The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-16
ADVANTAGES OF DIRECT PRIMARY NOMINATIONS.
System Proposed for Connecticut Now in Use in One Another Form in Third of States of Unionyoters of % States Nom nate United States Senators ,DrecyInterestng State
 ment Made by Judge John H. Perry of State
 Commission on Direct Primaries.

of nominations fer Governor. Lieuten-
 ant-Governor and Congressman-at- large from them.
 The conventions themselves are re-
 tained and all other state officers are
 still to be nominated in them just as
 heretofore.
 It is impossible to conceive of a can
 didacy for any one of the three speci-
 fled positions which all the cities would
 favor or oppose while all the smaller
 towns opposed or favored 1t. The lines
 never have been and never could be
 drawn in any such way as that. Therefore we believe that by permit
 ting every elector wherever he resides to have as much voice in nominating as in electing his officers the smaller towns will give up nothing which has
 been of any real advantage to them or
 anything which has ever been consci- ously acted upon. although under party
 rules they have had the purely theo-
 retical ability by complete agreement
 and combination to control the matter We accordingly hope for the sakS
 of the towns themselves that if direct
 primaries are in other respects des1r-
 able they will not be denied on the
 grounds just considered.
 PARTY LEADERSHIP. IMPROVED.
 In the third place it has been claim
 ed. that direct primaries disrupt par ties and impair party efficiency. This claim when traced to its source has been found to have a purely self ssh
 origin. The plan has been under ex- tensive trial now for several years and
 no such result is any where apparent Entirely competent and disinterested observers emphatically assert that the contrary is true. On principle it cer- | tainly should be true. for whatever makes the rank and file more con-
 tented with their participation in party action ought to make them better par ty men. Under such law as we pro-
 pose there is still enough work for par I lL- T -frrT,k as ever If these laws had wrought
 the party injury which is sometimes
 prophesied. they would have been re-
 pealed long ago. for nothing Is ever more carefully attended to in legisla- lures than party interest.
 Governor Hughes in his recent inau-
 g,Iral well says that direct" prima- ries promote true party leadership by 1 and more in accord with general party sentiment. By increasing the direct influence of the party voters their par | ticipation in party affairs will be en- | couraged. It will make the elective | officer more independent of those who would control his action for their sell | fish advantage. and enable him to ap- | peal more directly to his constituency upon the basis of faithful service It cannot fail. in the main. to prove a l strong barrier against the efforts of those who seek. by determining the se- | lection of candidates to pervert admin | | to secure immunity for lawbreaking- | It is a reform which is instinct with | the spirit of our institutions and 1t l is difficult to see how any party man.
 however earnest in his partiSanshfp.
 can oppose the right of the voters of
 the party really to decide who shall
 represent them as candidates The fourth objection that direct pri-
 maries make nominations impossible
 for poor men can hardly be the result i of much reflection.
 COST OF ELECTIONS The merest tyro in politics. and every one who pays the slightest att tention to election returns. know tn It
 to run for office is prohibited past me for poor men now. Sums of money far beyond their command are confes-
 sedly spent in this State at every cleo tion as matter of course. and no one-
 supposes that this would happen were i it not rendered necessary by the all ready existing system.
 The way to stop appealing expendi- lures of the present day would be to
 prohibit by law anything more than very moderate payments. and then en- force the law: but the distribution of
 the wealth of the ambitious is apoar- ently looked upon as a desirable thing.
 prevent it which failed of passage. It can be easily stopped if that is really desired, and until then it ought not to be mentioned as an objection to
 
 reason why these should make office holding necessarily more expensive than the present system. They really ought to make it less expensive. and are believed so to do in practice. Such being the most frequent objec- tions to the principle and such very
 brief reply to them let us see just what the proposed law is and right here it should be said that any person who is enough interested in it to desire to understand it fully should send to , the comptroller at Hartford for a copy.
 mission applies only to the Republican ana Democratic parties and in those
 parties affects the Governor. Lieuten- ant-Governor. all congressman. sher- | the general assembly and judges of l Probate. It also applies to all elective
 city and Borough offices and to dele
 gates to state conventions.
 UNITED STATES SENATORS. It applies to U. s. Senators to the extent only that in this way the Gen eral Assembly is to ascertain whom the most voters in each party want The primary election is to take place on the first Monday of October so | that the least possible extra trouble | will be caused to the voter since on | that day the voters of 161 out of our | 168 towns attend the election anyway. In the other seven towns the popu- lation is so compact and the polling places so near to each voters resi- | dence that the election will cause but | little inconvenience
 Notice of the primaries is to be pub | lished and posted throughout the state | about sixty days beforehand.
 | Any one who desires to become a | candidate for nomination must procure | a petition signed by a very small per | centage of his party voters which peti- | ton must be filed a certain number | of days before the election.
 | When these petitions are all in the | names of the candidates are arranged
 under the proper office titles and a | primary ticket containing them is
 printed by the state for each town-a | separate ticket of course for each | party. The list of names is published | ten days before the election.
 PARTY CHECK LISTS. Party check lists are prepared under l ,,Iar, lxeS them relia hle and