Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15
SAYS THE ISSUE is PLAIN
Two Systems of Government in Con-
flict, He Declares.
ONE PRIVATE, OTHER PUBLIC
Executive Makes Speech Favoring
Election of James E. MARITIME
to United States Senate.

| Wilson declared it was the duty of the
democratic legislators to send to th
| United States Senate James Z. MARITIME
| who was the choice of the people at the
| primary election last fall. DIR. Wilson
said James Smith, jr., who was oppos
| ing MARITIME in the fight for the senator
| ship. was making a colossal pOlitica
blunder. Mention of the names of AS
| semblymen Mylod, Boettner and Balentin,
of Essex county, who had asked Mr.
Smith to become a candidate for the sen
| atorship, and who afterward repudiatet
their choice. was greeted with prolonged
applause. DR.. Wilson praised these legis-
lators, who. he said, saw their error
| when the people rose up in their migh
and demanded that they come out fol
MARITIME.
Mr.. Wilson said
THE issue is perfectly plain. 1t is be
tween two systems of government
Under the one party managers privately
arrange both election to office and the
course of legislation. Because they make
the arrangements in private they make
please. serving such interests as is profit
able. to serve.
Alleged Ignoble Results.
"In recent times this system of private
management has included nothing more
| conspicuous than the selection of United
States senators. 4 glance at the news
papers will show what the ignoble result:
have been. Under the other system ol
government, the system we are striving
to restore. everything is done in public
and everything is done through the &C
tion Of the people themselves. This j:
the system which We once had. but have
| lost. and which we must regain. whatever
! the cost to individuals or to such interests
as set themselves against it.
I'm this particular case we must ask
ourselves whom Mr.. Smith represents
No one will claim. i'm view of the mani
festation Of public opinion in recent
New Jersey He does not even represent
state machine. He represents only a
local machine which has centered for
many years in his own vigorous and capa-
know how many persons. let us say 1000,
at a liberal guess, and over against those
are set the 10000 and more democrats
who voted at the polls and who insist
upon genuine representation in the con-
duct of the government.
Origin of the Controversy.
."rhe present controversy with regard to
the senatorship began as a controversy
with regard to the significance and bind
ing authority OF the vote of preference
cast at the September primaries.
1T has gone now much beyond that
and is a vastly larger question. great
deal has happened since those primaries.
At them 1O,UO democrats spoke their
preferences. Since then whole state has
been aroused. and can any one for mo-
ment sincerely question the result? Does
not every day make 1t more manifest than
before that the opinion of the whole state
IL aroused and that the verdict is over
whelming to the effect that the people $
candidate must be put into the Senate
and Mr.. Smith once and for all re
jected? The effect is conclusive and ire
sistible. and constitutes an absolutely new
verdict confirming the judgment OF the
primaries in unmistakable fashion
Confused in Their Thinking.
Senator Smiths friends and individuals
in many quarters have raised in connec-
ton with this and similar controversies
elsewhere the question of the constitu-
tionality Of the governors so-called in
reference in case or this sort. They
are allowing themselves to become con-
fused In their thinking. 1t is not the con-
stitution of the state they are thinking
Of but the constitution of politics as 1t
has existed in recent decades.
Il am not presumins to suggest man
for senator am supporting the popu-
fallen upon genuine man of the people
q man who can be trusted to speak their
mind rather than the minds of masters
who dictate his course In private. IL this
| is uSurpation of unconstitutional author
| itv, the constitution violated is only the
present constitution of politics, Of which
| we are unalterably determined to get rid.
The interests which have allowed them
| selves 20 become privately allied with
| managing politicians are as much OPP
posed to the destruction of that consti-
tuition as are the politicians themselves,
and for the same reasons.
| Neither Radical Nor Sensational.
| There Is no radicalism and no sensa
tionalism in trying to obtain a new con-
stitution for politics. 1t is the essence OF
preservation; 1t is the process of saving
free institutions and popular government
| There is no attack involved in it upon
anything legitimate. 1t is simply a puri-
| fcation and restoration In which all good
men will cooperate. We are destroying
nothing except that which will not will
ingly lend itself to the reorganizatio ton
| We are building new elements of opinion
| into a new body and practice of self
government. and only those who resist
need expect to suffer
| "A peoples government means public
government; an honest government gov
ernment by discussion and not by ar
!
| parties play for the same thing. Th1e
has been a great deal of thoughtless talk
about undertaking and sensationalisn
| in our magazines and journals, and nc
doubt a great deal that was exaggerated
| has been said and believed But any
sensationalism that we have called
| undertaking has only amounted to un
| covering hidden things. In most cases
the result of the exposure has been some
thing that proved to be for the benefit OF
| the people. a ratification Of things that
were wrong. We must not finch at any
kind of publicity.
Present Duty Defined.
| There has been long series of sena.
torial elections in New Jersey, with al.
most every one of which some uneasy
feeling. some suspicion of private man.
| agement. some breath of scandal, some
| conviction of contesting selfish force, has
been connected. 1t is our present duty
and purpose to put an end TO the sinister
| series once for all. and undertake new
| processes of choice conceived in the com.
/ mon interest
| This is not fight for personal power
| 1t is. on the contrary, fight to destroy
personal power. Public opinion has
arisen in forms which no man can mis-.
take. and which every one purposing bis
own selfish ends must instinctively fear
II is all a part. no doubt, of long battle
but it is battle whose issue is certain"