Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-09-12
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
Out of that East which many of us
are apt to picture as the hotbed of po I
litical corruption and boss control has !
come another recommendation for the
improvement of our governmental sys- |
TENS which is far more radical than |
any the West has dared to contemplate.
Catching all of his brother executives
by surprise, Governor Baldwin of Con-
necticut addressing the recent gov
errors conference at Colorado Springs,
declared that the states should pay the
electioneerirg expenses of all candi-
dates for Office.
Read the following editorial from
the Christian Science Monitor on
why the State Should Finance the
Primary before you rush on to any
hasty opinion on this exceedingly rad
ical proposal
1t has been a matter of not merely
common belief but of common knowl-
edge and notoriety in the United States
for many years that the greatest weak
ness of its political system Is to be
found at the very root of that system,
In the primary; and to the reform of
the primary has the best thought of
the nation been directed. Whatever Is
wrong in the electoral mechanism of
the country has its origin in the pri-
mary. Attacks upon the political par
ties, criticism of party government,
attempts to overthrow and reform par
| ty organizations, have all proved flu.
tile, because while effort has been con.
centrated upon reconstruction at the
top, the trouble has been mainly or
solely at the bottom. The nearest ap-
proach the people of the Union have
thus far made to thorough and perma-
nent electoral reform is in the very
widespread adoption of the direct pri.
mary plan; but that falls far short as
yet of correcting the underlying evil.
II, as reflective thinkers will readily
admit, public Office is public trust,
then the public should take the whole
matter of filling public Office out of
private influence and control Even
under the direct primary system the
people are placing a premium on po-
litical trickery, dishonesty, and cor
ruption so long as they permit the en-
ployment of private funds in contests
for nominations. Governor Baldwin of
Connecticut spoke the truth at Color
ado Springs when he said: 1.-THE gov
eminent must have a right in self de-
Tense so to regulate the making of
nominations, whether by party con.
ventions or primaries, or by direct pri.
maries of the whole people, as not to
dictate the choice, but to assure that
it fairly represents the choice of those
who make it." And admitting the
right of the state to institute system
looking to the assurance of this right,
Governor Baldwin states another truth
In saying that what the state can in.
stitute it can protect"
1t does not, however, observe the
full measure Of its responsibility at
present. Having made laws intended
to uphold the integrity of the ballot, it
leaves these laws to the manipulation
of private individuals or groups of
private individuals, with the result
that the purpose of the laws Is defeat
ed. In its character of guardian of the
rights of its people-and nothing short
of this is meant when the state is rec
ognized as the commemorative
guard these rights jealousy and rigor-
ously, brooking no private interior
ence whatever, but conducting, at it's
own cost and under it's sole direction,
all primaries and elections with an eye
single to the common veal.
There is no place for halfway meas
, ures here. 1t is absolutely due to the
i, whole people that no part of the peo-
pie, no faction, clique, combine or in
dividual among the people, shall by
the use of private wealth or influence,
subvert the public will at the very
fountain head of popular government.
Until the state shall assume undivided
and exclusive authority over primaries
and elections, and over all of the at
tendant processes, having regard only
for the freedom and purity of the bal.
lot, the people can never be assured
that their voices are heard and their
wishes recorded at the polls as they
would have them.
Does it seem so radical now as at
first blush? Certainly there is a great
deal of truth in the argument set forth
above; certainly it calls attention to
a situation which soon or late will de-
mand some drastic action. Whether
the public treasury just now is capable
of withstanding such drain on its
contents as this particular plan would
entail, /. e., whether the people of this
country are willing or able to pay the
bills, is the llrst question to be raised
in a consideration of the proposal, an(
; until that question is satisfactorily an