The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-06-14

convention. A company OF delegates selected
4 under the county primary plan would be repre-
81 sentative of the people They could get candt
dates into the field who because of lack OF
onto or the a not be
No candidate make himself known to the peo-
pie of the state II he makes any impression at
ali it is at great expense If there is contest,
i as there is this year for governor, bad feeling
! is engendered. which will follow the candidate,
/ whoever he may be, to some extent through the
/ campaign-Centeryiie Iowegan.
! VIII any member of the next general assem-
! bly,, be he republican democrat possess the
courage of his convictions and present a bill
calling for the repeal Of the Iowa primary law
and the substitution therefor of a caucus con-
vention system, properly safeguarded? A ma
ljority of the voters and a majority of the news
papers Of the state would hail such possibility
with all the acclaim that is due to reform
movement, and should the bill become law
there would go up cry of ''Wen done! Good
radiance to a nuisance that came to us sailing.
under the false colors of political relief but
which has proved to be anything but that
Even would a half loaf be acceptable. IF it
were necessary to salve the feelings Of those
who still swear by the primary system, it might
lie that the counties could struggle along under
the obnoxious law, leaving the state at large to
a measure Of political liberty it and the voters
are surely entitled to. A county primary in
which the candidates for offices are selected is
about as wide territory be covered
| by primary and the voters have larger and
more intimate knowledge of the men they are
! expected to cast their votes for. Delegates
selected to the county convention in the pri-
mary election capable of picking good men
| to go to the state convention.
| Another thing, the primary is becoming an
enormous expense not Gully to the candidates
but to the state itself The expense of conduct
ling it involves many items. There are the bal
lots and the poll books and the registration
system and the election officials. AS to the
! personal drain that separates the candidates
from their kale, here are few instances given
in dispatch from Des Moines
In order to land the republican nomination for
lieutenant governor, Ernest R. Moore of Cedar
Rapids spent money than his job
He spent s2169.93 his campaign according
his account fled ", with the secretary
the money expended for advertising
! R A Hasselqust of Charlton, defeated
for the nomination for secretary OF state
J. M Mcnamara of Des Moines third in
the the Polk county nomination for repre-
sentative, spent $3646O
SO much for that. And then the members
of political party have less to say about party
nominations under the operation of the prl
mary than they did under the old system, while
the cost to the taxayers is UNNECESSARILY great
err Under the old system the members of al
party came into closer touch with each other
at caucuses and conventions and fought out
their differences face to face. Now they don t.
The primary has been tried IN Iowa and
found wanting The law, which is not repre-
sentative. should be speedily repealed.
An Ohio court has decided that the finder of
an article of value can hold it against every
BODY but the loser, thus giving judicial expires
sion to the familiar if ungrammatical maxim
that finding is keeping" The plaintiff had
found $3.50 in car and gave it to the railroad
company on the understanding that it was to
be returned to him if the owner could not be
found It was returned but it took judgment
of the court to force the company to disgorge
The statement that this is ''the most idiotic
of all wars must be accepted with caution
There have been perfectly idiotic wars in the
past.
Why doesn't Indiana start out openly and
fearIesslv to win the title Of Mother Of Vice
Presidents7
Seems to be about time for Mexico to take a |
vote and decide who is her most popular citi- |
zen.
The war is living on lies, says DR.. Lieb
IInesol,t Ard living we'll he might have added. |