Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-02-24
Let the Votery Themselves
JUDGE HooUerS Democracy


~H HE proposal to lay certain restrictions
upon Georgia voters in the tortncom-
ing Presidential primary is sadly out
of accord with the spirit OF the Democratic
rank and file and with the larger interests
both of the party and of the nation. Fo1
what purpose was this primary called II not
to enable Democratic voters to express an
unfettered choice among all candidates who
hid fair to figure Importantly in the San
Francisco convention? Not merely those
who strike the fancy of political commit
tee, but all whose principles and deeds and
development of nationwide favor appeal to
considerable number of Georgia Democrats
are Enthusiastically eligible to place on the
April primary ballot. And no movement or
manipulation to the contrary can be fair to
the people or worthy of the great interests
and great duties involved.
This obviously was the idea of the State
Executive Committed when it authorized the
Presidential primary, in response to such sig
nifcant expressions of public desire as the
appeal of President Mills, of the Georgia
Farmers Union. Obviously, too, the sub
committee to which the State body assigned
the work of fixing regulations for the pri-
mary was Of precisely this same mind when
it promulgated the following rule:
''In any case where one hundred or
more white Georgia Democrats file with
the Committee by April the 1st pc
tition requesting that the name of any
man be placed upon the ballot, his name
shall be so placed"
This is a sensible rule and Just one. 1t
leaves to the Democratic voters themselves
the question of saying what names shall be
entered&on the ballot and credits them with
discernment enough to see the difference be-
tween an impossible and an available candi-
+ ko1r toll
It is rule at once so simple and so suf-
ficient that it calls for no amending, no re-
constituting to suit political afterthoughts,
no extraneous effort to make it mean less
than it says.
Quite naturally, then, do protests rise thick
and fast against the subcommittee pro-
posal to deny Georgians their explicit right,
under this rule, to vote on Herbert Hoover
in the approaching primary, unless he will
conform to certain requirements which the
subcommittee, not the voters, have taken it
in mind to impose. With utmost respect and
good will for the committee members, The
Journal submits that in this matter they are
confusing their prerogatives and the voters
rights, and are needlessly troubling them
selves over question which the people will
be altogether capable of deciding without
paternalistic aid In divers parts of Georgia
unimpeachably loyal Democrats have ex-
pressed warm interest in Mr.. Hoover, fur
nishing many more than the requisite number
of petitioners to place his name on the bal
lot. Cannot these faithful supporters of the
party, along with thousands like them be
trusted to pass upon Mr. Hoover's eligibil-
ity without the help of suddenly conceived
committee QUESTIONABLE? It is of the es-
sence Of democracy that the people shall do
their own thinking and their own voting
Why then, this anxiety that the Democratic
people of Georgia may fall into fatal error
IL allowed to vote on a certain candidate
who has not been censored and passed by the
subcommittee? Are the Democrats of this
Commonwealth less capable of making up
their own minds concerning Mr.. Hoover than
are their brethren in North Carolina and in
numbers, of other States where he is apparent
ly the Democratic favorite and where no one
is worrying about his party collar?
Our friends of the subcommittee overlook
two capitally important facts: first that Her.
bert Hoover is not seeking the nominations
second that if the crystallizing sentiment of
millions OF Democrats and independents the
nation over means anything, the nomination
is seeking Herbert Hoover. He has asked
nothing from voters anywhere 1t is the
voters who ask service from him. He is
quite warranted therefore, in his attitude of
unaHected and unpretentious independence.
1t is his right not to tie himself to "unde-
fined craftsmanship" and equally it is the
right of Democratic electorate to declare
MIN their preference. An extraordinary situa-
ton this may be, but we face extraordinary
problems both in party and national affairs.
NO one who senses, however dimly the pub
lie needs and the public temper of the time
lmaglnes for moment that the Democratic
party would stand chance to win the Presi-
Dental election, or would deserve to win it.
~=:0y not be permitted so TO express them
Never, lndeeds were the majority of thought
fuI Americans more impatient toward mere
politicians and more insistent upon leader
ship that will place country above party If
Georgia Democrats believe that Mr.. Hoover
pest measures up to their partys and their
country's needs at this critical juncture, shall
with a mere politician as it's candidate
selves IN the forthcoming primary without
his answering politically prompted cues
ton to suit the political motives behind it?
1t will not be forgotten that at another
crucial stage of its own and Americas his
tory the Democratic party drafted Horace
Greedy, who never had voted Democratic
ticket and though he was defeated for the
Presidency, the party was so rehabiIitated
that four years later with Tilden it won a
majority both of the popular and the cleo
toral vote, Notwithstanding that he was
counted out by dishonest schemes 1t will