Bisbee daily review., 1918-07-05
IMPORTANT MEASURE ID BE VOTED ON
 THIS FALL
L e gislat tive Districting Amendment to Constitu- ton Will Be Placed on the November Ballots

No more important measure will
 come before the people next Novem-
 Der than the proposed legislative dis
 uicting constitutional amendment.
 That goes to the very bottom of
 things, guaranteeing legislatures of
 higher grade than we had in the re-
 cent past. We believe it will be adopt
 ed. Without any special effort in its
 behalf, the petition for its presenta-
 tion received 13,40O signatures. 5000
 more than necessary That is. one-ffith
 as many voters as usually turn out at
 state election have signified their
 active preference for such an improve ment. With little publicity, twice as many signatures could easily have
 been secured.
 The amendment does not propose to alter the representation of any couu- ty in the legislature or disturb the proportionate representation from the various counties. It has only one object, that of putting before the voters candidates whom they know, so that there may be no guess work at the elections.
 Arizona counties are political sub- divisions of magnificent distances. Some of them, in fact, most of them. are larger in area than some eastern states. In many of thecounties there IS little communication between one part and another A man who has lived for years in one section of a county and who may be well known in ms own neighborhood, has never been heard of in another section.
 The adoption of the primary system makes such a change in the manner of selecting members of the legisla- ture desirable. The success of the pri- ! mary system depends entirely upon the intelligence of the voters, upon their facilities for information con corning candidates. Without such fa- cilities. the primary system is the worst that can be devised.
 It is matter of fact that the mem- !. bership of our state legislatures, in | point of ability, has been far below | that of the old territorial legislatures. | In the old days we had men of power . and leadership. qualities that have . 1een sadly lacking since. The old 1 lime legislators were not at all good | nen. Some of them were politicians. md it is said that some of them were corrupt. But they were all men of in their counties and were we'll known throughout their counties. otherwise they would have had no ,hance in the conventions in which hey were nominated. In those days m unknown man, one who had given 10 proof of ability, would have re- 'eived little consideration. Now. any nan may put himself forward. There nay be several such self-imposed can lidates, and purely by accident a nomination is effected. The candi- iate's name then goes on the ballot 'our-fifths of the voters know nothing bout him and they know as little bout his opponent They vote the icket straight, and one candidate or he other is elected without the sligh- st regard as to his fitness. It is no vonder that under such a system our have become jokes.
 Such an amendment as this was pro- l osed four years ago, but failed, large ? through the activity of the poli- icians of the dominant party in the , ariOus counties. Politicians always