The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-05-28
KNOCKS PRIMARY LAW
lewis Lake journal Iterrzes Some Of
its Objections to the Present
Primary Law, "

Devils Lake JournaG While agree
ing with The journal that il ..was
both brazen and shameful" that the
iast legislature did NOT repeal or
amend the present primary, law. The
Fargo News confesses that it grather
likes" the law, and wan,s to know
Lwhat there is Aabout lit which The
Journal dislikes. Brother Andrews is
not asking much of a busy man. hut
inasmuch as he seems to he in goo5
faith briefly: . O00 =
There is not one thing, save possi-
ply the text, or the law which the
journal commends.
IL Is a useless expense to the tax
payers - worse than useless - mas
nuch as 1t forces them to foot tbe
pllls for an*election even more expen-
slve than the general election.
no man should be allowed to he
come the candidate of anv poIitical
party unless he receives a majority of
all the votes cast eit,er at a ,nrin7ar,,
eiectlon OF the nominating conven-
tioh system If enough ambitions
men get into the field it is possible
for a man to receive oneL fifth or even
much less of the total vote TO he de-
clared the choice of the party. The
poor man is barred y,,v1 runnip,. 80
sohice, for under the presenr law tbo
man who has the money to put 1,n tbe
pest advertising y campaign wins. 1t is
only necessary to go back to the cleo
tlon year ago for proof galore Of the
uselessness of the law. There was
Tom Marshall whom it is said snent
more than $4,000 in his primary cleo
tion canvas for u. s. senator. In the
f1rst heat he led the other three can
dldates. But in the next heat Alex
mckenzie won for Alex had more
money and better system" Neither
Marshall or the man who beat Marsh
all was the choice Of the people Of this
state for the place, AMI If money had
been kept out of the campaign neither
would have won. c.. "A. Johnson was
not the choice of the republicans of
TINS. state for governor, and il money
mad been kept out of the campaign he
never would have received the rlomi-
nation. The journal does not believe
that either Mr.. Hanna or Al. J. Cronna
would have been nominated for con-
gress If money had been kept out of
the campaign. There were more than
a dozen other candidates against these
men, not one of whom did not have
more ability than either Mr.. Hanna or
Gronna The people of this state do
not want to be represented in congress
by bankers and men who represent
the corporations as 1t is we'll known
these men do, but under the primary
law 1t is easy for the man with money.
to win out--far easier than under the
old convention system.
The provision requiring the party to
cast at the primary ciection 80 per
cent Of the vote cast at the general
election is partisan outrage; the
provision which makes ii possible
for new party to ger on the ballot
is even more vicious: the provision
requiring candidates to pay a filing fee
Is unjust, and has so been declared by
the supreme court; In fact The Journal
would be glad to have Colonel An
.dreWs point out the commendable
features Of. the bill which makes it
worth the price OF having.
Under the present primary election
law politics certainly have been made
no purer in North Dakota. Had the
people exercised the, same Interest ia
nominating. their candidates. under the
old convention system that they ex-
ercised at the primary election there
would be different story to tell to-
day. The people OF this state would
not be blushing with shame for the
acts Of their members OF congress for
one thing. They would have been
spared the humiliation or having re-
pudiated every material promise made
the people In the platform OF the ma
jority party for. another thing
But there Ii SO much more to the
story that The Journal has neither
time Or snare ia tell Ii today. III