Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-09-27
MAKING OF A
CONSTITUTION
ccon,inued from Page 8, Col. i,

CONTINUED from Page d, Col. ~
! some provision BY mich the lcslsla-
ture must provide q method Of assess
nept Of property Tor purposes Of tax
ttion which viii hc fair and Just. BY
which no class Of men or property
can escane bearing iss proper share
of the burden OF public expense. and
which shall be divorced from inllu-
encos arising from popular elections
and local politics.
Much has Of late been said in favor
of q cla use in the constitution pro-
YidinS for direct primary elections III
which the various political parties
must select their candidates Tor OF
flee to BE- voted for by the people.
This. II desirable st all. which Is Us
yet debatablc. should be regarded as
a mere matter Of legislation and not
proper to bo put in the constitution.
It IS clearly within the scope Of gem
eral legislative power.
As to The mcltts OF such elections,
much, which ! have not time 20 say,
might be said on both Sides. The OBJ
feet sought TO be attained Is q worthy
one. our present system OF nomins-
tions for office by conventions of
delegates, the Foundation for whose
selection is found in ward. town. OF
precinct primaries, is more in har-
mony With our general system OF
delegated. representative government;
but, practically. packed, disorderly
aud dishonest primaries. u~nrcsulated
BY law. in which inscriptions men
Of all parties are allowed to partici-
pate with impunity. under the or
ruptins Influence Of political bosses,
distort or stlflc the real sentiments cf
afnp frgr - null Yaraal ALSO n 1arNpa nl
the better class OF citizens. This con
dition should De remedied. but II is.
10 say the least, doubtful whether
The proposed direct primaries will af-
ford an adequate remedy.
There appears to be two principal
objections 20 the direct primaries
one is. that the members OF one po-
htical party may participate in the
priInery election OF the candidates OF
another party. just as heretofore has
been done in the un%rcsulatcd primar-
les for the election OF delegates TO
conventions. There seems to b. no
practical way of avoiding this, an1it
might be the cs2se that where there is
serious division in one party as TO who
the candidate sinai be, and little or no
division IN the other. the members Of
tina other party could vote in the
primary elections Of thcir adversar-
les so q" 20 obtain some undue adj
vantage. II Is asserted IN the public
press that lust this thing happened
in the recent primary elections in the
state Of Wisconsin. Tho other objec-
lion Is, that "a candidate for office is
compelled to mckc two expensive
campaigns. one TO obtain the nomina-
ton. end the other TO seoure his
election. Putting aside the question
M fFanEnraav nNnnNHra - ar.ane 90 y
paigns. there still remains a large
burden Of perfectly proper and iegit-
ina expenditures. tor distribution
Of printed matter. the holding OF
meetings. the services OF speakers.
and other like matters. II Is not long
since a United states cnatOr from a
state where such elections are held
FOR the nomination OF senators. de-
clined 70 be a candidate for re-clec-
ton upon the ground that he could
not afford the expense OF many thou
sands of dollars 60 maintain a state
wide orsa ni1ation 20 secure the nom
ination. and stili less could he afford
TO have other people bear that cx-
pense. as those other people would. in
cesc Of his election. think that they
had a claim upon him in his OFFICIAL
capacity which IL would be difficult.
at cast 20 refuse 10 recognize. and
which might be asserted for inn
proper purposes. Moreover. to be-
. candidate at the primary elec-
tion. seccssariiy requires a consider
able amount Of seif-serving cxertions
on h part OF would-be candidates,
and those men who ara the NEST
eager Tor office gre frequently the
least desirable, while. By the conven-
zion method OF making nominations.
u properly conducted u might be the
Ease that men would &c nominated