Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-02-03
Georgia Democracys Right
To,a Presidential Primary
! N the State Democratic Executive Com
B mittee which meets in Atlanta next

B mittee which meets in Atlanta next
-" Friday. February the 9Th, rests the
pecuIiarly important duty of providing prl-
mary election through which the rank and
file OF the party in Georgia can declare us
preference Tor a Democratic nominee for the
1920 Presidential campaign.
1t is unnecessary, we assume to argue to
so high and representative a body OF Demo
cratic counseIOrs as the State Executive Com
mittee the right OF every loyal member OF the
party to a voice in this unusually significant
nomination. On this point precedent alone
would be amply decisive. Throughout the
Union it has come to be recognized that the
selection of candidates for the Presidency or
the United States is all too momentous
matter, all too vital in its bearing upon the
good OF the nation as well as upon the Tor
tunes of the party, to be left unreserYedly
in the hands of any small group or. delega-
ton, hoWsoever well intentioned its members
might be.
Nowhere is this sound principle more deep
~ rooted in popular CONVICTION than in Demo-
cratic Georgia. Eight years ago, when the
party faced the problem of choosing leader
for what proved to be one of the epochal
campaigns of all American history, the Demo
cratic Executive Committee for this State
wisely called preferential primary in order
that the judgment Of the people might be
expressed and their will dscertained A
memorable contest it was. The leading can
didates, Mr.. Underwood and Mr.. Wilson, each
had jealous champions and ardent followers.
The Underwood forces winning by a substan-
tlaI majority, the Georgia delegation Tent2E6
the Baltimore Convention with plain instruc-
lions from the electorate to vote for Mr. I'm
derwoOd so long as there was likelihood or
reasonable chance of his being nominated
This the delegation did, never sWerving from
the AIabamians cause until all dictates of
common sense and conscience released them
h11a hn, Mn FIic
sminently fair and democratic procedure lett
all reasonable members Of the party in Geor-
gia satisfied But suppose that instead Of an
instructed and responsible delegation repre-
senting the voters themselves, there had been
merely a junket of political traders whose
chief thought of shreWd deals and fat
patronage. Whatever they might have done
world have bred dissatisfaction and heart
burnings, for there would have been preva-
lent and we'll warranted feeling that the peo-
pie had had no say in the business. Four
years ago there was no Democratic primary
for the Presidential nomination simply be-
cause there was no contest therefor. Mr..
Wilson being his party's one logical standard
bearer and being in every way entitled to a
second term, the nomination went to him by
reclamation.
But now that we are coming to another
great decision point in the party's affairs, and
the highways, if not the woods themselves,
is the obvious duty of the Georgia State
Democratic Executive Committee to follow
the just precedent of 1912 and arrange for
the holding of Presidential primary be-
fore the nominating convention meets at San
Francisco next June. At any time it would
be unwise arbitrarily to deny the people their
now established right to voice in the selec-
ton Of their party's Presidential nominee
But it would be especially unwise and alto
gether indefensible in year SO fraught with
high consequence to party and country alike.
The future of Democracy is at stake The
future of America is at stake. And both ire
mendous issues will be vitality Influenced by
the Presidential nomination.
Without a candidate whose strength and
stature are UNNECESSARILY above the mere
politicians, the Democratic party cannot hope
to win. What is vastly more important,
without President who is every inch a
statesman, the country cannot hope for clear
and prosperous guidance. Thinking men re-
alize that rarely before have the duties of
American citizenship been so weighty as now
or the responsibilities of the individual, both
to his State and to his Nation, so urgent.
Every citizen, unless he be asleep to the signs
OF the time, wants a part in determining
what sort of leadership we shall have in the
trOublous days ahead; and assuredly every
citizen has this right. IN so far as Georgia is
concerned, there is but one way by which
the rank and file of Democrats can exercise
lI6S JuuSIlI6uI anu real lnuu0nC6 IN the cleo
ton of President, and that is by their votes
in preferential primary. Deprive them of
the opportunity to name delegates to the nom
mating convention, and they have no more
actual power in saying who shall be the Chief
Magistrate of their nation than in determin-
ing who shall be Emperor of Japan No
genuine Americans want to be treated as DO
litical wards in a time when issues of vast
consequence to their country are to be de-
cided. Nor will sagacious party managers
hear to any scheme that remotely resembles
such treatment-certainly not in democratic
Georgia.
Just who will be candidates in the perferen-
tia1 primary which the State Executive Com
n:ittee is called upon to provide, cannot yet
De Ioreseen. There may be two. There may
be twelve All that we know thus far is that
former Ambassador Gerard has indicated his
intention to seek the Democratic nomination
provided President Wilson is not a candi-
date; that Governor Edwards, of New Jersey
ha9shad certain factional urgings in the same
direction; that Attorney General Palmer and