The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-08-19
THE BALTIMORE NEWS SUG
GESTS CHANGES IN THE
PRIMARIES LAW

GESTS CHANGES In IdE
PRIMARIES LAW
The News suggests to the lead
srs of both parties in this State
to prospective candidates TOR the
State Senate and House OF Dele
gates and to the electorate at
large the propriety and advlsa-
bility of thorough amendment at
the coming session of the direct
primaries law.
The direct primaries system
IS now about twenty years old.
Its merits and it's defects have
by this time become fairly ap-
parent. 1t has nowhere been
found possible to observe the
letter of its theory; and side by
side with it's theoretical develop
ment have grown up practical
methods Of operation that are
not illegal indeed, but which are
certainly not legalized. The
tendency everywhere is to avoid
primary contests, if possible;
and that means that candidates
are most often settled by agree
ment, wholly informal, private,
and unregulated by the law, be-
tween party leaders.
This tendency indicates the
practical limitation of the theory
that nominations should come
from the party at large. The
problem seems to be: How
make the primaries system a
reserve method of nominating
candidates automatically avail
able in case of protest and yet
restore, regulate and safeguard
against abuse the principle of
responsible party. management
The News advances the fol-
lowing tentative recommends
tions as to the form the amend
ment to the Maryland law should
take:
That the law be made to legal
ice and require a formal recon-
msndation of candidates by the
elected managers of the res
psctive parties, subject to check
by the party in case of protest
and the filing of a petition by a
fixed percentage of voters plac-
ing opposition candidates in
nomination.
That to this end the law be
made to require the announce
ment of this recommendation be-
fore a fixed date set far enough
ahead OF that On which the pri-
maries lists close to permit
thorough analysis of the ticket
and, ii desirable, the prepara-
tion and filing of petitions nam
ing other candidates,
That for the purpose of obvia-
ting contests the occasion for
which is not easily recognized,
admission of any candidate to
the primaries lists shall be by
petition of reasonable percent
age Of the voters only.
We are aware that the first
reaction to these suggestions may
be hostile. Whatever it may be
in fact the direct primary still
carries with it the prestige of
an avowed reform movement, and
any proposal to return their old
power to the bosses would de-
serve reputation. This pro-
posal is not Of that character.
The news bases it's suggestions
largely on the primary bill which
Charles Evans Hughes tried to
get adopted while he was Gov
ernor of New York, and to the
central idea of which, at least,
New York has just returned.
The News proposes that if
candidates are to be picked and
settled upon by party leaders
it shall in the first place be done
In the open; second, that the re-
sponsibility for doing it shall be
placed with whatever body the
law makes the party's represen-
tative management, and third,
that it be done far enough in
advance of the primaries to give
any decently sized faction of
the party that wants to protest
a chance to protest at once by
putting other candidates in the
field.
In the general desire to escape
the expense and the bitterness
of primary campaigns when it
can be escaped, rank and file
and leaders are at one. A re-
suit is, that if the leaders can
get together in harmony and
agree not to stage any contests,
the party lets it 60 at that
though it tmay not even know
until the primaries lists are clos
ed who the candidates selected
are; and that is too late for pro-
test.
The trouble with the..expensive
primary campaign is not that
it means corruption but that we
now have for constant use a
nominating system under which
a wide-open pocketbook is re-
quired even to meet the legiti-
mate expenses of advertising,
postage, and speaking tours.
Such a nominating system has
undoubted merit as a last resort
and should be kept available as
such. But:in year-in-and-year-