The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-03

study the various EySuelbS OIL IuFhl Sreu-
it abroad is prepared to report, In this
report, no doubt, We shall have sug-
gcstions as TO the legislation which
tho president considers necessary to es-
tabish workable system Of rural
credits in the United States.
The president abandons general state
ments in order to advocate ono of the
pet Democratic reforms. He urges the
enactment Of legislation to provide for
primary elections throughout the coun-
try. at which the voters OF the several
parties may choose their nominees Tor
the presidency without the interven'
ton of nominating conventions. lie
believes that the party conventions
should be retained, but only for the
purposes of declaring and accepting
the verdict of the primaries and Tor
mulatine the platforms Of the parties
He suggests that the delegates TO the
convention should be the nominees Tor
vacant seats in the senate of the
United States, senators whose terms
have not yet closed, the national com
mittees. and the candidates for tho
presidency themselves, "'in order that
platforms may be framed by those re-
sponsible to the people for carrying
them into effect The main objection
to this plan is the division of RESPONSE
bility. The people who Will nominate
the presidential candidates directly will
have only an indirect voice in the
framing Of the platform. 1t seems to
be the idea of the president that sort
of intellectual aristocracy shall decide
upon the party principles, while the
people shall confne themselves solely
to the jury duty Of passing on the gen.
eral reputation OF the candidates for
honesty, probity and mental. competen'
cy. The people shall be the Judge OF
the facts and the convention the Judge
Of the law, so to speak.
The framing of the platform after tho
candidates are chosen may be objected
to on other grounds. Some years ago
Mr.. Bryan described the president of
the United States as "hired man.
his ideal being that the president
should be employed by a majority of
the people to do their will. Accord
ing to the plan of President Wilson, the
candidates will fulfill in large measure
the Bryan ideal. They will be ex-
pected to subordinate their own opin-
ions to that of the convention, and ac~
-, l,o Shncnn
for them. 1t seems TO us that higher
ideal would permit the candidates to
take part in the framing Of a platform
before nominations are made, as can be
done under the present convention sys-
ten. Jf a candidate then finds him
self opposed to the platform in any
radical sense, he can. refuse the nomi-
nation. as an honorable man should.
Under the Wilson system, however, be
must consider himself 4 hired man and
must accept the policy dictated by the
convention after the nomination.
When he begins his discussion OF the
Philippines question, he casts a wholly
unwarrantcd aspersion on Republican
administrations by the natural infer
enee to be drawn from the following
statements. "Such territories (Poto
Rico, Hawaii and the Philipplncs), once
regarded as mere possessions, arc no
longer to he sclfishly exploited; they
are part of the domain Of public con-
science and of scrviceable and enllght-
eued craftsmanship. We must admins
ter them for the people who live in
them and with the same sense of re-
sponsibility TO them as toward our own
people in our domestic affairs
The president would have US believe
that under Republican administrations
our dependencies were selfishly cx-
plotted. Each succeeding year since
the United States extended its jurisdIc-
ton over the Philippine islands, the
people of these islands have had good
reasons TO congratulate themselves upon
the increasing efficiency Of the Ameri-
can government and the generosity Of
the American people. Although Eng
land has the experience of several cen
turics to guide 1T in governing dcpen-
denotes, it cannot boast of as good an
administration in any Of its colonies
where dark skinned peoples live as
that which is provided by the United
States in the Philippines. The Ameri-
can administration IN the islands is the
most altruistic ever undertaken by any
government, and has been conspicuous
" successful in maintaining its ideal,
1t comes with i'll grace, therefore, from
the president Of the United States to
boast that he is bringing the govern
ment Of the Philippines into ''the do
main Of public conscience and of serv-
iceable and enlightened statesman.
ship.
Although for nearly fifteen years the
Democrats have sDeered at the Repub-
| lican doctrine with reference 10 the
Philippines, the chosen leader of the
party is unable at this time to promise
to the Filipinos any more than was
promised by the three Republican pres
idents who occupied the White House
in succession after the Spanish-Ameri-
i