Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-04-10
The Presidential Primary

lHE 7ESluEUIlul I 7tIvuIy
The attempt Of certain members Of Congress to
frame a bill providing for the nomination of presi-
dental candidates by direct primary seems likely to
fail, because none of the legislatures in whose hands
the matter rests, seems to be able to evolve u MEAS
ure that meets general satisfaction. And newspaper
opinion is as varied as that of the men who will
discuss the resolution when it reaches Congress.
The Houston Post comedies that the prime dill
Guilty is a constitutional one, since it is perfectly
clear that Congress will enact a law that will bc
mandator among the several states until an amend.
ment to the federal constitution shall have been sub.
mitted by Congress and ratified by t~hir1y.six states,
and there seems to be no likelihood that such III
amendment can even be submitted. The Post con
tinues: "
"A law that failed to leave the states their pro
portionate power, as now provided by the convention
system, would be unsatisfactory to the Southern
states in which laws restricting suffrage exists. No
direct primary law could possibly take into account
this insuperable obstacle. Tho South would he will
ing. of course, to ballot upon candidates directly or
for convention. delegates pledged to candidates, but
it could not think OF supporting a system that would
base its electoral strength upon the total number of
votes cast. Il Il IS 1t is well understood that when
the President first broached the question in his adj
dress to Congress he had not considered the details
w. q uAOS PALAAy Ao"y Al 10 SS ouNhS W.
~jections to is been pointed out to him. 1t is not likeI5
that a direct primary bill will pass Congress at the
present session. ..
Dealing with the features OF the Republican prim.
airy plan of Senator Sherman of Illinois, the st. Louis
Globe-Democrat commends the measure as far as it
touches the practices and p%recedents OF political par
ties. The Globe Democrat comments:
His strong intellect goes at once to the core OF
the question Of delegate representation in national
nominating conventions, by a group of fOrty-two
Congressional districts in seven Southern states, in
which, at the last Presidential election, not a Repuo.
1ican vote was cast. IS s. s. He severely criticizes
the methods followed by the National Republican
convention, of 1872, but calls attention again to the
fact that these were the methods employed by the
ruling forces of the convention Of 1908. " & s. The
Sherman Presidential bill is in agreement with that
OF the Democrats, as now tentatively proposed, in
reserving to each state the right to make its own
presidential primary law, the delegates accredited by
its constituted canvassing authorities to be recognized
in the temporary organization by force of such Gre
dentials. = y y The Sherman plan will commend
itself to all parties in the North, but in the South it
will be opposed by Republicans and Democrats alike,
since 1t would deprive both, in the next national
conventions, Of an undue preponderance: in party
power they have long enjoyed"
The Springfield Union says:
II H.F
THE hardest job and hardest fought fights will
come In connection with applying this idea to the
nomination of Presidential candidates (national prim-
airy idea), especially in the South, where the negro
question is a complicating issue. The last fight
promises to be waged over the abolition Of national
party conventions for nominating candidates.. Many
believers In the general merit of direct primaries feel
that the national conventions should not be abolished
and that, while the preference of voters should, OH
general principles, be respected, a parry ought IT,
keep It's system sufficiently elastic to meet any unex-
pected emergency that may develop"
Speaking particularly regarding Vermont's recent
adoption of the direct primary, the Schenectady,
N. Y, Gazette remarks:
IF the convention system can be made the means
OF learning and rejecting the wishes Of the voters
anywhere, 1t should be eminently successful in a
state so small as Vermont. That there is a demand
for direct primaries even there, a demand that takes
/ the form of a large majority of the popular vote in
Its favor, may be taken as indicating the popularity
OF direct primaries as q remedy for Representative
government that does not represent in altogether
too many cases, as exemplihed by the convention
system"
In the last terrible battle before Torreon several
NH rro;~o AIS. o-I1.- . mr.