New-York tribune., 1908-02-16
INSTRUCTIONS TO DELEGATES.

We called attention last week to the surviTal
in Massachusetts and one or two other Ne"
England states of the idea that 1t is In Zero
CATION of the dignity and personal importance
of deIaca+es to national conventions 10 hamper
them with instructions \ great deal OF Flrtu-
ous Indignation has been expressed by ceTEih
statesmen in Massachusetts who wish to be sent
IN r.nresent the state in the next Republican
National Convention at the proposal TO strip
them of plenipotentiary discretion and reduce
+ben 10 the rank of mere agents for their con-
s+itrents II is argued that the delegates should
he left TO act on their own best judgment be-
cause they can make on the spot more adVan-
taseous decision than the voters can acung
three months or more before the convention
meets Venerable traditions would be sacrl-
feed say the advocates of non-lnstrucuon IL
delegates were 10 be prevented from exercising
their own initiative and following their own
notions of what was politically most prontaoie
and expedient.
AS we have pointed out these traditions nave
come down from time when national politics
wes far more complicated than and when
all sorts of local sectional and accidental consid-
pI,atjons had TO be weighed in selecting Presl-
dental candidate Party success depended much
more largely political fnesse and adroltness
and the various sections were then sul very IaF
snart in sentiment interests and prejudice.
good deal of latitude needed 10 compose
differences and TO make the most of passing ad-
vantages. But that era has ended Nowadays
sectionalism has almost disappeared and the
country is nearly unified in thought and feeling.
Candidates for President are chosen because of
their general strength and fitness, not because
they seem 10 possess a certain local and fac
titjous availa biIity. OF their general. strength
the voters of one state or section are likely 10
have as clear an idea as the voters Of any other
state section, and no necessity remains FOR
vesting delegates 10 q national convention with
practically unlimited powers of attorney.
| Massachusetts has been led TO maintain the
old system more by accident than by intention
In the long contest from 1876 TO 1888 between
the two elements in the Republican party-the
stalwarts and the liberals-the Bay State tried
TO remain neutral. The Massachusetts polti-
clans opposed Grant and the Conkling- Cameron
Logan national machine. But they were also
hostile TO Blaine and in the conventions OF
1876. 1880 1884 and 1888 the Massachusetts
/ delegation held apart in the main from both op-
posing elements. 1t was convenient under such
circumstances TO dispense with instructions and
TO allow q certain freedom of action TO the dele
gates In 1896, however, the state convention
! instructed the delegates at-large TO support
! Thomas B. Reed so that the tradition of no in
structions has been already broken. II is in the
: interest of that popular rule for which the Re
publican party has steadily strtven that the
voters should pess for themselves as far as pos
sible on the msEits Of Presidential candida tes.
/ The true function Of q delegate is to execute
the ascertained wishes Of his state or district.
! II is not surprising, therefore, that sentiment
| in favor Of q direct expression Of opinion is
showing itself in Massachusetts. The nearer
/ the delegates 10 Chicago get to the will of the
/ Republican voters the more certainty there will
/ be of sound and wise action by the national
/ convention.