Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-03-29

carried on as game, is not carried on
for the purpose of winning prizes for
the contestants, or with a view to the
personal wishes or welfare of any one
man. We hold that it should be carried
on for the purpose of ascertaining and
putting into effect the will of the
people, so that the people may jointly
do for themselves what no man can do
so well for them.
We hold that the laws that govern
elections and govern party organizations
should not be treated as rules which are
fit subjects for trickery manipulation
by contestants for prize. We hold
that as far as possible these laws should
be treated as rules to ascertain the will
of those whom the public officials and
party officials are supposed to represent.
In sum, therefore, we hold that the
object of this contest is not to secure
rewards for individuals, but to secure
the more effective government of the
people, by the people, and for the peo-
pie.
Our opponents, on the contrary, take
Mr.. McKinley's view that we are en-
gagged in game in which the interests
of the people, it is true, are at stake,
but in which the people themselves are
not to have their voice. Mr.. McKinley's
position was stated with frank cynicism
by Congressman Campbell on behalf of
the reactionary element in the Republi-
can party when, in a recent speech in
New Hampshire, he is quoted as "rous-
ing the greatest enthusiasm by declar-
ing that the Republican party does not
believe in an appeal from the umpire to
the bleachers.
Mr.. Campbell has simply stated more
frankly the view held (as is evident by
Mr.. McKinley's statement) generally
among our opponents. Their feeling is
that politics is a game, that the people
should simply sit on the bleachers as
spectators, and that no appeal lies to
the people from the men who for their
own profit are playing the game. 1t is
astounding that men should venture to
take such position; and it shows that
these men and those for whom they
speak and whom they represent have
wandered far indeed from the ground
held by Abraham Lincoln when he de-
clared this to be government dedicated
to the welfare of the common people,
and to be managed justly and honorably
by these plain people for their own well
fare in accordance with the immutable
laws Of righteousness.
Our opponents take the view that
this contest is merely game, that the
object of the contest is to win prizes for
the contestants, and that public office is
the reward that goes to the winners OF
the game, and that, therefore, 1t is
piece of allowable smartness to refuse
to make changes in the laws during the
progress of the contest, if these changes
would deprive the led captains of the
political world of the advantage they
now hold over the plain people.
In short, the issue may be stated as
follows: Should election laws be framed
with view to the interests of poll
ticians, or should election laws be
framed with view to carrying out the
popular will? We have, on the one
hand, Mr.. Mckinley and Mr.. Campbell
and the reactionary element for whom
they stand, an element which has made
it evident that they prefer to see the
Republican party ruined rather than te
see it made again what it was in the
days of Lincoln; and, on the other hand,
those who believe that the Republican
party can and shall be made now what
it was made under Lincoln-a great in
strument for the achievement of right
eousness through the rule of the plair
people.
We regard the present contest not as
a contest between individuals-f for we
are not concerned with the welfare OF
any particular individual, neither with
mine nor with that of any other man
but as a contest between these two
radically different views of the function
of politics in great democracy.
Therefore, we demand that States
like Illinois, Michigan, New York, anC
Massachusetts be given the chance tt
express their preference in Presidential
primaries as to whom they wish fol
President. Practically the entire body
of professional politicians are pitteC
against US in this contest, and in every
State and in every Congressional dis
trict they are led by the officeholder!
who, with the example before them O.
what was done in connection with the
nominations for local offices in Nortf
Carolina, are working as we have rare
ly seen them work in American polti
cal life.
co;pe+ e,1ob fOroac ~ ic in apu ata,,-