Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-07-15
FRIDAY, JULY Is, 1910
THE DIRECT PRIMARY.

| mas Deen seen recently. IL Is III use,
in one form or other. in a number OF
states. The results of it in those
| states ought to be studied if we wish
| to come to fair conclusion about the
desirability OF such law in Colora-
do. Its friends point to the election
| of Democrat to the U. s. Senate by
the Republican legislature of Oregon
in obedience to the vote of, state
wide primary, as an evidence of its
dcsirability. Its enemies point to the
clean sweep made by Tom Taggart
in his own county in Indiana. and to
the overwhelming of Folk by Stone
in Missouri by the vote of the slums
of ST. Louis and Kansas City, as
proofs of its failure. One must con-
slider, in estimating effects. that there
are people who do not see any great
triumph of virtue in the election of a
Democrat for Senator by Republi-
can Legislature; and also that some
people no doubt regard the defeat of
Folk as a good thing.
The friends of the direct primary
usually take it for granted that the
elimination of delegates and conven-
are by no means prepared to ac-
knowledge this They say that the
consultative feature of conventions is
too valuable to be discarded. and that
delegates, counselling together. can
often produce better result than is
attained by direct vote.
The second nam argument for the
Aircct primary is that is carries out
the will of the people, and gives them
the candidates they want. On the
other side this is denied. In the first
place. the people cannot vote at a di-
rect primary every one for the man
he wants, but the names are put on a
ticket beforehand by somebody, and
the voter has no choice but to take
one of these names. The question Of
| how the names shall be placed upon
the ballot for the primary is the rock
Gov Hughes bill split on in New
York. 1t provided for the naming OF
candidates by the party committees.
and also. of course, by petition.
The matter of expense is another
thing in dispute. The successful cam
didate has to make two campaigns.
and whether it costs him more than
the old method is the question. The
question. The canvassing before 4
primary has in some cases proved as
expensive as the canvassing before
election, and has required as large an
army OF paid workers. This leads the
enemies of the system to say that a
poor man has no chance whatever in
direct primary as against rich one
NOT because the latter would buy
votes outright. but because he could
hire large numbers of workers. give
| his friends ride to the polls, and
otherwise make his money count.
| The details OF a direct nomination
law are extremely important. One
bad or wrong provision might spoil
| the whole intent of the law. 1t was
the objections to one provisiou-or an
other OF all the laws proposed III New
York that led the legislature to ad-
journ without getting any OF them on
| the statute books.
Under the convention method, the
claims of locality are always recogniz-
| ed in making up ticket. In the state
convention. for instance, no one coun-
| ty would get the nominees for two
| important Offices. and no single sec
| ton of the state would get major
| ity of them. The delegates would
| consult together, and endeavor to
| tory to the voters OF all sections. How
to retain any means of getting bal
anccd ticket" under the direct system
| is one of its difficulties.
The doing away with dark horses"
| and with the switching that is done at
| conventions, is regarded as good
| thing by advocates of the direct sys-
TEN. and as bad thing by opponents
| of it. Many 4 time in this, state the
slate" agreed on has been busted
and a dark horse run in. II nomina-
tions were made directly, such thing
could not be done. As for switching.
there are instances of it at almost ev-
cry convention. OF two good candi-
dates for the same place, one may be
induced to withdraw by getting an
other place. for which no very strong
candidate has appeared. Under the
direct system, there could be nc
switching-a man must be voted for
for one office and only one; and il
two or three of the men who would
make the best candidates were out
for the same office, the party would
lose the benefit of the candidacy of
all but one OF them. and might have to
take an inferior candidate for some
other place.
| Friends of the direct system say
that conventions are easily manipu-
lated; that sometimes the delegates
go there. and do not even get chance
to vote, If it is decided in caucus to
let the chairman cast the vote; and
that most OF them do not know what
is going on at all. and might as well
have stayed at home. Opponents say
that primaries may be manipulated
too: and that il delegates do not get
n = n sAta
what is going on, it is their own
fault.
All these things should be taken in
II to account in considering the matter