The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-07-26
Democratic Government

The following editorial recently
appeared in the Chicago Inter
Ocean, the only real republican
journal published in that city and
should be read by everyone who
was influenced to vote for the pri-
mary election law by demagogue:
A man in Milwaukee with GER
tain fondness for figures and prob
ably al inherited respect for facts
writes letter to New York
newspaper taking issue with the
widely advertised idea that IN
Wisconsin the primary law has re-
stored democratic government,
brought the people" into their
own, and retired the bosses. b"
He begins with the statement,
based on official records, that the
primary law was adopted by only
one-ffth of the voters of the state.
In 1904, the year in which it was
submitted to popular vote, there
were over 6oo,o male citizens OF
voting age in Wisconsin, and Of
these I3o,6oo voted for the pro-
posed law and $1,000 against it.
Once adopted by vote which
would certainly indicate that the
people were not wildly excited at
the prospect of having democratic
government" restored in this man
ner, how did the law Justify the
glowing predictions of Senator La
Toilette and others?' Did it restore
democratic government" to the
people and did the people receive
the gift with gladnessP We quote.
Four primary elections have since
been held under this statute, and the
aggregate vote polled by all parties
has but once equaled that cast upon
the adoption of the law in 1904. This,
too, in spite of the fact that there has
been a steady increase in voting pop
ulation until there were 683, TAB males
of voting age in Wisconsin in Septem-
Der, 1910. On that one occasion,
mainly because there were five Re-
publican candidates contesting for
the gubernatorial nomination, 254, 900
votes were polled for that office,
which led the list, the next highest
being cast for United States Senator.
Having delivered this effective
exposition of the effect of the res
toration of democratic govern
ment" in Wisconsin, the writer
proceeds to quote a spirited pas
sage from a message of Governor
LaFollette in 1908, calling atten-
ton to the shocking fact that under
the system then In vogue, the
largest attendance upon caucuses
had resulted in polling less than 40
per cent of those entitled to vote. F."
He pertinently rejoius that no
election since that time has shown
a poll anywhere near 40 per cent of
the states voting population.
But the statistical armory of this
Wisconsin citizen is far from eX-
hausted. He has plentiful supply
of figures to prove that there has
been less and less of democratic
government" in that state since the
primary law was adopted. Here
are a few more that are equally
pointed and persuasive:
The total vote for Francis McGovern
for Governor in 1910 was smaller by
1857 votes than that polled for Gov
ernor jeremiah Rusk in 1884, twenty
six years earlier, when the state had
smaller population by 900, 900 souls.
What is even more striking, the total
vote polled in 1884 was 456 greater
than that of 1910.
From these, as we'll as the other
figures adduced by this matter OF
fact citizen'of Milwaukee, it would
appear that the primary law has
restored democratic government"
to Wisconsin, if at all, by stimu-
lating a steadily increasing indiffer-
ence on the part of the voters of
the state. From that sort of dem
ocratic government other states
may we'll pray to be delivered.