The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1922-05-22

than it has resulted in bringing good
men into Office.
Another Objection
i Another objection made to the di-
rect primary is that it has the effect
of destroying party organization. max
ing party discipline impossible, and
therefore is subversive of the whole
theory of government through polit-
ical parties.
/ A man who has got his franchise to
public office through the means of d.
rect appeal to the people in the par
ty primary is not subject to party dis
cipline. He is not greatly obligated
to the party organization for his Of
flee and as consequence the party
organization is in no position to re-
proach him for failure to help carry
out the party progress.
At the time the direct primary was
devised and spread over the country,
it was felt that party discipline the
power of the party leader, and the
solidarity of party organization had
become too great
Chief Purpose.
The chief purpose of the primary
in it's beginning was to give the peo-
pie chance to defy the power of
party leaders who had become so
strongly intrenched that they were
overarrogant. Just now, however,
chiefly because of the direct primary,
we have gone to the other extreme.
President Harding, in his speech to
the women voters of New Jersey the
other day, made a naive admission.
He said:
81 presume you have had some dis
appointments. l presume the party
has had. I have had some myself
Political parties cannot always do all
, they promise to do. That may seem
strange but it is absolutely true. F. :.
1t has not been possible to do every
thing that the party in which you and
are associated hoped to do when we
: came into power"
, The reason for this inability to live
+ up to party promises that Mr. Hard
! ing complains of is largely the direct
) primary. Although Mr.. Hardings
| party has a great majority in the
. house and senate, he is unable to put
' the party platform through because
he has nothing with which to threaten
those Republican members who
/ choose to defy Mr. Harding and the
party leaders. They owe no partic-
ular allegiance to the party leaders
or to the party organization. For
' their offices they are dependent less
' on the party organization than on
their own efforts exerted through the
, direct primary.
Chief Indictment
; The chief of the indictments made
, against the direct primary is that the
a house and senate, and the other mis-
! cellaneous public officials who have
come into office as a result of 1t, are
of a lower caliber of intellect and
Iforcefulness than those who composed
the same bodies under the old con-
vention system. And undeniably
there is large degree of truth in this.
The direct primary has been in ex-
istence in one degree or another for
some 10 or Is years, and during that
. same 10 or Is years the strength of
J the personnel of the house and senate
has decreased. These two phenomena
having occurred at the same time, it
is rather up to the advocates of the
direct primary to show that there is
II not the relation of cause and effect
between them.
However, all unqualified assertions
are subject to scrutiny It is un.
doubtedly true that the average per-
sonnel of the house and senate is
! somewhat lower than it was a decade
or two ago. This difference in the
average caliber is not so great, how
ever, as it seems The difference be-
tween the senate and house of today,
and the senate and house of Is years
ago is to a considerable extent due to
another factor which is even more
: surely the result of the direct primary
y Aces Lack Power
+ In the senate and house of today
. there are some aces and a large mum
Der of nine-spots; and in the senate
q and house of Is years ago there were
= similarly some aces and a large mum
: ber of nine-spots. The difference is
that Is years ago the nine-spots were
under the thumbs of the aces; while
today the aces have no such power
:, over the rank and file.
q In the old days the men who were
the leaders of the house and senate
j were also the heads of the party or
Z ganization. If anybody in the rank
. and file failed to keep step, failed tc
. help in carrying out the party will, he
), was disciplined by being denied future
n party nomination in his home district
. Loyalty to the organization was the
r price of continuance in office. Feal
, of the party leaders was the motive
. for submission to party discipline
4 All this is the chief thing that has
! been charged by the direct primary
q Men now get their denominations mo-
n so much through the will of the party
organization as through their direc-
r personal appeal to the voters of theil
q party in their local districts. That
i is the principal thing that account!
e for the inability of the party leader:
If to live up to their party platforms
d such as Mr. Harding complains Of
l. Chief Defect.
IS The chief defect in the direct pri
IT mary when it is applied universally /.
Il that it is not equally well adapted tt
n all states and all communities.
e The direct primary is probably bes-
,r adapted to communities like the stat,
e in which it started, namely Oregon
h Oregon is in population relativel,
n small state with a markedly high av