The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-09-30
JERSEYS PRIMARY Law.
An Experienced Boss Fighter Defends
It's Provision

To THE EDfToR OF THE SUN--Sr. As
sailing the New Jersey direct primary
laws. The SUN charges that direct pri-
maries make II costly and hard for a man
to become a candidate for once and I'M
pose on him regulations az to petitions
and afiidavits calculated to drive from the
field all except the bodest. that direct
primaries make registration an act to be
looked forward to with embarrassment
and performed in fear and trembling and
that direct primaries establish bosses In
power more firmly than ever,
IL does not cost as much under a dlrest
primary law for "A man to he a candidate
for nomination as II did In the old days
when candidates were selected at pri-
vate conference Of bosses and ratified at a
public convention And the reason for this
can be plainly seen. II reduces the num-
Der OF wheels one must put In motion to
secure q nomination. For instance. under
the convention system here In Essex
county when any one wanted to make a
fight against the machine or organization.
say for state Senator, it was necessary
to secure the consent OF 429 men to stand
: candidates for delegates 10 the conven-
ton. After that he had to get 2,t00 men
to sign their petitions. to say nothing ~
having the ballots printed and distributed
in the Eli voting districts at hts own ex-
pense This was "A herculean task and
very costly Under the present law a per-
son can file a petition as candidate for
the nomination for state Senator with
only 200 names and the ballots are printed
and distributed at public expense.
II cost Worrall +. Mountain OF East
orange jus, $40 TO defeat the political
ring for the Republican nomination for
Mayor. The total cost OF his campaign
was s2Qi90
In other words, the old system Is ten
times more difficult ana hundred per
tcnt. more costly
A. to the allegation that registration IL
made an act 20 be looked forward to with
embarrassment under properly drawn
rect primary liw, no questions are asked
that an honest man should resent. but OF
course those who profit 10y Illegal regis.
ration, repeating" floating" and every
other form of election fraud cry ont inn
ncdlately that the sacred right OF liberty
being outraged II voter is asked his
igc. his birthplace, hs business, the
length Of time 10 has lived IN the State
ami as to whether or not he owns the
house Ia which he lives why all this fuss
,bou: such natural questions?
Mos OF the facts elected are known
by your friends. Ill OF them by your
ne.shbors. Ii does the voter no harm to
ell and II does the state lot OF good
. know The object OF course is TO pre-.
vent "colou!z.ng" and tho voting OF non
-es.dcnts
] remember very well an incident that
occurred in the Legislature. A bill was
Ip for hnil passage. the provisions OF
which prescribed more formal regulations
or registration. one OF the members Of
h- House. q politician consistently OPP
,Osel to direct primaries on the ground
.hat they make registration an act 10
nc looked forward to lin embarrass-
ucnt." came over TO my desk and urged
no defeat %. the bill because. as he said
I'm h.l1 "a Ia hnnrh N
.ae lodging house IN my district II the bill
goes Trough
also remember the confession a
Tgmmauy leader once made TO me- that he
mad often helped the Democrat. In Jersey
lut on election day after dark" Before
Nc had the direct primary II was not
thought out OF order to register the names
on the tombstones IN the cemeteries and
then have nou-residents brought In. on
the gravel train after dark" to vote them
AZ 81, elton.
Tne questions asked when ono registers
are not inpuls'torial and they are sbso-
'utely necessary TO prevent these corrupt
practices
That direct primaries establish bosses
IN power more firmly than ever Is what
the bosses say Ia public. nut they never
fan 10 oppose the principle In private
Thy dcnouncc the convention system just
a. Rrer Rabbi; begged Mr. Fox not to
throw MN mo me hNier idtCn. IL IL I'M
poss b,, that system that makes Il
easier and less costly fora person TO fight
the organization Is good for the boss
It isn't and no boss thinks so The
political treu,hcs are filed with ;he re-
mains OF bosses shot To- pieces by the
direct primary. the dumdum OF politics
And where Objectionable bosses are still
IN power IL is not because OF tho direct
primary but because the party voters
don't care 90 dislodge them
Direct primaries are not guarantee
against bad bosses, nor do they guarantee
good candidates They simply provide the
machinery with which a majority OF the
party voters can get what they want. II
they want It enough.
Las, week We had an excellent exam
pie of the way the direct primary oper-
a'ss. Judge Raymond defeated the Re-
publican organization for the nomination
for Mayor as easy as pie crust because
the Republican voters wanted him nom
mated Under the convention system he
wouldn't have had a look In
on the other hand the Democratic boss
OF Newark carried the primaries under his
hat and nominated his entire slate. The
Republicans got what they wanted and
the Democrats got what they deserve
In judging the usefulness or uselessness
Of remedial legislation the true test Is
not whether 1t works perfectly but
whether II works better than the law II
superseded. Measured by that standard
the direct primary law in New Jersey has
been a great success. EVERETT COLBY.
LrEwELLYN Park. September rs