New-York tribune., 1910-09-11
PRIMARIES A SUCCESS
New Hampshire Law Praised
by All Except Bosses.
OVER 10000 TAKE PART
Attendance at Caucuses II
Former Years Have Not
Exceeded 10000.
rBy Telegraph to The Tribune. J

Concord. y. H. Sept 1o.-A new era is at
hand in political affairs of this state and
the primary election law, enacted by the
! last Legislature by combination OF pro-
! sreSsive Republicans and Democrats, is re-
sponSible for it II such a vindcaton were
necessary, the result of the recent cam
paign for the nomination of candidates TO
1 he supported at the state election furnishes
it. So successfully has the law worked out
that there are none who condemn 1t, eX-
cept the bosses. who apparently have been
overthrown at its first trial.
In the early days of the campaign tear
was expressed that only q small NUMBER
of voters would exercise the right to eN-
press their preference at the polis' out III
this respect the most sanguine expectations
Of the friends of the law have been Just-
fed. While the official returns are not all
in the unofficial tabulations show that
more than thirty thousand voters took part
in the Republican primaries This is re-
gsrded as a remarkable showing In 1907
/ Charles NJ FIoyd was the nominee Of that
Marty AT the polls he received 1851 votes.
This s only few thousand short of the
normal strength of the party in the OF
wears It will therefore be seen that nearly
three-fourths of the Republican voters of
the state went to the polls and made their
preference known
| Under the old caucus and convention syS-
TEN state and county candidates were
chosen in conventions made up of delegates
chosen in caucus III each of the towns and
wards In the state These caucuses have
been held open for balloting only a short
time, and the attendance has invariably
been extremely small. In most cases no
other business has been transacted at the
time, and the responsibility for the conven-
+ion nominations has been too remote for
the average voter to appreciate. While no
record of the votes cast at these caucuses
has been kept. 1t is probably a fact that
the aggregate attendance has seldom
ceeded ten thousand in the entire state, an
extremely small number. when compared
with the thirty thousand who attended the
primaries on Tuesday.
Little Money Spent in Campaign.
Another criticism which has been made
| of the primary system is that the expense
is too large for the average man to bear
This is not justified by the outcome. Up
to within a few days before the primary
was held Bertram Ellis had spent accord
ing to his own sworn affidavit, little over
Si.G0 Mr.. Bass conducted much more
iextensive campaign. and his expenses had
is safe to say that there has not been a
/ lC,oyernorship campaign in New Hamshire
when there was a contest that the total
4xpe11se TO the candidate has not exceeded
that amount many times over. Ia fact, the
campaign eXpenseS of several candidates
I during that time have gone considerably
over %0.Gt1. and this money has often been
used for the purchase outright of creden-
tials to tho state convention, while the
present campaign has been one of educa-
ton and not of corruption.
T311t the most notable fact is that the peo-
pie have had \ chance to make their pref
| erenCes known and have compelled the
! nomination of their choice for public office.
/ That the officials of the past decade have
not represented them has been demon
| strated by the reputation which these men
received at the first opportunity which pre-
sented itself. All public appointments were
largely controlled by friends Of the Boston
& Maine Railroad Company. which has
been the most potent factor in state af-
fairs A machine had grown up which
| controlled practically every municipality
! II was impossible to reach il through the
/ old system as ell the election machinery
was in possession of its members This
would undoubtedly have continued indeti-
nitely under the old system But the pri-
mary election furnished a way out OF the
dilemma, and in practically every case the
people avaied themselves of il.
A Decisive Victory.
The victory on Tuesday was a decisive
one Bass won out by vote of nearly two
to one. Every one of the ten counties in
the state went for him. and of the 236 cities
! and towns in the state Ellis carried less
than thirty. His own city was one of that
/ number. and there the majority was only
/ l79 votes. Senator Gallinger was defeated
AS a candidate for the nomination for dele
gate TO the state convention. 1t means the
/ defeat of GaIlinger when he next comes up
/ for reelection, in the opinion of many poll
ticians.
/ For the minor candidates. new men nave
! been chosen. In the past no Progressive
/ las ever been chosen to the executive Coun-
oil, hut there are AT least two out of the
] candidates nominated on Tuesday-Benja-
min F. Greer. of GoffstoWn. and DR.. John
/ N Gle Of Hanover-who are avowedly
/ with that wing OF the party, while third,
! II is believed viii act with them The Sen
I ate nominees are decidedly Progressive in
their tendencies. and the House bids fair
TIA be overwhelmingly for the new idea