Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-08-01
Davies Primary Election BIN.
A SCHEME TO HAVE ALL PUBLIC OFF,
GERS COME FROM CITIES AND LARGE
TOWNS.
AUGUSTA, June 8, 1911.

. AUGUSTA, June 8, 1911.
Editor Democrat:
There is going the rounds of the pres
OF Maine the following squib: "Bs
cause the members of the Maine Legisl,
ture ignored the request Of $4,000 voter
for thorough direct primary law, affect
Ing the nominations for all state an
county offices. United States senator
and congressman, and members of th
Legislature, similar to the Geran law Il
New Jersey, and substituted for it
measure which the politicians wanted,
special election will be held on the sec
ond Monday In September to deaid
whether the voters of the state wan
something which the politicians do no
want"
That squib Is one of those artisticall
written things which do not definitel
state an untruth, but do contain state
ments calculated to deceive.
1t is true that the legislature refused
not ignored, the request" of 1900
voters, but can any man present evidenc
that such request" is a mandate from
the people, especially when the principa
sponsor for that "request" admits from
his place in the Maine House Of Repre-
sentatives that those signatures wer
obtained by paid canvassers? As a mat
ter Of fact, the petitions for the Dave
direct primary bill were signed by fewe
than seven per cent of the voters of tn,
state. So much for the proof that tn,
Davies bill is a bill that the people want
As for the claim that the bill which wa
| hoSi krka hn nou nj 10
that the politicians wanted, will stat,
that spent the past winter as a news
paper correspondent at tho Maine State
House, and / never heard of such thing
before, and will assert that 1t only exist.
in somebody's imagination.
| Always when there is time of unrest
about governmental matters, there IL
somebody with remedy in the shape OF
more Offices, more bother, and more OK
pense for the taxpayers. The primary
election scheme seems to belong to this
class of schemes for increasing the pub
lie expense without accomplishing the
desired reform. l am not prepared to
say that it may not be good thing fol
city, but / am satisfied that in New
Jersey, with less than one-fourth the
area of Maine, and more than three times
the population of Maine, it would have
| effects different from what 1t would in
our State. In Maine it would simply
mean that the boss in the largest town
in district, or in the whole state, would
control.
This is due to the disposition of the
people 10 vote for their neighbors. 1t
was shown conspicuously in New Hamp-
shire last September at the primary elec-
tons in that state. In Rockingham
County there are 36 towns and one city.
OF eight offices to be voted for at those
primaries, Portsmouth presented caDdi-
dates for sheriff, county solicitor, county
treasurer and two of the county COM
mssioners, on the Republican or major
ity side. Portsmouth has only II, 900 of
the $1,000 population in that county but
Portsmouth took all five of those desired
nominations. Exeter with 5000 popula-
ton took the other three-register of
deeds, register of probate and one coun-
W commissioner. The 35 country towns,
with 81, 900 population got left. A SINH
lar situation existed as the result of the
primaries in every county In New Hamp-
shire, and in one of them-Cheshire-
the largest town took seven Of the eight
nominations in the dominant party.
There is, as a consequence, an era OF Ill
feeling growing up between town and
city in New Hampshire, which is an
evil that l would like to see my native
state avoid. / speak from personal
knowledge, as l was working in Ports
mouth at the time Of that primary
election, and l was there again In the
latter part of last March, and found,
upon inquiry, that sentiment such as l
have mentioned, is getting pretty bitter
10 that state. For governor OF New
Hampshire the primaries nominated the
man who spent the more money.
A man goes into the booth to vote at
primary election and the majority of
candidates are strangers. He looks over
! the list and votes for those from his own
town, and the candidate from the large
town starts with big lead. In a coun-
ty convention, it is recognized that fair
ness in government consists In having
all sections represented, and before the
balloting is over that is accomplished to
a greater or less extent. The conven-
ton votes by majority rule, and extra
ballots are feasible when there is no
nomination on one ballot. In the pri.
mary, only one ballot is feasible, the
nomination is by plurality, and the
man with the most neighbors gets the
plurality. 1t is hard to estimate the in
creased power which this will put in the
hands of the city boss who has COM
pact bunch of votes in easy reach, which
/ he can get to the polls on primary day
at limited expense.
The primary election bill which the
legislature did pass applies only to gov
ernor, United States senators and mem
bers of Congress. That may put the
nom nations for governor and United
States senator in the bands of the boss
in Portland, If there be boss there,
though several other localities could
make good combinations against him.
Also, the candidates for governor, Unit
ed States senator, ETC., are likely to be
men who have achieved sufficient reputa-
ton to be fairly we'll known by reputa-
ton to the voters in their territories.
But fail to see why even these con-
siderations warrant the passing Of law
to forbid the small towns ever again fur
nishing county officers or state senators.
In our legislative districts, 1t has be-
come custom to pass around the honor
of sending representative to the legis-
lsture. That method 10 not fully salts
factory, but is 1t not far better than
would be law to provide that the big
gest town in the district shall have the
representative II somebody in that town
wants the Office?
In the present Maine senate, four of
the 81 members are from the largest
towns in the senatorial districts. II We
get the Davies primary election bill, 1t Is
probable that rs or more of the senator's
will be from such largest towns. This
estimate is based on study of the sena-
torial makeups in the legislatures OF
states where they have such primary
elections as are asked for Maine by few
or than seven per cent of the voters.
The two bills were debated In the
House of Representatives at Augusta
last March. The argument which
have offered here was offered there. 1t
had also been previously offered before
the committee which had the bills under
consideration, and the friends of the
Davies bill knew the argument that they
must meet Their only answer to that
argument was to say that certain men
said it was a good thing in other states,
and those certain men happened to be
either beneflciaries of the primary cleo
lions law or friends of Its beneficiaries
The Governor had recommended the
other bill In his inaugural address, and
the parties had both promised q primary