The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1910-10-08
ROOSEVELT T'S SPEECH
AT SARATOGA
Speeeh Of The Ex-Presideni. Ia Which III
Pleads for Nominations BY Primary
and True Democracy.

II the Republican State Conven
tion at Saratoga last week. wher
the issue was sQuarely joined Of
the question of adopting plank il
favor of direct primaries by The
people for nominating all legisla
tive candidates, Ex-Presiden'
Roosevelt, who led the progressive
against the Old Guard and then
following. took the floor and said
ROOSEVELTS' SPEECH.
1--WE have now GENE to the vita
moment in this convention, anc
nov by your votes you are to de.
tertnine whether the Republican
Party in the State Of New York Ii
to be a party Of progress or the
party of the reactionary.
And in the first place, let me
correct one or two misapprehen,
siens as to fact. The system od
direct nominations has not been
abandoned in other States of the
Union. | have listened to gentle.
men here holding up the RepubIi.
cans of the West as people whose
example we should avoid. In my
Republicanism | know neither
East nor West. / have lived IL
the West. and ! know them-through
and through. have seen direct
primaries working in the West.
The allusion has been made tc
the State of Wisconsin. They have
just held direct primaries in Wis.
consin. All the money was used
against the side that won the over.
whelming fight. and the side that
won spent an amount Of money that
you would hardly consider as being
adequate to run a congressional
campaign in the State of New
York. T"
Here the colonel was Interrupted
by laughter and cries of fOh!"
Exactly. he continued with
emphasis, amid more laughter and
cheers.
An allusion has been made to
the case Of Congressman SibIey.
Great sums were spent, and i'm
properly spent, in securing the
nomination Of Congressman SibIey.
They were spent in influencing a
direct primary. just as they would
.hay been spent in influencing q
convention.
"The difference was and
again the colonel was interrupted
this time by mingled cheers and
Kisses.
II will give you a chance to ex-
press your dissent again" retorted
the ex-president. 'The difference
was that Mr.. Sibley won't be con-
gresham, whereas he would have
been il they had not had direct
primaries. !"
Good for you, Teddy came
from the gallery.
The gentlemen who present the
minority report say that they rep
resent the Republican tradition.
They represent a majority Of the
Legislature composed Of the major
lty of the Democratic members and
the minority of the Republican
Party. .
Here the convention broke into
applause. Flags were waved. the
band played. and it was several
minutes before the colonel contin-
ued.
] ask that this Republican con-
yention of the State of New York
put itself behind the Republican
governor Of the State of New
York. and behind the majority OF
the Republican legislators of the
State of New York, and not put
itself behind the minority of the
Republican legislators plus Tam
many Hail..
Here great applause aga in inter,
rupted the colonel's speech.
The minority report represents
what would have been progress q
quarter Of a century ago, and ii
the gentlemen had introduced it in
the New York Legislature twenty
five years ago it would have been
laughed out of court by the spirit.
ual forbears of the individuals who
back it now" he declared.
The principle expressed ia the
report Of the minority does repre-
sent a little concern, said Colonel
Roosevelt. 1T does represent a
little progress, it does represent it
enough to make absurd the argu-
ment that to have any progress
means ruin.
It has been contended that you
cannot tell what is meant by the
majority plank. You can tell and
you can tell it exactly. It means
just what it says. It means that.
as speedily as possible, we shall
introduce the system Of direct
nominations as advocated or ap-
proved forget the exact Ian
guage by Governor Hughes, which
necessarily means practically what
President Schurman has embodied
in his resolution: that is. that as
an irreducible minimum there shall
be the nomination BY direct pri-
mary Of the legislative Offices Of
the State.
The reason is perfectly simple
for discriminating between them
and other offices. Those are the
people that make TIE Office. If You
have the direct primary applied to
the members Of the Legislature,