The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-08-02
SHOULD A DELEGATE BE BOUND
BY INSTRUCTIONS?

| occur to US that our primary system
| is based on the moral obligation of
view of it it becomes a mere rope of
sand.
! 1t occurs to us that the moral OBJ
| legation which it imposes upon the
voter is its very pith and marrow, i!
is its very heart and soul, and if the
moral obligation which it sacrediJ
imposes is denied or ignored, then its
very foundations are swept. away ana
the whole superstructure tumbles and
becomes a mere wreck and ruin.
Speaking of the delegates to the
Chicago convention who were in
structed to vote for him for president
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt says:
The conduct of these delegates,
and of certain others like them, was
not merely dishonorable from a pub
lie standpoint, it was dishonorable
according to any code which should
obtain among gentlemen"
There is no mincing or Juggling of
words here, and the naked question
arises, is ex-President Roosevelt
right, or is he wrong?
If we have not progressed BE-
yond the path of sacred and honora-
BILE methods in our political and bust
ness life; if fair and square dealing
among gentlemen and politicians have
not become antiquated, then on this
plain, direct proposition, we think
one must endorse without evasion Or
euuivocation the utterances of Colo
mel Roosevelt.
If wrong, then the primary system
is a sham, delusion and a snare.
AS a mere matter of example, we
will say that there is a primary cleo
ton held in Florida; we will say that
gentleman by the name of w. A.
Blount of Pensacola, and that another
gentleman by the name Of Nathan P.
oil vi OdChSOllh IllC OCCOll4C NdlAdi-
dates for the office of United States
senator in said primary Both gen
tlemen, of course, approve of the prl-
mary system, and both gentlemen
make an active canvass for the NOM
ination. The election is duly held
and it is found that a majority OF the
democratic electors favor the cleo
ton of Mr. Bryan for this high office.
His election before the primaries is
only preparatory step for our con-
stitution, and our laws provide a diff
ferent manner of election, but it is
regarded by those who participate in
! it as equivalent to an election, for 1t
| is an instruction to the democratic
members of the next coming legisla-
ture to vote for Mr. Bryan for United
States senator, and to disregard the
claims of everyone else whose name
may be mentioned as a candidate
against him.
Suppose, if such a supposition be
possible, that a majority of the demo-
cratic members of the legislature re-
fuse to be bound by the instructions
as expressed in the primary election,
and turn Mr.. Bryan down and elect
Mr.. Blount basing their betrayal of
the trust reposed in them on the
ground of patriotism, what would be
said of their conduct, not merely from
a public standpoint, but according to
the code that should obtain every
where among gentlemen?
Should the members of that legis-
lature for thus fiagrantly disregard
ing their sacred obligations and sub
verting the clearly expressed wishes
of their constituents, be decorated
from head to foot with flowers?
And would not those who engage in
decorating the said members with
flowers and placing Wreaths around
their brows be as culpable violators
of the primary vows as the members
of the legislature themselves?
Mr. Roosevelt says, and we believe
he speaks an eternal truth, that no
amount of logic, no expenditure OF
high-fown elOquence, can absolve one
from moral obliQuity who goes back
upon the expressed wishes Of his con-
stituents, especially if these Obliga-
lions are clearly defined by positive
instructions.
One may beat the devil around the
bush, but upon a proposition so clear
and manifest as this, the most callous
cannot satisfy his conscience by all
the flowers Of rhetoric that can be
gathered in the garden of eloquence.
Yet we have recently been treated
to an exhibition of this sort. We
have seen a grand and dominant fig
ure, who, TO carry his point disre
oordod his Instructions EXPRESSLY and