The Washington herald., 1911-02-26
NEW IDEAS IN POLITICS.
IV-DIREcT PRIMARY NOMINATIONS.

WIZ " Dt NobIu uPSAi -
the regular election. for every office to
which the people elect the officeholder
In the thirty-odd States which now have
primary laws on their statute books.
anything, from the slightest regulation
of the old-fashioned party caucus to the
actual nomination by the people of all
their candidates for office, without the
Intervention of conventions, may be re-
ferred TO as direct primaries. To de-
scribe all the various phases which pri-
mary laws have taken would take pages
of newspaper space, so in this article /
shall deal only with some OF the general
of the most recent development the ex-
tention of which progressive political
thinkers are now advocating.
How widespread the interest in direct
nominations has become in the decade
or so since the movement began to be-
come general is discovered by reference
to the party platforms on which the
various State campaigns were waged in
1910. Both the Republicans and the
Democrats of Vermont. Maine. New Jer
sey. New York, New Hampshire, Mon
tapa, and Idaho went ON record as fav-
oring direct primary laws, as did the
Democrats of Georgia, Minnesota, Con-
necticut. Wisconsin. New Mexico. Massa-
ch1setts, California, Rhode Island. Wy
oning. and Oregon, and the Republicans
OF Nevada. Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa
Many of these States already have pri-
mary laws of varying degrees of eff
cheney on their statute books. but the
demand for an extension of the principle
was voiced in the platforms, while in
both party platforms in South Dakota,
North Dakota Michigan. and Nevada: in
the Democratic platforms Of Oklahoma
and Pennsylvania, and the Republican
platforms of Minnesota, California, Kan
sas, Wisconsin. and Texas. arc found
planks demanding certain specific re-
forms in the direct primary laws already
in effect The National Progressive Re
publican League makes the demand for
the direct nomination of AL elected Off
cials the second article in Yts programme
of proposed reforms, and it's third article
the demand for the direct nomination Of
delegates to national conventions, is
merely an extension of the direct pri
mary idea 10 its logical conclusion.
The whole movement for direct pri-
mary nominations may be regarded as
the gradual regulation by law of what
was regarded originally as a purely vol
untary association. namely. the political
party. That the tendency of the most ad-
vanced primary legislation is to destroy
political parties entirely, so far as mu-
ncipal and local affairs are concerned;
to weaken their influence in State poll
tics. and TO break down party lines at
many points in national affairs. is un-
deniable. The process is still very far
from complete. but beginnings toward
this abolition of the party organization
have been made in several States. and the
whole drift of the direct primary move
ment is in that direction at the present
time
Party lines were not sharply drawn in
the United States until the nation had
existed for several decades. The process
of acquiring control OF public affairs by
party organizations was as gradual as
is the movement in the other direction
now. But when control was once as
quired, it was exercised through the party
king Caucus" as political
writer's of a generation or more ago
described the ruling power, and the par
ty leaders themselves decided who was
and who was not entitled to representa-
tion in the caucuses that nominated can
didates for every office. from school trus-
tee to governor or President. Since the
party organization was an institution not
known to the law, it could do as it
pleased. The natural result was that
party leaders dictated the nominations
to suit their own interests, and even
where there was a semblanCe of pop
ular participation, as in the case of
of State candidates by con-
ventions. it was a poor boss who could
not control the caucuses that nominated
the delegates to these conventions and
so dictate the nominations made by the
The direct primary nominal
ton movement had its origin and gains
its power to-day from the growing re-
volt against boss rule The process of
the caucus into a primary
election is far from being complete. es
pecially in the South, but it is going on
rapidly.
laws, and each has some points
that in practical operations have proved
TO meet local conditions better than those
of other States probably would, it is i'm
possible to point to a single primary
law and characterize it either as the ideal
or as the best. in all particulars, that
has yet been developed. The general
principle of nearly all, however, is that
the party organization is now recog-
nized. legally created body, with the quail
fications for membership defined by law,
and with legal provisions for the enforce
ment of the right of every member of
the party to take an equal part in all
Of the actions of the party. These quail
fications for party membership vary
widely in different States. In Michigan,
for instance, the water need oaly declare
his sympathy with the principles of the
party in the primary of which he desires
to participate. In New Jersey he must
declare that he supported majority of
the party candidates at the last election
and intends to support the party noms-
nees In Missouri he need only declare
himself a Republican or Democrat with
out offering evidence on the question. In
New York he must declare his intention
merely of supporting the party ticket In
Florida the party authorities recognized
by law are allowed to prescribe what
constitutes party membership. and sim
liar provisions prevail in other Southern
States.
The extent to which the party men,
I,ar NAV taka mart an the choosing of