New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1910-07-06
Parties in the Legislature.

Alta meeting in Chicago the other
day the Democratic state central COM
mittee of Illinois adopted resolutions
urging the district committees through
out the state to present legislative
candidates in every district, regard
less Of Republican majorities.''
Says the Chicago News, commenting
on this action: This is precisely
what the Legislative Voters league
and others have been dining into the
ears of Democratic leaders for a long
time. It is gratifying that the state
central committee has finally perceived
the folly, even from the selfish party
viewpoint. of the policy heretofore
urged. The action which it recon-
mends, while bene6tting the party.
would also benefit the general public
by giving it larger range of choice
in the selection of members of the
Legislature. In some districts insolent
grafters have been reelected term
after term because there were practi-
cally no opposing candidates. y
The action of the Illinois Democratic
state committee doubtless is actuated
by political reasons, says the Duluth
Herald, but it is a move that every
good citizen should approve, and that
would be helpful in many other states,
including Minnesota.
Experience has shown that there is
nothing more prejudicial to good
government than the permanence OF
an overwhelming majority of one
party-no matter what party that is.
There is safety only in the balance
provided when there is a strong
minority membership in the legis-
iature. The ideal legislature would
be pretty nearly equally divided, and
that situation is far more important
than which party dominates. No
matter which party has the majority
with strong minority membership on
guard the majority party is strictly on
it's good behavior.
Minnesota is distressingly lame in
it's legislature. The legislature is
absolutely in the control of the Re-
publican membership. The majority
is so large that it is unwieldy and un-
responsive. The Democratic member
ship in the house is negligible in
numbers, while in the senate it is less
then a third of the whole. In neither
house is the minority strong enough
to keep the majority on it's good be-
havior. The result is that the quality
OF the legislative membership has
been deteriorating steadily, until the
last legislature was a disgrace to the
state.
In Minnesota, as in Illinois, inferior
men have been kept in Office term after
term simply because there were no
opposing candidates. The Republican
majority in most of the Minnesota
Legislative districts has been so large
that there seemed to be no use in
putting up Democratic candidates, so
the elections have gone by default to
the Republicans.
If the Democratic party in Mime
sofa should follow the example of the
Democratic party in Illinois and in
sis5 upon running candidates in every
legislative district it would be a good
party move, but a better move still
for good government. Being in the
minority, the Democrats necessarily
would have to put up the best men they
could lay hands on in each district.
Being in the majority, it hasn't been
necessary for the Republicans to pay
much attention to fitness. II the
Democrats adopted the policy of
putting up legislative candidates even
IN districts that seem hopelessly Re-
publican, they would give the voters
the privilege of exercising a choice
between candidates, and the rest
would be up to the voters.
This isn't all one-sided, in any
state. States overwhelmingly Demo-
cratic need the leaven of strong
minority in the legislature quite as
much as states overwhelmingly Re
publican. And there are in Mime
sofa strongly Democratic districts
where the Republicans, to give the
voters the opportunity of exercising
their choice, should put up Republican
candidates.