Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-03-03
DIRECT PRIMARY HUMBUG.

This Is the View of H. S. Wardner Of
Windsor, in Letter to st. Adams
Messenger.
Your issue of February 2G with tho
letter Of Mr.. Frank l.. Howe on the Il
subject Of the direct primary rcferen-
dun is before me. It is nearly three |
months since q letter of my own, pub
lishcd in your columns, paid extended
attention TO Mr.. Howe and his attempts
to make the voters of Vermont believe
that this notorious humbug of direct
primary was a thing to be desired in
Vermont. OF course my letter escaped |
his notice, for otherwise he would |
hardly expose himself to the appear
ance of being unable to escape the |
gauge Of debate | then threw down to |
him. | take it that Mr.. Howe, like |
some of the other Vermont newspaper |
editors, had 50 definitely committed |
himself to the direct primary idea in
the days before it was shown up as a !
worthless nostrum that he cannot now
eXtricate himself from his position and
thinks it easier, if less manly, to per-
sst in his original course. | am not
sorry for him, although / can feel that
lit cannot be comfortable to be a
hawker of n bogus patent medicine
which practically everybody but the
veriest hayseed knows is fake. As
the New York Times well says: "The
irony of the whole pretentious and
misleading humbug is that in the name
of progress and reform it is a relapse
and reaction, and Mr.. Howe is I'M
willing to admit that he is one of the
many who were taken in by a spurious
remedy.
Time is short to answer Mr.. Howe $
unsupported barking in favor Of the
direct primary, but | will attempt to
do so briefly. He says that the direct
primary is not more expensive than
the caucus and convention. An answer
to that is that the state and the sepa-
rate towns would be required under
the proposed direct primary law to pay
the cost of holding the primary See
rotary of State Bailey says that this
cost will equal the cost of an election
Certainly this is a minimum estimate
for if the candidates at the primary
are numerous the cost must be cor
respondingly greater. The cost of the
election remaining the same, the pri
mary would therefore Mt least double
the cost to the state and each town in
the way of election expenses. As the
law now stands the state and towns
do not pay anything for the caucus
and convention. f-l
He says it is absolutely untrue that
the direct primary gives an advantage
to the larger towns over the smaller.
This matter was covered by letter
written me by President Schufman of
Cornell university and published some
time ago in the Rutland Herald. The
people may believe Mr.. Howe on this
point if they choose to, but they won I
believe him if they take the trouble Ia
= read President Schurman s letter.
Mr. Howe makes his usual appeal to
{ prejudice against corporation lawyers
politicians who work for hire, etc.
etc He ignores the wholesale show
- ing up Of the direct primary that la.
p been going on in the columns OF Tho
5 Now York Times, the New York sun
, and the New York Evening Post.
: quote from the last: "Thc XXX order
of the day which Barnes and Penroa,
I are to pass along the line is THAI tho
/ time has come, and the chance j. eN
ccllent, to restore the Republican par
5 tY as it was before the great uphcava
r and disaster of 1912. They look back
: upon all that as simply an ugly storm
N III II lltN nav Z lluN NthNbtit eel. -A4if
= in their own states. it is true. they
can point to the fact that the oil,
y mastery has been restored. All tho
e new-fangled devices Of direct primarie,
{ and direct elections of senators, thos,
- veteran practitioners Of the politica
S game have shown that they can ge
, along with perfectly well. Peurosc l.
2 now senator from Pennsylvania wiz
/ the halo of popular endorsement abou
- his broWs. Barnes is easily Tn contro
F. Of the reformed Republican party il
e New York. What more natural thcI
y that he and Pcnrose should have
f childliko faith that Republican bose.
% may readily come back to their owl
Y all over the country.
a Nor does Mr.. Howe refer in any way
b TO what has been said of the diroc
r. primary by President Schurman ot
Cornell, President Lowell Of Harvard
1 President Butler of Columbia, james
- Bryce i'm his American Commonwealth
l former president William II. Taft, cx
4 Senator Elihu Root, the late Govcrnoi
e John d. Long of Massachusetts, Gov
r crnor Whitman, cH-Chicf Judge Guile,
/ of the New York court Of appeals, for
4 mcr Attorney General Wickcrsham o,
r Theodore Douglas Robinson. the for
! mer state chairman of the New Yori
S Progressives.
Mr.. Howe S letter is an appeal tC
4 prejudice and ignorance. II the direct
e primary triumphs in Vermont after thC
$ ridiculous record of lis failure in othci
$ states it will he solely because of tn,
] ignorance Of those who vote for it
D But there remains one argument that
g Mr.. Howe forgot, viz. That under tn,
b caucus and convention system tn,
Honorable Frank +. Howe did succeed
Y in getting nominated and elected. !,
a that enough to mako Nermontcrs went
, a change?
e II. $. WARDNER.
! in letter to the st. Adams Messenger
1 NnV Work IN.b 90