Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-01
AN INDEPENDENT VICTORY.

AN INDEPENDENT VICTORY.
The issue in the campaign of which the primary
election was an incident, was and is the control Of the
government of North Dakota. That fact has at all
times been thoroughly understood. Inas1nuch as
the nation is greater than the state, an election
ticket, whether partisan or f%actional, is usually sup
posed to be "headed" by the candidates for national
offices, when national offices are to be filled. But
in this campaign the nomination of a candidate for
United States senator assumed a place of secondary
Importance because the practical effects of our state
election overshadowed those of the federal election,
and because the candidates for the United States
senatorship were both unacceptable to a very large
proportion of the voters. IA
In the recall election of last fall control of the
state administration was wrested from those who
had misused it and under whose administration the
state had suffered in substance and reputation, and
for some past seven months the new administration
had been struggling with the hcrculean task of sal
vaging wreckage and clearing out debris, and set
ting in motion forces which would aid the state in
resuming the position which it once held, and to
which it was entitled. '
In the elections of this year there was to be de-.
termined whether the administration which had
made such an suspicious beginning should be per
mitted to continue its work, or whether the state
should revert to its former control, with all the in
jury in loss of money and loss of reputation which
that implied. In the primary election the thing
which concerned the majority Of the voters was not
lluC Oh w uIldCCCpCdDlc CdJAQludtCS
should receive the Republican nomination for
United States senator, but whether r. A. Nestos
should be given the nomination for governor. So
far as the ,senatorship was concerned, the nomina-
ton of either Mr.. McCunber or Mr.. Frazier was
regarded by most of the Independent Republicans
with profound dissatisfaction, and most of those who
voted on this contest chose what they regarded as
the lesser of two evils.
The Independent forces have won a handsome
victory in the contest which they regarded as Of
supreme importance. and the only one of these two
major contests in which they felt an interest. Mr..
Nestos was elected last fall by a majority Of some-
thing less than 1000 by the combined votes of indie
pendent Republicans and Democrats. This time he
has received a majority which seems certain to be
considerably greater with a much smaller total vote,
and with thousands Of Democrats remaining under
their own party banner to vote for their own party
candidates. How many Democrats voted their
own party ticket this time will not be known until
the full vote is reported and compiled, but it is GER
tain that the number is much greater than the Mes
tos majority last fall. The result. therefore. is a de-
cisive victory for the independently and one of
which all persons interested should take due notice.
1t is not to be assumed that the nomination of
Mr.. Frazier is regarded by the Independents as a
thing to be desired. T~emperamentally and polite
ally he is untitled for a position in the senate H.
was nominated simply because there was no other
person in the field who had a ghost of a. chance and
in whom the independents took the slightest inter
est. If Mr.. McCurnber. seeing the handwriting on
the wall, or satisfied with the honors which have al
ready come to him, has effaced himself at the be-
ginning OF this campaign. so that the independents
could have felt free to place in the field a man truly
representative of their spirit and their ideals, North
Dakota would not now haveffaced the prospect OF
being represented in the senate by a man so little in
accord with what North Dakota really stands for,
or OF Ignoring party considerations and sending a
democrat there in order to escape that fate.