The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-01-31
PATTERSON FORCES WILL URGE
THE COUNTY UNIT SYSTEM
OF NOMINATING.
is MOST TRANSPARENT FRAUD
Well Devised Scheme to Defeat
Will Of The De-
mocracy.

truth is that they themselves hav
been studiously giving out this In
preston. This apparent change c
front came about last wednesday
when democrats from all over tn
state were gathered her, and whei
the sentiment for a primary was mad
so manifest and so menacing that !
became necessary to send the visitor
home with the the impression tina
the administration would not oppose
the popular will.
The impression that came from rep
resentative democrats gathered In
Nashville on Bryan day startled Pat
terson politicians by its vehemence
and awakened them to the fact that
the people would not submit without
violent protest to the schemes Of the
the machine manipulators, and that
Paterson was already suffering be-
cause of the impression that he had
abandoned his former position. They
therefore, themselves gave out the re-
port that there would be a primary.
1t is now learned, however, positively
and beyond question, that the conces-
sion that the Patterson managers
have decided to make it in form only
and not in substance. In other words
they have agreed to call something a
primary which Is not a primary, but
only a cunning scheme to defeat the
will of an overwhelming majority OF
the people.
The Patterson managers have been
guarding their secrets very closely,
but it has been necessary to take a
number of local leaders into their
to keep them from COM
hitting themselves or their following
Zoo deeply on this question, and some |
Of these have talked somewhat indis- |
creetly. A prominent Patterson poll !
dcian from Sumner county today made
4 statement very positively that there
would be a primary, but that it would
lot be the kind of primary Carmack
md his friends are demanding. He
'aid that every voter would be al
owed to vote for the candidate of his
'hoice, but that instead Of counting
he total vote and declaring the man
Who received the majority the nomi-
lee, that the vote Of each county
you'd be counted as a unit, or In other
lords, that the man who got a bare
majority In a county would be given
IS entire vote, while the other man
vould get nothing.
The utter viciousness of such a plan
s this is visible at glance. 1t
leans that the man who gets ma
'rity of one vote, say in a large
ounty like Shelby or Davidson, will q
3 given the benefit not only of the
otes that were cast for him, but of
lie entire vote. The minority is not
lly absolutely disfranchised, but !!
leir proportion Of the democratic
rength is actually counted for the \
an they voted against. Thus, for
stance, suppose that the same num- 1t
# Of votes should be cast in David
n county as were cast for the demo- d
attic presidential ticket, and that Of
ndidate A should receive 1887 votes -
d candidate B 1888 votes, making q
tai Of 1875 votes. Under the plan
opposed candidate B would be given =
votes, the representation OF the ).
i democratic strength Of the coun- -
the effect being that all the votes -
1t for A would be counted for 3. %
der this system a majority Of one -
lnts just as much as a majority of
thousand, and minority, however
ge, counts for nothing at all. =
is easy to see why the Patterson
nagers prefer this plan. It enables ."'
m to concentrate all their forces &c
a few Of the large counties, and by '
rying them by small majorities, to ~
rcome immense popular majorities gu
Carmack in the rest OF the state. WY
IS known that the Patterson man. ~
RS intend to make a tremendous "
TT to carry the four large counties y
Shelby, Davidson, Hamilton and i'
*. They cannot hope to carry -
er Of these counties, by large nay
critics, and in fact they know that STD
e is not county in the state that ioa
can carry without fight. Under Q
r plan 1t makes no difference ter
ther the majority be large or will
II, II it be only a majority. II this
erson could squeeze through these Will
large counties with majority agr,
ne vote in each, Carmack might ''pri
every democratic vote cast in ten recc
ties like Sumner. ana still be at a the
=