and Mr.. White, too,
and see what strength they develop?
DryTIEs- THO cUnnTC