The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-03-16

| active part IN the ensuing proceedings
Dickey had a copy of the direct primary
act drawn up by the Civic Federation
and submitted to the select Senate com
mittee which had Senate Bill No. 5 I'm
der its consideration and he used it al
basis for criticism in the considera
ton of the measure introduced by Sen
ator Chillingworth.
Deputy Attorney Whitney spoke OF
the principles of primary elections al
| considerable length He declared thai
the idea involved was, substantially
that instead of parties in convention
nominating men for public Office thai
the nominations be secured by election
/ He said that it would do away will
| party caucus, party primaries and party
| conventions. He declared that the nom
ination by direct vote would accomplish
| all these at once and that the wishes
of the voter would secure direct appli
cation and effectiveness. Whitney ar
| gned that it would eventuate to the
benefit of the parties and the direct
| nomination system takes for granted
that politics runs in parties, and cannot
be considered in any other light He
stated that the direct primary seeks the
y
platform should be determined by the
delegates to conventions.
Explains Provisions.
He stated that under the operation of
the direct primary law anyone can be-
come nominee for public Office with
a few reasonable restrictions and pro-
visions. One of these restrictions, he
said, was in the stipulation that there
should be at least twenty-five signers
on the official ballot. Whitney declared
that while the details seemed eompli-
Gated the principle involved was simple
Senator Fairehild moved that Senate
Bill No. be taken up and considered
section by section, and this suggestion
was adopted.
Senator Fairchi1d asked Whitney
what the expense would be in the oper-
alton of the direct primary law.
Would the costs of the primary
election be more than under the pres
ent systema' was the query PROFOUND
ed by Senator Fairchild.
q 1t would in way replied Whit
ney, the people generally would bear
the extra cost, which would not be
much. About the only specific extra
expense would be in the necessity for
having the election inspectors work one
day longer
Senator Smith asked Whitney to
state briefly what the actual benefits
would be by the adoption of the direct
primary.
"The object in view, = said Whit.
ney, is to have the voice of the peo-
pie as supreme in the nomination of
candidates for public offices as is now
the case in the general election. The
direct primary intends to express the
popular wish in nominations Just as
certainly as the adoption of the Aus
trallan ballot made sure the carrying
out of the popular will in general
election.
Senator Fairehild observed that he
had not examined the provisions of the
measure with thoroughness, but stated
that as far as his observation went
the operation of such law would play
directly into the hands of the bosses
by allowing legitimate opposition to
be nulhfed by the setting up of a
number of dummy candidates with
the deliberate purpose of scattering the
vote. He said that the "machine y
could easily poll the largest vote by
following such a course.
Whitney replied that if the Tina
chine could poll the largest vote I'M
der the direct primary, it would ex-
press the will of the people and would
be legitimateIy entitled to the results
therefrom.
At this stage of the proceedings, Mr..
Emmeluth and ex-senator Dickey were
invited to sit with the Senate and par
ticipate in thesinformal discussion. Sem
ator ChilIingworth suggested that
Mayor Fern also be extended the cour-
tesy, but the City's Chief Executive
did not accept the invitation.
Dickey Disagrees.
During the discussion Mr.. Dickey
had a copy of the Civic Federation
direct Primary Bill before him, and he
disagreed with number of provisions
that were incorporated in the direct
primary measure as drawn up by Dep.
uty Attorney General Whitney
Dickey did not think there was any
necessity for the provision that cat
least sixty (60) days before the time
for holding the September primary the
Secretary of the Territory shall pre-
pare and transmit TO each county clerk
a notice in writing, designating the
Offices for which candidates are to be
nominated at such primary
Dickey thought that this was super.
fiuous provision, but Whitney replied
that he considered it necessary in view
of the difficult communications with
some parts of the Territory and was
simply providing for reasonable con,
tingency.
The provision of the bill that emo
person shall sign the nomination papers
of more than one nominee for the same
Office. Chairman Knudsen asked II
the violation of this provision would
TInvalidate candidate s nomination He
observed that voter might nncon-
seiously sign the nomination papers of
two candidates.
Whitney explained that the candi-
date having correct conception of the
direct primary idea, would secure
enough signatures to provide a safe
margin and that any violation of the
provision in question would simply in
validate the signature that appeared
more than once on the nomination pa
perS Whitney also explained the DIFF