The Topeka state journal., 1908-12-12

soc per vote. Grant county, with
valuation of a million and three-quar-
ters paid twelve times as much per
vote as did SeGgwick county with a
valuation of ~ millions of dollars.
Take Logan and Lyon counties Lo-
gan paid $1,007 for 511 votes and
Lyon paid only $1,346 for 2;747 votes,
and Lyon is five times as rich county
as is Logan. Pratt paid 81, 400 and
cast 43O votes, while Rawlings paid
$500 and cast 79O votes. In other
words Pratt paid twice as much as
Rawlings and cast half as many votes.
sheridan county paid $691 and cast
686 votes; Sherman county paid 5000
more and cast 200 less votes. Shawnee
cast a heavier vote in the primary
than any other county in the state and
the expense of her primary was $2,22S
yet Marshall county, with one-third
as many votes, paid over $2,OOO-
Rocks county. paid $1.19S for $50
votes and Washington county paid 3D.
121 and cast over twice as many votes.
And so one could go through the en-
tire los counties and find these wide diff
ferences in cost as compared to popula-
ton Either many of these counties
paid too much for their primary or
many of them paid less than living
wages and prices. 1t is unlikely that
any printer printed ballots and poll
books at a loss, and taking this for
granted. the people of the state paid
$4,000 too much for their primary. Ger
tain it is that the primary cost more
than the general election that follow
ed it and at which over twice as many
votes We're cast
The price per vote at the primary
ranged all the way from 80 cents in
Sedgwick to 81 in Grant. In 20 counties
the price was dollar a vote. in a dozen |
others it was so cents and in ten 9TH |
erS it was 81
1t will be mighty hard work to strike |
an average or set scale of prices, but |
that this ought to be done no one will
question.
And now take the story of the pri-
mary as told by the vote cast by cOun-
ties. TWenty-seven counties cast to-
al vote of 1850, which is offset by the
vote of Shawnee and Montgomery cOun-
ties alone. Yet six of these smaller
counties would have been entitled to
he same representation as both the
arger ones mentioned in state con-
Fention, so 21 counties are lost In this
primary shuttle and had no voice at all
II naming state ticket in comparison
With the convention method 1t may be
hat this comparison is not fair, but 1t
s true, nevertheless.
The cost of the primary can be made
Uniform and doubtless greatly reduced
as whole for the state, but there is
10 remedy for the preponderance of
strength in favor of the more populouS
counties.
Counties With Power.
The following 25 counties out of the
05 in the state could have held the bal
lnce of power at the last primary had
hev voted together: Cherokee, CoWley,
crawford, Dickinson. Douglas Frank
in. Labette. Leavenworth, Montgomery,
Reno, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Wyandotte,
Atchison, Butler, Allen. Lyon. Usage,
oottawatomie, Sumner. Mcpherson,
MARSHALL, Miami, Bourbon and Green
wood
AS shown by the vote cast at the pri-
nary last August, and should deeply in
crest the people of Cheyenne, Clark,
Stanton Stew |
MS Wichita. Scott, Comanche, Gray,
haskell, Hodgman, Kearney, Kiowa,
Iane, Logan, Sherman. Pratt, Rush and
'rego counties, q in all. for their COM
much as that cast by Shawnee county.
7hink of it, one county with the
trength of q in the selection of a state
icket. Three of the above named coun-
les have as many representatives in the
agiSlatu as has Shawnee county. Still
he counties have not the population
kept as indicated by the primary and
n the end the majority of the voters of
he state select the candidates for the
taterticket and the majority's senti l
nents are not always expressed at state
The primary has its weak and strong {
oints. and so has the convention sys- t
en- The former it would seem, elimi- {
ates the individuality of most Of the l
ounties of the state for the good of {
he state as a whole, that is if one 6
a
oters as the best thing for the state. c
ct the dominant party might suffer in s
he end if the weaker counties are not /
onsidered. V
The last primary was hardly a cri- a
arion in the selection of state ticket a
: all the second-termers were renOm- +
1ated. The result two years hence will +
ford a better basis for an illustration
{ it's workings as regards the weak and
trong counties and the eastern and
-eStern sections. .
One thing is sure. the people want to :
now everything possible about the
.orkings and expense of the first pri- :
,ary election ever held in the state, :
nd they should especially wish to reg +
late its expense, which was a strong =
rgument against it, and in this light n
ne report being prepared by Secretary g
f state Denton is invaluable. A world n
? mains and work is incorporated into T
is report and the result is most val h
able and interesting document for the O
aopIe of the entire state to study. n
IcT 0E cIVODEME