Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1909-03-25

subordinate to the party organiza-
ton, rather than the dictators of that
organization.
The primary league maintains
that to allow officeholders to control
the organization by means Of secret
combination is to give them undue
influence over free party expression,
and, by means of patronage, to per
petuate themselves in office, although
their official acts are not in harmony
with the sentiment of their constitu-
ents, is not right.
Even now the regularly elected
state and precinct committeeman of
! the party are being completely
ignored by the governor and the
United States senators, who appear
10 be framing a machine in their own
personal interests.
Against this the league protests.
And it proposes to seek, through the
coming primary campaign, such leg
islation as shall vitalize the party
organization and give it the power
to withstand the encroachments OF
any oligarchy of officeholders."
What is the essence Of the COM
plant above set forth? 1t is that
under the primary as it now operates
the political boss and the machine
are still transacting business along
the old lines, possibly with little
more facility. At the primary the |
people name the men who shall be
entrusted with power, but evidently |.
they have not yet succeeded in nam |
ing for high places men who will not
use the power selfshly. The pres
ent falling out between the men who
boosted the primary and the men
who were boosted by it relates, it
appears, to the distribution of plums,
The politicians who get hold OF
offices carrying c..o rtments and
recommendations persist in passing
out the places according to the die
tates of self interest. The result is
the old boss and machine effect,
What the primary league people
expected, and what they are now
demanding, is that all matters of
patronage shall be brought as close
as possible to the people. To this
end they propose that after the
voters OF the majority party have
promoted certain members to posi-
tions of responsibility, these mem
bers shall come part of the way back
to the voters in exercising that
responsibility as it relates to patron
age. The principle for which con-
tention is made is that the patronage
should belong to the party rather
than to the man who has been put
in power by the party. To establish
this principle in practice it is pro-
posed that the party organization,
elected under the primary, shall act
as sort of executive board in deter
mining the apportionment of pat
ronage. When the governor has an
office to fill it is desired that he shall
not FIJI it with a man who has done
or is expected to do something for
the governor. Rather it is desired
that the governor shall ask the party
through it's regularly selected repre-
sentatives, who shall be named in
the interest Of the whole party. A
law embodying this principle of pat
ronage distribution was submitted
at the late session of the legislature,
and was lost in the shuttle. The
politicians smiled at it as being
wholly visionary and impractical.
But until that principle is adopted,
the original primary promoters now
declare, primary reform in South
Dakota may be considered failure.
They are starting in to reform prim-
airy reform just as determinedly as
they originally started in to attain
the primary reform, such as it is.
When the original primary plan
was advocated its promoters had no
notion that public officials selected
through the primary would need
such restriction as it is now proposed
to put upon them. The disillusion-
ment in this respect is SO disappoint-
ling as to tempt one to wonder
whether close approximation to the
ideal would be attained even if the
further reform now proposed should
be adopted. 1t is barely possible
the party representatives upon whom
it is now thought implicit reliance
could be placed might give some
play to human failings. Neverthe-