Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-07-05
STATE WIDE DIRECT PRIMARY A
FARCE.

The New York legislature yesterday
voted down direct primary bill, the
passage Of which had been urged by
former President Roosevelt. The
members Of this legislature were guild
ed in their action by a committee
which last year visited several states
in the west and secured first hand in
formation relative to the workings OF
the primary law They were acquaint-
ed with the theory Of the primary law,
as was the former president when he
was moved to endorse the measure
pending in New York, but the New
York legislative committee found
when they visited states where the
direct primary was in operation and
interviewed those who had practically
tried it, that the primary did not work
out in practice what it promised in
theory.
The primary attempts to, do by
direct action what can only be done In
an intelligent way by representa-
tive proceeding.
For the election of delegates from
voting precincts to county conventions
the primary will answer very well, for
the reason that the voters are
acquainted with the men for whom
they are voting. They know their
personality, their character and their
ability. But state wide primary has
been proved in Iowa and in every
other state where it has been tried,
to be a farce.
Taking out the candidates for gov
ernor, all names on the state ticket
are practically unknown to the mass
Of voters In voting at the primary the
average voter goes to the polls, calls
for his party ticket, goes into the
booth and looks up and down the col
umns and sees there three different
names for one office, four for another,
six fer another and so on There
will probably be anywhere from
twenty to forty names on the ballot
before he gets down the list to the
congressman, who is the only man on
the list he has ever seen. He knows
nothing about them; nothing Of their
qualifications, their fitness or UNFIT
ness He does not know how they
are regarded in their community;
whether they are good citizens or not
And one of the serious phases of that
feature is that he has no way of find
ing out about these different candi-
dates. Possibly two or three of them
had money enough to stump the
state, and the voter may have heard
them, or may have friend who has
heard them. Some candidate who
might be eminently qualified for the
position might be barred from stump
ing the state because he did not
have the money, or would not devote
to nominating campaign that
amount Of time and money, or was
not public speaker. His qualif1ca-
lions would count for naught against
a man who had spent the money and
time to make himself known. Then
the man who is already in office and
is running again has the advantage
over the man whose name is not
familiar to the people.
There were half dozen or more
candidates for the office Of railroad
commissioner and for the office OF
school superintendent. Leaving out OF
that list the names of the present in
cumbents it is not likely that per cent
of the voters of the state had any
knowledge of the ability or character
istics Of these candidates.
Under the caucus or representative
system. delegates are chosen to con-
ventions and there mix freely and
continuously for several days, and in
the very nature of things find out
great deal about the candidates from
different parts of the state. The
township and ward caucuses select
delegates to the county convention.