Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-05-09
MASSACHUSETTS ON TRIAL
How the Presidential Primary and Its
Effects are viewed In Canada.
(From the Montreal WitnessN

Mr.. PRESIDENT, Halu Daniel Webster
in 1880 addressing the United States SEN
ate, MIR. President, I will make no en-
comium upon Massachusetts. There she
Is Behold her and judge for yourselves"
Massachusetts has Just voted, and now
people from one end of the country to the
other are weighing that vote and Judging
Massachusetts. In one party n political
iirebrand. whose language is that of tho
prize ring, was pittcd against a sober, up
right, steady going statesman. In the
other a man who has of late been con-
sidered moro as a circus clown than as a
statesman, whose driving of a pair of
Missouri mules M PENNSYLVANIA avenue
has been characteristic of his whole
career, was pittcd against a college presi-
dent and eminent author. The republic
cans Of Massachusetts, named half their
delegates for the frebrand, while the
Democrats of the same stately old State
voted two to one for the burlesuuer
Massachusetts would seem to be tired of
the serious tragedy or restrained dramas
of politics. Each requires too much
thought too slow an action. For her
the vaudeville full OF entertainment and
every minute filled with excitement. To
the extent Of their power the common
people OF Massa chusetts have chosen the
ready reckless, careless talker. The APP
peal was to the uneducated and like lii
nos the uneducated of the state being in
the ma jority, have named their cand.
date.
The people of the United States have
hitherto escaped an undignihed selection
for president. When Mr. Roosevelt was
her choice before, it was before he had
entered on his present career of assault,
upon the judiciary. Whence then is his
popularity with the disinterested adher-
ents of that party which at one time in
cluded only the steadygoing elements
Of the population? BY themselves it is
put down to a revolt against the existing
political machinery. Mr.. Roosevelt's
leading appeal has been for the direct
primary. a vote on the part of the electors
OF each locality on the choice of n prefer
entail candidate. without the intermeda-
ton of caucuses and committees. In
other words. In future the only way for
man to get nominated for the presi
dency would be by three years cam
paign Of Acknowledgement by mule
driving. elephant shooting and so forth.
The present remedy for machine rule Is
vain one. Mr. Roosevelt in his attempt
two years ago to control the New York
machine used boss methods in as bare
faced manner as any other ever did But
the evil is so fully realized that the peo-
pie would. ii seems, prefer anything in
the world to the present system of mani
pulation by professional politicians con-
trolled by interests that furnish the ex-
penses. which Is the greatest possible
travesty on popular government.
The preference Of the democrats for
MIR. Champ Clark. however, admits Of no
such pubftc-spirited explanation. Mr..
Woodrow Wilson. the man against whom
they have voted two to one, was known
as an enemy of. and in his own state OF
New Jersey i victor over. machine poll
tics, while Mr.. Clark Is party man first.
last and all the time. Taking the two
phenomena together 1t would seem as
though in these days Of noisy publicity.
oratory and a stirring program are the
first requisites of a presidential candi-
Cate. AS the primaries advance one cam
not but feel that it is less the candidates
than the people who are on trial. 1t Is
ton as will afford a powerful argument
for the checks and counter checks de-
vised by the planners of the constitution
1t will be impossible now to revert to
those. but much might be done towards
dethroning the machine and party rule
generally, by resorting to the principle of
proportional voting The breaking up of
parties, which seems to be in process,
would afford q good occasion for such a
reform.
While the vote makes the nomination of
Mr.. Taft less probable. it strongly en-
phasizes the probability that should he
get the nomination he would be hope
lessly beaten for the presidency. While
1t adds half the States delegates to the
Roosevelt column. II also reveals his
weakness The present Indications are
that neither stands n good chance against
a united Democratic party. The contest
mas been so extremely bitter and personal
that neither Mr. Taft nor Mr.. Roosevelt
can reasonably hope for the support of
the followers OF the one of them that Is
defeated at the convention. The demo-
Gratis have for the last l6 years been in
the habit of following n demagogue-so
that their choice so far as il has been
expressed is not inconsistent. but If they
must still follow demagogue instead
of one of the three worthy men of tried
record. Mr. Wilson. Mr.. Harmon or Mr..
Underwood, who are at their service,
why not still cling to the one and
only peerless one and for a fourth time
nominate the man who claims TO have
initiated all the modern reform proposals?
He is at all events respectable and vir-
tUous.