The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1919-06-27

y
kid by elaborate promises tc
various constituencies for nor
NAL schools; they created new
counties and dissipated the state
treasury with the spirit of a
drunken sailor.
The proposed primary reyis-
ion which the voters of Montana
lare asked to pass upon next
September is one of their &C
i Movements. In the halls of the
state capital, last winter, no at
tempt was made to hide the rea-
son behind the bill. 1t was point
ed out by the Republican bosses
that i'll 1916, a red-headed, I'M
known lawyer by the name of
Ford became attorney general
of the state through the ''im-
proper and cratic" manner of
the present primary law, and
that court stenographer by the
name of Cooper had jumped,
last fall, from his small and in
conspicuous position of pot
hook scribbler to associate just
ice OF the state supreme court
These horrible" results are
dangerous. According to Messrs.
Booth and Donlan, high-priests
of the Republican party i'll the
state, only such men as are
passed upon by the "elect" are
eligible to state office. Hence,
they want the people to go back
to he state convention system
where United States senator
ships and the governors chair
can be auctioned off to the high
est bidder.
The Press does not maintain
that the Democratic party
stands as a unit on this PROPOSE
ton. In the senate, just two .
Demo Gratis had the courage of
their convictions to vote against .
this attempt to turn the political
machinery of the state back into +
he hands of the bosses. These
senator's were B. G. White of ]
Fergus county and John F. Nc
Gay of Sanders county. In the
house there were more Democ-
ats to vote against it, but none
90 many. One reason why {
more Democrats did not vote |
light is that the bosses kidded
hem into beliying that the pre- '
ent primary law is expensive" |
nd that the best men" fail to !
et nominated. Colossal figures
1ere produced to show the ire I
1endous expense attached to S
be primary, and to the Democ- b
ats 1t was pointed out that O
Judge Sanner, one Of the most g
honest and capable p
len that ever sat on the state c
upreme bench, failed to win S
nomination over a man OF
'sser experience and state ac- Ii
81
AS to the expense of the pre- a
ent primary law, let us bear
lis in mind. In affairs OF de- W
locratic government "of and by CT
lie people," dollars and cents ii
institute no measure. Il is not IL
question of money, but wLeth~ Of
: or not the voice of the people Fl
expressed. NJ man kicks on
aying for his right of suf age pa
a land of tree and equa. oD- Al
And as to tha mis- te
lrriage of wisdom" in tie sele- u
ion of candidates, who has al
tier right to assume the re- al
onsibility for their failure to ed
loose the right man than the M
people? AS a rule they On
AXE no poorer selections in m
e primary than the bosses do WI
star-chamber conferences. or
The Press believes that every Dr
gistered voter should sign a VIZ
tition postponing the referen- Ea
m on the primary until the re-
| of 1920. We believe this for WI
o reasons: First the bosses sal
ected September End be- me
use they knew the farmers Ey
uld be too busy to get out to TIT
se. Second, if the farmers phi
re too busy to get out to vote, err
bosses might be able to put on
sr the changes, and thereby a 9
the state convention in for
.uted for naming the state :.
1et to he elected III 1920. so
t is for this reason that the ag'
itions are being circulated, en-;
| that newspaper which pro- col
is against these petitions, ,es-
tally when it has the county
lting and would profit by the
,tiOn printing to be done this no
1oxyc f+cn1f I;cIa1r ~ J,n ar.tt