Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1912-03-15
Demands Enactment of Laws to
Permit Presidential Primaries
Roosevelt Out in Letter Dixon Endorsing Challenge
Mckinley for Showdown the Sentiment of the Repub
lican Voters of the Country All Professional Poll
ticians Who Are Doing All They Can to Throttle
Progressives' Moves on Behalf of the People,

are working as we have rarely seen
them work in American political life.
Hurdles For People.
Against such forces it is, in any
event difficult enough for the ordinary
plain citizens, who have only the gen
eral welfare at heart, to win. But it
becomes well-nigh impossible for such
plain citizen to give expression to the
popular will when there is no popular
primary.
The convention system in our party
was founded on the theory that it
would represent and not thwart the
popular will. When, rs is too often now
the case, it is turned into an instru-
ment to be used for the direct over
throw Of the popular will, then it is
not representative, but thoroughly and
mischicviously misrepresentation Of
the party and Of the people. Here in
New York, for instance, the machines
OF the two parties have co-operatcd to
draw up primary law, which imposes
on the people system so cumbrous, so
involved as to make 1t possi:'e /" get
a fair expression of public sentiment,
and very difficult to get any express
sion of public sentiment at all. The
present primary law in New York is
admirably adapted to achieve its pur-
pose; for its purpose is to prevent the
people from controlling the party or
CARNATIONS or having their say i'll par
ty nominations, and to preserve such
control and such domination purely for
the class of professional politicians.
Not "Too Late.''
"It is idle to say that it is too late
to make the change we ask. Our OPP
ponents are themselves to blam for the
fact that tn dmand has not ben soon
er granted. For long time-over
eighteen months - every progressive,
every friend of really popular govern
ment has been demanding a system Of
genuine direct primaries. Wherever
we have failed to get this system, such
ta'l're is due to the action Of rcactlcn-
aries, whose one aim is to prevent the
people from controlling party organiza
tions to which they belong, who thor
oughly distrust the people, and who do
not believe in their right to rule, and
ROW these men, who have thus far pre-
vented the people from getting c.reet
primaries, demand that they be allowed
to remain the benefciaries Of their
own wrong and ask to be excused
from granting the demand For direct
primaries now just because they have
contemporary refused to grant that
demand in the past.
"There never was a straight.r fight
waged for the principle of popular
rule than that we are now waging. We
are fighting against entrenched priv
ilege, both political privilege and fnan-
cal privilege. We believe that, gwen
a fair chance, the people will declare
against both political and financial
privilege. Therefore, we demand that
they be given their fair chance.
Will Bow to Verdict.
eff the people decide against u, We
will bow cheerfully to the d:cision,
confident that they viii in the end see
that the cause for which we fight is in
deed the cause Of human rights and hu
man welfare.
''But we very emphatically jet
here in this democracy and within the
confines of the party which CLAIMS
Abraham Lincoln as its national faund
err, to having the issues decided against
us, not by the people, but by the spoils
politicians and patronage mongers,
who are engaged in defrauding The
people out of their first and most ele-
mental r.sht-the right Of self-govern-
ment. Sincerely yours,
"THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
"Hon. Joseph M: Dixon, senator of
the United States, Washington, D. CT