Milford chronicle., 1914-03-06
SENATOR WILLARD SALISBURY
FAVORS PRIMARY NOMINATIONS

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The following letter was received last
week from Senator Salisbury by Joshua
Bennett, Of Milford, and his opinion Of
the merits of the new primary laws as
enacted for the counties of Kent and Sus-
sex, is expressed. Being the head of the
Democratic Party in Delaware, the Seua-
tor S attitude towards the law is of con-
siderable interest 10 those who are afhh-
ated with that party The letter reads
as follows:
In reply to your recent letter in which
YOU ask me for an expression of my views
and opinion on the Primary Law, I would
say that personally, / am strongly in
favor of putting the new Primary Law
into efficient operation in Sussex and Kent
Counties at as early a day as possible and
providing all the machinery which is
necessary to enable the Democrats in
these Counties to select all their Hun
dred, District, County and State officers
BY a popular vote. We tried the method
of selecting a portion of our ticket by
Convention and portion by popular vote
in New Castle County. The result of
this was not encouraging, because men
who frequently thought they had the I
majority of the Convention with them T.
were disappointed because a few indivi- 1
duals changed their minds at the last .
minute and this course eugendered
great deal Of ill-feeling which did uOtex
ist where the candidates for the nOmina
tious submitted themselves to popular
vote. Personally, do not know whether
we get better nominations by means of
the popular primary or through COnven-
ton.
The political primary situation in Della
ware has changed less rapidly than in
almost all the other States, and 7 feel
sure that the application of the Primary
Law in Kent and Sussex Counties now
will work better results than to leave the ,
matter to run along for several more years
when the feeling will be that our people :
are out of touch with progressive Democ- .
racy. The only objection I have heard
TO the operation of the popular primary 2
throughout the County when there are a 7
number Of officers to be selected, is that c
one portion Of the County, by reason Of C
numerical superiority, might claim and 7
take all the nominations. Our experience Q
IN New Castle County has shown that this ?
is not a real danger, as the good sense of o
the individual voter can be relied on in !,
such cases, and the advantage of avoiding q
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through the popular primary, more than e
compensates for occasional i'll balanced v
ticket results. When a man submits his C
to the body of voters, if he fails "
be can blame no one, but we have all seen
ia Conventions on many occasions when p
BY concessions made between candidates s.
some Of the least fit and unpopular per II
;ons who desired nominations have OBJ II
aimed them, with the result that our ei
3arty has been defeated at the succeeding Sc
Election. C
I believe that we will come and should %
ONE to the nomination of all our officials, 3
rom Governor down, by popular primary. -
We have come, as believe, to that con- =
.itou in regard TO United States Senators, HI
nd while as to their affairs I have no
oubt the good sense and good Judgment y
f the people of Kent and Sussex Coun- ~
les, viii determine whether they shall
dOpt the popular primary IN its entirety, :
7 whether they shall go along for a few -
ears having something in the nature Of ~
convention, have no hesitation in say =
lg to YOU that I think the popular pri- ~
nary will be adopted either now or a lit VI
e later in its completeness, and have no Hi
bJectiou so far as I am concerned, 10 ~
our stating the views that I have ex- ~
ressed to any Of the Democrats who care lai
) know Of them. us
One thing has occurred to me regarding "e
le New Castle rules. They provide for Iol
system Of rotation in the political sub PI'
visions of the district, in case of Levy sq
Ourtman and State Senator. 1t is my
idgment that this rotation principle has sr'
many cases not worked well, because SO
has prevented some candidate who was 1n'
ssired by the people in one portion of 20
ie district from becoming a candidate no,
II the Office to which he was emiuendy
nted, and by taking a candidate from an
e geographical portion demanded BY the 3. SsH
lncipal of rotation, we have several 10
mes lost an election in the district be- 100
use we do not nominate the best men iuN
r the occasion. This has worked par ing
-ulariy hard with Democrats because 'He
g Republicans have no such provisions PSSI
their rules. and were thereby enabled one
make the best selections for candidates, san
lille we were hampered in our selections. y o
ID while the principal of rotation is tne
pular one in some ways, and seems to lne
fair IN actual practice, it often works ssg54
aiust success. aili
Yours very truly, '"e
WILLARD SALISBURY. new