Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-29


KgAI of the change of the voters
~ kx<&l from the attitude of helping
lIN an aspirant to get the nomi-
nation to a determination to
make the nomination" them
selves, Is AFFORDED by the recent success
of Governor Chamberlain Of oregon,
a Democrat, who was selected Tor
United States senator at general de
rect primary In Republican state. IN
that case the party voters not only
absolved their partisans in the iegis-
lature FROM loyalty to the chosen party
candidate, but actually instructed the
majority of the legislature to vote
against Its party candidate. The ore
gon general primary for senator is in
effect an unconstitutional method
of choosing senators by direct vote,
and is not a party primary. Yet It is
the direct outgrowth Of the determi-
nation of the voters to take into their
own hands the elective power. They
learned how to do 1t in party primaries
and they have carried things step
farther toward matured democracy.
Oregon and Oklahoma are both ex-
perimenting with direct legislation by
means of the initiative and referendum.
Other states are not yet ready 10 take
such radical departures from the rep
resentatiye form of government. put
the increasing power Of the direct
nominating primary shows that the
people generally are inclining In that
direction. United States senators are
nominated by party primaries In many
states, and each biennium adds others
to the list. The convention for
nominating county officers is almost
extinct, so generally has the primary
election nominating system been ap-
piled to minor offices in rural dis
tricts.
Abuses of the powers of delegated
conventions, the opportunity for cor
ruption and the dangers Of dark
horses-all had to do with the down
fall of the convention in counties and
cities. Even more potent than these
was the constant danger to party or
ganiZation from possible bolts" A
candidate who Is defeated in con-
vention by intrigue is much more apt
to bolt and head another ticket than
is the candidate who has been de-
feated for the nomination by a ma
jority of the voters of his party. The
latter is a more convincing defeat.
| The voters, finding their power in
nominating minor officials, have grHd-
ually reached out until they now con-
troll congressional and state offices In
a majority OF the states. The demand
for dirtct primaries is so strong that
| the system bids fair to become uni
versal within decade. The next
will be made on the. national conven-
tions.
The movement varies in the several
states according to local conditions, of
course For sake of an example, take
the case of Tennessee, which is just
now midway between the convention
and primary system. Two years ago
M. r. Patterson, one of the Demo-
cratic aspirants for governor, de-
manded that the state committee or
der a primary. The convention forces
won and no primary was held. But
the aspirant who demanded the pri-
mary was nominated by the conven-
ton and was elected governor.
| This year former Senator Edward w.
Carmack became candidate for the
Democratic nomination against Gov
ernor Patterson, and he demanded a
direct primary. Practically all county
and city nominations and all congress
sional nominations In Tennessee are
now made by primaries. Nearby all Of
| the Democratic county committees
joined In a request to the state COM
mittee to leave the contest for gov
ernor to direct primary. But the
state committees, friendly to Governor
Patterson, declined to acecede to these
demands and instead ordered a pri-
mary plan. Under this
scheme a general primary election Is
being held in Tennessee today. The
two aspirants for governor will be
voted for in each county, and the dele
gates to the nominating convention
will be instructed to vote as a unit for
| that candidate receiving majority in
the county.
Then the electoral college plan Is
practically applied to the race. Sena-
tor Carmack has made the direct pri-
mary an issue in the campaign, and
has declared that he will not accept
the nomination unless he has a popu-
lar majority of the votes cast over the
whole state. Governor Patterson de-
fends the primary-convention plan and
SAYS that he will take the nomination
il he has a majority of the delegates,
even If his opponent has the majority
of the popular vote. The newspapers
tomorrow will tell the result Of the
contest. but as prohibition Is the chief
issue the question of how Tennessee
stands on the direct primary question
may not be settled. The defeat of
Governor Hoke Smith of Georgia by
Little Joe'' Brown was reactionary In
more ways than one. as 1t involved a
protest against direct primary which
took away the balance of power from
the smaller counties.
Kentucky has been one Of the most
conservative of states in its election
laws, all voting having been done by
the open viva voce method until 1891
The last of the states to adopt the
secret ballot, Kentucky now bows to
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