Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-08-11


possible government SO long as this
condition exists.
An Illustration of still another eff
| feet of this tendency is to be found
in a statement of the situation con-
fronting the people Of Brattleboro
and other towns as stated by cores
pondcnt of the Springfield Republi-
can.
| There has been some discussion about
| town during the past week in regard to
eliminating some OF the unpleasant and
sometimes disgraceful things that are
bound TO follow our present caucus sys-
TEN OF nominating candidates for town
representative. In several towns through
| out the State, tho town committees an
/ houncc that they will not hold a caucus
ior the purpose or nominating q candidate
ior representative and that tho friends of
| ne dilfercnt candidates can file nominal
.ioh papers This method has worked out
very satisfactory In tho towns whore T.
| nus peen In practice. In most cases tho
prospective candidates ascertain TO some
eN''h' their relative uppcrt before hav-
INK their nomination papers filed with the
Town CLERK In several towns OF the State
'ne caucus Is carried by man who IS not
inc cholce OF tho ma jority of the voters
simply because he puts in the extra effort
| to get out his crowd to the caucus The
result is In many cases that the offended
sido Immediately got their candidates.
name on the ticket by getting l per cent
of tho voters at the last election to sien
w" nomination papers careful observa-
| ton of the men nominated bv tho ram
| cuscs that have been defeated at tho aon-
oral election and even when the winntn~
mans name had to be written on tho b,l-
lot because nomination rapors had not
| been filed, shows MS that during tho mast
Is years the results OF tho caucua have
been turned down In some towns about
half OF the time
| The towns which have eliminated tho
caucus and let tho candidates file thci,
certificates Of nomination have obyiated
| n large amount of hard feeling that usual
| ~ follows a caucus to nominate II town
representative. They have saved a larpe
| amount OF time and expense in most In
stances. as two scraps have been con-
dcnSed into one. Better satisfaction 10 all
/ parties concerned has been obtained MS
ca3l candidate has fair chance or cleo
| ton day when larger majority of the
voters are at the polls than can be- at
tractcd to a party caucus. The will of the
voters ia asccrtainod more freely by this
| system for they vote for the man who is
| their choice while by the other way they
would simply ratify the result Of their
party caucus regardless of the attendance
at the same or else they would bolt that
| fpr No ha- M
date either of their own party or of an
other political party.
| Now would the adoption Of such a GUS
tom in Brattleboro be advisable? There
| seems TO be no question in regard to its
success 10y the experience OF the towns
smaller than this town, thus why would
It not work out we'll hero? Some argue
that the condeusnF Of two scraps into one
would make an extended contest on cleo
| ton day and that Il * advisable to have
| a caucus to weed out some of the weaker
| candidates. The experience of other towns
shows us that men are 10th to have their
name appear on the ticket unless they are
confident OF polling a good vote and so
! the ticket IS not burdened with too many
candidates and that the scrap before cleo
! ton Is not longer for eliminating the eau
Gus. Even If It were a little longer, It is
very obvious that the voters who live Mt
| a distance would prefer such n scheme as
| it means less sacrifice on their part to
perform their civic duty. OF course 1t may
be said that under our present system in
| Brattlehoro, the voter living at a distance
gets two automobile rides to town out of
the game instead Of one, or perhaps none
| by the proposed method But on the other
| hand. II is said that the voters of this
! town, as Is true in any town where the
struggle Is carried too far are beginning
| to neglect their civic duty in that thcy
do not come out unless conveyance is
| furnished. The voters are quite prone TO
| come out on general election day in order
| to vote the State ticket. Therefore, ii is
claimed that if the nominations for rep
icscntatlves wero made by Hing certifi-
| Gates, conditions would be improved in
| lirattlehoro as the voters would get out
! of the notiol of being catered to every
time there was scrap on in n caucus
AS We have already said party re-
sponsibility is one of the most DOW
erful influences for safety at work in
American politics to-day. Given IA
horde of little factions such as pre-
vail In tho parliamentary bodies Of
| the old world at the present time,
and the United States Will see tho
powerful interests take ADVANTAGE Of
the situation and work their own
sweet will. with nobody in particu-
lar to be held responsible by the peo-
ple MS a whole for tie result.
The same thing In true of the smaller
democracy represented by the town
system Of government in Vermont.
That republican Is short-sightod who
does not see IN the tendencies noted
py the hrattleooro correspondent the
end Of party rule and the subst!tu-
ton or individual responsibility.
| ORGANIZATION is the great factor in
parry government, and with the sub
stitution OF individual responsibility
fo7 party rule, those interests which
| always have at their command an or
gan!zation embracing our whole State
as well as others will be In position
to assume direction Of our government
TO an amazing degree.
Attempts are being made to belittle
the dangers confronting the people Of
Vermont at the present time, but the
| appearance of lobbyists and insidlous
attacks upon our public service and