The San Francisco call., 1909-03-24
GOVERNOR EXPECTED TO SIGN
DIRECT PRIMARY BILL TO-DAY
Continued from Page /

Continued from Page
In the first place they wanted to enact
a law then and take the chances with
the supreme court and q constitution
which the most eminent lawyers IN
California declared bound the Iegisla-
ture TO a convention system. Again,
they were dissatisfied with the terms
of the amendment and their particular
objections were directed at the pro-
visions of the amendment which, In
1909. prevented the Incorporation OF a
percentage scheme and the perpetua-
ton of the delegate convention.
After the amendment was ratified,
the friends of direct primary legisla-
ton turned their attention to- the bill
which will probably be the law tomor-
row. The bill was bad" they said It
was partisan. II placed a premium
upon political chicanery. 1t did not
permit the politicians of one party TO
manipulate and control the affairs Of
another party. And finally they discov-
cred that the bill was drawn in the
interest of the machine"
Hard Fight Against Bell
When the bill was introduced the
friends Of direct primaries howled
that the senatorial provisions were
drawn in the interest of Senator Frank
Flint, because it did not include the
Oregon general election plan of voting
for United States senators. When the
original senatorial pledges were rati-
iedsby the independent conference the
same friends" of direct primary re-
form shrieked that it was a job to
elect Flint. When those pledges were
stricken out because similar pledges
had been declared unconstitutional by
the supreme court Of North Dakota, the
same friends" OF the bill began to
fight for their pledges and TO denounce
the advisory plan as a scheme to elect
Flint
Differences of opinion which had
nothing to do with direct primary
Legislation and which in no wise re-
ferred 10 the advisory vote plan re-
suited in a split in the ranks of the
men who made the first fight for the
bill in the upper house The men who
had fought the bill saw their oppor-
tunity 10 make the fight theirs. They
made good on their promises to stand
by the bill They went TO the sup
port of Wright and the men whose
first interest was the enactment of a
genuine direct primary law which
might be expected to withstand the
tests of the courts
Then Wright and the men who held
the direct primary bill Of more i'm
portauce than the wounded pride OF a
LEGISLATOR or two, were denounced as
gangsters Under the circumstances
those men have no collection to the
epithet. The ''gangsters' made good.
They helped pass the ght-Stanton
bill and. moreover. they gave the
men who were fighting for concur
renee what they really wanted and
what they admitted privately that
they wanted in the bill So much for
the false frierds of the bill.
California Law Excellent
How does the California law COM
pare with other direct primary laws?
With the single exception Of the pro-
visions touching the partisan vote on
United States senator the California
law IS on all fours with the laws OF
Wisconsin. Nebraska, Kansas, Mis-
souri, and Washington. The laws of
North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa
are virtually the same, except in that
they contain the percentage scheme,
which was successfully resisted in this
state The United States senatorial
vote provided by the California bill is
closer in its analogy TO the Illinois
system, which, saving the California
law is the latest enacted expression of
the direct primary principle Every
feature Of the California law as it goes
TO the governor has been passed upon
and sustained by the supreme courts of
zone or more states
The senatorial provisions OF the
Wright-Stanton bill give the people of
California an opportunity to express
their choice for partisan candidates
for United States senator's at the pri-
mary polls, and as much assurance that
the choice of the dominant party will
be elected 70 the United States senate
as is afforded by the laws of wiscon-
sin and Illinois, which are admittedly
the model primary laws.
All the factionaI huIIabaIoo about the
bill has been made over the senatorial
provisions and by men who admitted
that the enactment OF the original pro-
visions was to invite the loss OF all op-
portunity to secure a popular express
sion on United States senator's through
an adverse decision OF the courts
The essential OF direct primary cleo
tion law is the elimination of the dele
gate convention and the nomination OF
partisan candidates for elective public
Offices by direct vote OF partisans That
essential is provided in the Wright
Stanton bill more clearly and completely
than by any direct primary law in eff
feet today. That the vote for United
States senator is considered nonessen-
tiaI by so great a reformer as Governor