Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-03-08

amendments to the county act and
then the direct primary bill had its
innings. William Thompson, who
helped draw the bill up explained its
terms briefly.
There is a certain amount of OPP
position to this bill in the Legislature
and the committee wants to be con-
vinced that it is a good one before
it approves" it, announced Chairman
Castle.
Attorney Andrews Immediately
jumped up with all kinds of objec-
lions to urge against the direct prim
airy plan in general
"Why, it wipes out party lines he
shouted ANY man can run on any
ticket It's expensive Only a rich
man can run for Office if such a law
is in effect in Honolulu. It gives rise
to all kinds of abuses, political AMI
! personal. l don't know OF ally adj
vantage it would give us. | don't care
party pledge or no party pledge, It's
damnabe experiment"
He cited the situation in the state
of Oregon, where a Republican state
elected Democratic governor.
Chairman A. d. Cooper of the Re-
publican committee, denied that the
primary law discrepancies the party
1.-THE candidate to run has to endorse
the platform of his party" he stated,
| answering one of Andrews pet argu-
ments, which was that the candidates
| were bound by no platforms and had
nothing to hold them responsible.
| w. R. Castle. while not attacking
| the direct primary plan generally.
! stated that he is not pleased with its
specific workings-out. 81 am salts
| fed the direct primary is not q sue
cess where tried, he said. You can't
preserve party lines with it. l should
like to see the legislature turn down
| the act now before 1t. AS to the party
/ pledge,-carry out that pledge when
an act is produced that you can con
| scientiously vote for.
Ed. Towse, member from Oahu, said
| Il may have to vote against my bet
| ter judgment for direct primary law.
1t is party pledge. But what should
| like to see is the abuses of the pre-
gent law corrected, making all the
parties hold their primaries on the
same day, making 1t punishable Of
| fence to stuff the precinct rolls box
etc"
Robertson for Primary.
Judge Robertson then came to the
fore with a still more vigorous speech
than he made earlier in the evening
Most of it was directed against At
torney Andrews.
ut is not true" he declared that
the direct primary laws where tried
have broken up parties, 1t is not
| true. In fact, everywhere they have
tended to streng hen parties. Such a
! law does not throttle parties. One of
| the speakers has said that 1t gives
rise to fraud and corruption. Gentle
men, the present condition of politics
| in Hawaii threatens far more the free
dom OF the people and the integrity
| of The ballot than any primary law
Under the laws today what is to pre-
vent bosses from voting anybody they
want in the primaries?
| "As to the objection raised by Mr..
Andrews that there is no way of get
ting county platform, suggest that
| when the delegates to the territorial
| convention meet, the Oahu delegates
| can then draft the city and county
| platform for Honolulu.
| 1.-THE danger of Democrats voting
a Republican ticket in the primary
| is more apparent than real The gen
/ tleman has magnified what after all Is
a slight danger"
| W. X. Harrington said in part:
ut is a mistake to assume that the
primary law will wipe out party lines
Wisconsin for many years has had the
direct primary, and the Republican
party there is so strong that at the
last primary election I think, so few