The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-03-19
Primary and Geography

81 am amazed" says a prominent
Cambridge man, at the way tho peo.
pie OF Vermont have sold their birth
right in voting for the direct pri-
mary election law Should there be
such law, he adds, Lamoille coun
ty may as well stay at home hereaf-
ter as Burlington, st. Adams, Rut-
land, and the larger counties viii
monopolize the politics of the state.
This is food for reflection. Nor
risyllle News and Citizen.
This is the same old argument in
the same old way Undoubtedly il
had its effect in the legislature, but
the referendum vote showed that IL
had been robbed of its mystic power.
It is to the credit of the smaller Vei
mont communities that they did not
permit such a consideration to in
fiuence them when the final moment
came. Nevertheless it probably would
be wise to expose the fallacy Of such
q contention, II il is possible, for the
law Is not yet on the statute books
and it might raise is head again
when the legislature convenes ana
comes to the task of giving the pee
pie a primary law.
Waving for the moment any con
sideraticn of the philosophical side
of government and moving directly
to study of actualities as revealed
in other states where the primary
has been tried, whae effect has the
new system had as regards the secur
ing or the non-securing Of party tick
cts that are we'll balanced gecgraphi
cally? 1t must be granted that there
is a difference OF opinion on this
score but It may be said that the
weight of evidence substantiates the
assertion that the primary has moi
worked to the disadvantage Of the
smaller communities in the way The
contemporary suggests.
A. c. Epperson, of the Republican
state committee in Nebraska says
that there is no criticism as to the
distribution of candidates" under the
primary law, which. he says Is nos
different from the workings CT the
convention system in this respect
The department of political science
Of the University Of Iowa says. As
far as 1t has been observed it cannot
be determined whether the direct pri
mary has had any effect upon the
geographical distribution OF cerdi-
dates in Iowa" In North Dakota
there has been no complain. on tais
score
The director Of the legislative refer
ence bureau in Ohio says, what lit
tie experience we have indicates that
the primary serves somewhat better
TO get tickets well balanced geograph
ically but in all nominating systems
effort is made 10 see that different
sections are represented" In North
Dakota there has been no cause TO
complain Of distribution OF candi.
dates" The state Democratic ccm-
mittee Of Washington gives il as It's
opinion that well balanced tickets
teOEIaI A4thllN usually itohAts rtA "~N
because Of the primary-the tenden-
CIV would be not to figure geography
in voting" The University OF Wash
ington declares that in the choosing
OF nominees at the primary elections.
''the people have largely disregarded
the locality from which the candi-
dates came The department; % PC
lltical science at the University 81
kansas SAYS the tickets are wei bal
anced. although geographical con-
sideraticns have been Of uiuor
weight J. Z. Davies. member of
the Democratic committee for Via
consin. SAYS his state has no. exper-
fenced any difficulty on this score al
though he understands Illinois has.
But the secretary OF the Progressive
central committee in Illinois nas -