Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-09-22
MAINE W. C. T.U.
Continued from PAGE Cne)

the results in State and nation 1t is
the long pun. and the strong pull,
and the pull altogether" which
counts.
Let no one think her work is value
less, it is part of the foundation Of
the great structure Of civic righte-
BUSINESS.
A demand has been made by
certain element for the repeal Of
the State primary election law and
the substitution of the discarded con-
vention system. This element has
mana Sed to get a plank III the plat
forms of both parties asking for its
repeal. Believing that the avera ge
voter does not realize the power the
people would lose if the right to eX-
ercise their judgment in nominating
candidates for County and State and
National offices We're taken away and
placed in the hands of q few, your
superintendent has made a careful
study of the working of the Con-
vention system in the past and that
of the primary election, with the re-
suit that she is convinced that the
former was corrupt in its use of
money and that it made boss rule
easy in fact, inevitable, while the
latter with the present ballot sys-
TEN, although not entirely faultless,
perhaps, has done away with corrup-
ton almost wholly, has eliminated
boss -rule, and has made the people
at large the ruling power with good
results.
AT County Conventions, Grange
and Campmeetings and through our
State paper, the conclusions derived
from this study have been made pub W
lie with the desire to reach the peo-
ple-the vOters-With message of
the value Of the primary vote to the
individual and to the State. Until
the question of whether we shall re-
tain our primary law or not is set
tied, it would seem that our chief
work lay in a campaign Of education
along this line.
A double opportunity to prove the
value of the law was demonstrated
in the special primary election in the
third congressional district last Feb
ruary, and in the State primary cleo
ton.
In the former the will Of the people
was expressed in the nomination Of
Il candidate who declared for pro-
hibition and strict enforcement, over
one who was non -commital on the
question. This nomination was rat
flied at the special election which
followed, by gosd round majority.
In the latter the people endorsed
the faithful and efficient service of
Governor Baxter by nominating him
to succeed himself in the guberna
torial Office. This nomination was
ratified at the September election
by majority of thirty thousand
a record breaker for an offyear.
Does any one think that John e.
Nelson would have been elected to
congress If the Convention system
had been used? or that Governor
Baxter would have received the en-
forsement his faithful service richly
deserved If the people--through the
rrimaries-had not held the whip
hand?
With the people awake to its value,
the repeal Of the primary election
law will have a tendency to develop
a large number of independent vot-
ers who will turn their vote to this
candidate or that, to the detriment
Of party unity. Politicians in New
York have thrown a sop to the in
telligence OF the people in the sub
stitution for their primary election
law Of a so-called primary law which
throws the political power wholly in
the hands of the Convention, which
Senator Beveridge has shown us was
in the past easily manipulated into
a corrupt institution, while in the
new, system shrewdly the people
seem to have the power by electing