The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-06-27

g.
\ MAKING A the
ny FREDERIC b. IIAsIxfN.
rhe most conspicuous example OF the
cllangc Of the voters from the attitude
Of helping, ali aspirant to yet the
non,ination" to 4. g deter,ninatto g g
slaffCrded by the recent success OF Cow
,ernor Chamberlain. OF ore gon, u Demo
1orat, who vas selected b for United
Estates Senator at q general direct prl.
case tho party voters not only absoived
their partlsuns In the Legislature from
LOYALTY t.. the chosen party candidate.
b by, actually instructed the majority Of
party candidate. The Oregon general
PRIMARY tor Senator Is IN effect an
xtrn-constitutional method or clloos-
Ing paity sy dsst ans a ar net
outgroWth or the determination of tile
voters to take Into their own hnnds
the elective rover. They learned how
70 do It in party primaries, and they
ward mntured Democracy
Oregon ard Oklahoma are boil, ex-
perimenting With I! direct egislatlon BY
dun. Other States are not yet ready
to take, such radical departures from
the representative form OF government,
nut the, increasing power of the direct
people generally are inclining in. TINT
direction. United States Senators are
nominated no. by party primaries In many
states ,dplte an; ana each biennium adds others
mating county. officers is almost extinct,
SO generally has the primary election
nominating nc, system been applied to
Abuses Of the powers OF delegated
conventions. the opportunity for cor
ruptiop and the dangers OF dark
Fcrscs oil had to do with the down
fall OF the convention in counties and
was the constant danger to party or
ganization from possible "bolts.'' A
candidate who is defeated In con-
Is the candidate who has been defeated
Tor the nomination by a majority OF
the ,st Of his party. The latter is
The voters. finding their power In
nominating minor officers, have grad
ually reached out, until they now con-
troll congressional and State Offices ii,
majority OF the States. The demand
for direct primaries is so strong III
others that the. system bids fair to
become universal within a decade. The
next move OF the direct primary advo-.
l
conventions.
The movement varies in the several
States according to local conditions. OF
the case OF Tennessee. which IS just
now midway between the convention
and primary system. Two years ago
NJ. r Patterson. one OF the Democratic
nspirants tor Governor. demanded that
the State committee order primary.
The convention forces won. and no
primary was held, But the aspirant
who demanded the primary was nomi-
mated by tho convention and was elect.
ed Governor.
This year former Senator Edward w.
Carmack became candidate for the
democratic nomination against Cover
nor Patterson, and he demanded n d.
rect primary. Practically all county
and city nominations and all congress
sioral nominations IN Tennessee are
now. made by primaries. Nearly all OF
1n;ned county
mittee to leave the contest for Gov
ernor to a direct primary. But the
State committee. friendly to Governor
demands and instead ordered a pri-
mary convention plan. Under this
scheme general primary election is
being held In Tennessee to-day. 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 unit
for the candidate receiving majority
Thus the electoral college plan is
practically applied to the race SEN
ator Carmack has made the direct pri-
has declared that he will not ACCEPT
the nomination unless he has pop
,ilar majority OF the votes cast over
the whole State Governor Patterson
and says that he will take the nomi-
nation II he has a majority OF the
delegates. eten IL his opponent has the
majority Of tho popular, vote. The
newspapers tomorrow Will tell the re-
suit 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 de-
gia. by Little joe Brown was re-
dictionary in more ways than one. as
1t involved d protest against direct
primary, which took away the balance
conservative of States in It's election|
laws. all voting having been done by
the open viva voce method until 1891.
secret ballot. Kentucky now bows to
the reign Of the direct primary. 1t
has been the cause Of many party
feuds and facttonal fights. but 1t is
Whether or not the voters In pri-
mary are wiser in their selection of
candidates than delegates in Econyen-
ton is an open question. But the eff
feet of the primary on party govern
ment is undoubtedly for the better.
Important as political organizations
are to the business OF government un-
der our system, it was not until the
primary asserted its power that the
parties were given legal recognition.
The necessity of enacting laws toI
protect the primary elections and to
prevent fraud has caused the Legisla-
lures Of many states to enact laws
which govern parties and, methods OF
vented. the snap. nominations which
We're frequent In the old days. when
mulgated by tho parry committee. and
which could be changed at the Will
of that body. Hi
If the present disposition OF both
parties t. yield more. ana more TO the
changes in American politics may be
looked for. Suppose that n lsl2 there
mittee Of cne or both OF the great
parties fora presidential primary. It
vii Hhf. rafliSed .GifsnreCedent{FiSSf OllOW-l