The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-11
TUESDAY. JANUARY ii, 1910.
THE EDITORS ON THE suBCOM-
M11NTIsE's PRIMARY BILL.

THE EDITORS ON THE suBCoM-
M11'TEE's i, laiARY BILL.
We had thought that we could picl,
out in advanc the more importan,
State newspapers which would uphold
and applaud the subcommittee's pri,
mary bill, or ut any rate vastly prefer
1t to the Byrd bill. These private
prognostications have been pretty
we'll fulfilled, though the approval
given to the subcommittee bill Is
distinctly not SO warm insany quarter
as we might have anticipated.
So far as we have seen no news
paper in the state has expressed any
thing like admiration for the bill ex-
cept the Petersburg Index-Appeal,
which considers 1t, oddly enough. as
clear, cogent and comprehensive, 10
saw nothing on the question Of cugencH,
"olear" and Comprehensive are two
of the last words in the dictionary
that we should have expected to find
applied to this bill. But as the Index
Appeal, a few days earlier, had eS-
pressed some doubt as to whether .
primary law was necessary or desir.
able at all. it was to be supposed that
the briefer such a law would be tho
better this contemporary would be
pleased. The Danviiie papers. whose
proprietor Is a member of the sub
committee, say no more than that
that body "has discharged It's duty as
fully and faithfully as It's best judg-
ment dictated The Lynchburg News
is so non-committal in Its comment
that 1t is impossible to say what its
general opinion of 1t is. 1t appears
to accept without Endorsing it. II
stoutly insists, however. that part OF
the bill must be rewritten in the in
terest of clearness, and that If the sub
committee has exceeded it's authority
the transgressing clauses must be
promptly altered.
The opposition to the bill is much
more abundant and decidedly more I'M
p%assioned. The Newport News Press
asks whether 1t should be taken as a
joke or an insult to the party-whether
~ IT ID Ztlis &pIotlNl VI . 10 llpl 0tiAS vi u
deliberate attempt to handicap instead
OF assist the efforts" toward sound
primary legislation. No one who is fa-
miliar with the ideas of party members
who earnestly believe in the primary,
1t says, 'can suppose for a moment
that this measure Will be acceptable
to such members" The Roanoke World
thinks that the Byrd bill came as near
what is required in Virginia, as could
be prepared by a single individual
and tina it has been almost entirely
semasculated" by the subcommittee S
supstitute. which we hope and venture
Ito predict Will not be accepted by the
General Assembly, The Bristol Herald
Courier suspects that the subcommit-
tee bill will come nearer pleasing the
real friends" The Norfolk Landmark
considers thA, bill inferior to the BYRD
bill in esters" part except section Il
(which provides for tie marking Of
paid political matter in newspapers1
and as no carrying out the spirit of
the Roanoke resolutions 1.-THE meas
uro is woefully bad in sins of olnis-
sion,' says this contemporary, going
on to demand "a bill drawn by warm
supporters of the primary principle"
The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot speaks
out st:ll more vigorously. II declares
the bill to be Thoroughly dlsappoint-
ing and unsatisfactory; points out,
as this paper did before it. that 'in-
stead of Continuing and perfccting the
primary. 1t opens the way TO discon-
%tinuance of the system Itself; asserts
that AZ this is the best that can be
hopcd for at the hands or the Legis-
~leture. 1t would be just as wen or
better to leave things us they are";
and concludes with this ringing para
graph:
In attempting 10 accomplish by
evasion n tricking what the great
body of the Democratic sufftages of
State. through duly delegated rep
Tesentattyes. emphatically disapproved
at the Roanoke convention, the "or-
ganization" is only Fastening the COM
ing of the day of wrath for itself.
The temper OF the Democratic people
of Virginia has been sorely tried by
Mr.. Ellyson's committee as 1t is. They
Will not stand much more, and they
ought not,
1t seems 10 us. highly Significant
that not even the most lukewarm
friends Or the most outspoken OPP
ponents OF the primary have been able
to con1ure up anything like enthusiasm
for the subcommittee husk or a bill.
From the warmer advocates OF the pri-
mary. as Is here shown, the bill has
evoked the most unqualified an en-
phatic d%isapproval. The Byrd bill. COM
pnlsory feature and all, .Atsss won far
more real appreciation from the press
and has called forth no such hostility |
and resentment. With the compulsory
feature omitted, there would be no
comparison. between The strong in
dorsement of the latter and the indif-
ference, indignation or contempt ex-
limited toward The la.ter.
The excerpts here printed, represent
E{nr-3 jha vjauE9aP all ;he lnrye. St,Ja |