Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-01-07
An Honest Primary.
How to Get II.

few articles under the above CAT
tion written by member OF tbs
legislature. They are strictly non;
partisan and point out the changes
necessary to eliminate fraud with:
out taking away the ballot from!
any South Carolina Democrat. Tht
articles are in no way inspired b5
any candidate for office aud none
know of their preparation. Thei
are designed solely to assist tht
general race Of Democratic prim2.
ry voters to clean house. Bills TO
this end will be acted on in th-
next legislature and our readers are
of course interested in the subiect
at this particular time.
The reader of these lines if he IS
one of the thousands who haTs
helped manage any of our primary
elections, can write better set ot
regulations than we how have. Ths
great problem has been not what u
do, bus to get anything done.
Why Convention Does Not Act.
We have depended on party cor
veations. Time after time the con-
vention has side tracked proposea
reforms. If you have ever been tc
state convention you know why.
1t is an unwieldly crowd of men
who rush through lot of business
in few hours. They get to a con.
sideration of the report of the COM
mittee on rules late in the progress,
sometimes it is midnight. There IS
no time to deliberate, and rather
than adopt changes they do not un,
derstand the convention does moth
ing.
Even should the session be ex-
tended to two days, aud the second
given to the rules, there could be
no thorough consideration. Dele
SaleS lHlCe ao huiuC'o ouD 90 Ill
whole Legislature, unorganized.
split into warring factions, many
# IF ; 5hs iadisialRgHalIss a italgHls a. sSi! esean
pected to give the calm, fair. non
partisan attention and decision
without which there could be no
satisfactory change in our primary
Gystem.
We are not guessing at possihlli-
ties, but facing facts established In
our conventions.
Something Stronger Than Rules
Needed.
But suppose for minute that We
could eliminate factionaiism for
once and hold the convention in
session long enough for careful de-
| liberation, we would then get only
party rules and not State laws. We
protect our hogs by law, shall We
trust the birth right Of our suffrage
TO a party rule?
When our people go to the hallo,
box there is set in motion one of
the mightest forces that ever move
them. Deep convictions are stir,
red, strong prejudices aroused, wild
passions loosed. Along with the
many moved by high motives march
the determined band of avaricious
seekers for personal advantage, and
those lusting for power. Here If
anywhere in the life of our people
the strong arm Of the law is needed
TO protect US from forces Of evil. in
the exercise Of the most sacred aud
fundamental act of citiz .nship.
At the hands of the Legislature
we can get redress. 1t can build a
bulwark to protect Or blilot, a
hulwark butressed by the law and
backed by all the forces of our gov
ernment.
Even in states where the primary
nomination is not equivalent TO an
election they control every detail of
their primary elections by laws.
How much more necessary are lie
gal safeguards with US where the
primary is everything.
Our legislature has felt the ne,
cessity of primary protecting stat
tutes and has enacted some. But
they are scattering, ID apply only
here sud there leaving such wide
spaces unprotected that they amount
! to little or nothing. By passing
them we have admitted the princl
pals of statutory regulation, but bA
stopping with only q beginning ac'
compIished our efforts have beel
futile.
Now Is the Time to Act.
1t only remains for YOU, the read
ers of this article, and the rest OF