Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-10-25

| to represent them upon all political
matters. The Richards Law proposes
to have elected, for each political
party, two proposal committees" for
the state and two similar county
committees in each county. These
committees are to be selected, like the
state and county party committees,
by choosing one representative from
each county on each committee, in
each case OF the state committees and
one representative from each precinct
in case of each of the county COM
mittees. There are to be two state
committees of each party and two
committees of each party in each
county, majority" and "min-
ority" committee in each instance.
REvERTS TO CONVENTION
These committees are to formulate
political principles, which are to
take the place of party platforms.
The same com mittees are also to pro-
pose candidates for the various offices.
In other words, instead of one politi-
cal convention of each party held for
the nomination of candidates and the
formulation Of party platform, the
Richards Law seeks to substitute~two
conventions, under the guise of two
committees, to which are given all of
the authority that was ever assumed
by and political convention, and these
committees are made up, not Of rep
reSentativeS of the voters according to
number, but of representatives of
counties and precincts without any
regard whatever to the number Of
voters contained in each county or
precinct. The Richards Primary Law
simply substitutes. in place of the or
dinary political conventions, two con-
ventions (under the name of proposal
committees) in each of which each
county of the state land, in the case
of the county convention, each pre-
cinct in the county, is given equal re-
presentation regardless of the num-
ber of voters. In such committee
small county like Buffalo would pos
sess equal authority with large coun-
ties like Brown, Lawrence and Mime
haha IN county committee a
small country precinct with a hand
ful of voters would be given the same
representation and recognition as the
most populous ward Of Aberdeen,
Watertown, Sioux Falls or Lead.
The "proposal committees" under the
Richards Law would have, If any
thing, more power than that poss-
essed by any political convention and
would be made up not of representa-
tives of the voters but of representa-
tives of the counties and precincts as
geographical units and regardless of
representation.
HOW FACTIONS COULD CON-
TROL.
The most curious proposition Of the
Richards Primary Law and one which
makes it wholly unavoidable in prac
tice is the manner in which the ina
jority and minority proposal com
mittees" are selected.
The ballot provided by the law
gives the voter choice between vo-
ting for minority proposal" COM
mitteeman. The voter must vote for
one, but cannot vote for both. There
is nothing in the law which would in
dicate to which faction of a given
party majority" or minority"
proposal committeeman should be-
long The voter must vote haphazard
for one or the other. The result
inevitably would be that both the
majority and the minority committees
would be composed Of members of both
factions of the political party and one
faction could easily obtain control of
both proposal committees and be able
to dictate both platforms and to name
both the minority sets of candidates
for the party.
POLITICIANS RULE is CEN
TRIAL IDEA
The central idea of the Richards
Primary Law is not to bring elections
and candidates closer to the people
and there by enable each voter to
udNc d uIIcCU III Vic oOtOS7
tion of party candidates, but to place
all of the political power in the hand
not of the voters, but of the proposal
committees" The machinery pro-
vided for the election, organization
and working of these committees is so
complicated and ponderous that it is
incomprehensible, not only to the av-
erage voter, but to the voter OF more
than ordinary education and intelli-
gence Under the Richards Primary
Law the practical result would be to
lodge, the entire political power OF
each party In the two proposal COM
mittees and the provision OF the law
are such that these committees could
be elected and manipulated by exper-
fenced politicians with far less diff
ficulty than was ever experienced with
| caucus or a convention.
NO CHANCE FOR INDEPEN-
DENTS.
While the law ostensibly provides
| for independent nominations outside
OF those proposed by the proposal
comm ittees the form OF ballot is SO