The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-02-28
APPRECIATION OF PRIMARY.

was presented ASKING LDe leStSldt"iS
to adunt such d law. The petition
was questioned as to its legal stand
ing and it was found by the | gisla-
tive committee to be deticlenl and
consequently the law was not passed.
In the session Of 1907. when the
insurgents got in contrNl they adopted
"a primary law, and t. general
suppositlon was that it Moul' be
used on every occasion-par icularly
by the insurgents. What j, the
result? At the very outset Il the
spring.primary it is given out 10y one
of the leaders OF the insulg' mt
machine that they were not go.hg
to use the primary fol tie March
election, and that they would resort
to the old caucus law-tnat which
was discarded by the insurgent leg
islature and which was formulated
by the stalwart faction in 1905.
What have the insurgents done
with the primary SO far this winter?
They have simply made a monkey OF
the whole business. Up in McPher-
son county the county central com-
mittee is composed mostly of insur-
gents. and instead of calling the
primary to give the stalwarts all
opportunity to present the names for
delegates to the county convention
the committee, took advantage Of
clause in the law to conslitut
themselves the guardian Of the insur-
gents interest and name the dele
gates without the assistance Of the
people. That was outrage number
one.
Just a few days ago over In Stanley
county, there was given a beautiful
illustration OF the freedom that Is
to be extended the people. in express
ing their choice for delegates or any
thing else in:.the political line. Tie
insurgents carried everything by
wholesale and did not give anybody
else an opportunity to have a say
about the selection of delegates
The committee meeting was held at
Midland and two men I'm the whole
business In the interest Of the insur-
gents. While the insurgents we're in.
command they lacked the necessary
two-thirds majority Of the committee
to do away with The primary. tut
that did not stand in the way OF
carrying things Just they wanted
them. Without more ado. aflet the
states attorney cited a decision
rendered by the attorney gs,ieral'
and which the attorney general never
rendered, U. j. Lavery and John f.
Hughes, with an abundance Of
proxies proceeded to smash the
primary law to smithereens. They
selected the delegates from the In
urgent faction entirely and disre.
garded the protests Of the S alwarts
on the con mittee.
Such a ~travesty on the freedom Of
the voter is a disgrace to the men
who formulated. the Law. A1ey have
prostituted its real pHlPosts for
their W factional ends. Ne, !save
presumed to place trust Ara con-
fidence in the free and independent
voter of the state. but they shy at
him on the first opportunity They
assume to say that there is no re ,son
for holding a primary election as
there is no opposition, bul tnat is
proven very much to the contrary by
the fight on the United States sena-
tor between Kittredge and Crawford.
The main reason for the insurgents
disregarding the primary at this
time is the fact that they kno. full
we'll that they have lost much of
Their alleged power in the state
and to bring a test Of it between the
stalwarts and their faction would
only further indicate their W. akness
in all PORTIONS of the state. The stall
warts. however, insist that the
primary law was put on the statute
books for u purpose and that purpose
shall be recognized. The stalw,rt
faction is not afraid to go before the
people OF: this state and show their
strength at the first opportunity.
The men following the Crawford
faction are simply given to urder-
stani that they are not to have the
privilege of voting for delegates so
long as the Crawford faction can ca
jole the county committee and avoid
calling the primary. Let's have the
square deal that the insurgents prate
so muclrabout and they will learn to
their sorrow that they have been
counting on strength which they
never possessed. The primaries in
March will prove the correctness Of
the assertion Of the stalwart faction.
Eighteen months ago John Scham-