Evening journal., 1923-01-10

dividuals with no party vouchins
FOR their acts-with nobody with &
future depending upon the result o.
his acts then the direct primar,
probably may work out to the end'
that its advocates claim for il. but 81
we are 10 depend upon party gov,
ernment, and hold the party Ia
power responsible for It's acts. thu,
making the party's future depend
ent upon the carrying out OF those
I acts. then In my judgment the soon
er We get back TO the convention
form OF nomlnation. the sooner will
our government be as It was intend
ed, a government by parties. and the
party In power able to legislate. and
meet the demands OF our nation.
In renominstlng he delegates 10
attend a convention which names
the candidates for the representa-
tive Offices. the people have, in the
naming OF these delegates. their
choice In this selection.
The real object OF any form Of
primary is. or should be al least. 10
select the very best available man
OF the party. who can be obtained. 10
MI that office; for certainly the more
capable and patriotic the official.
the better will be his adm Illustration.
Thus. my greatest objection 10 the
direct primary is its tendency to de-
I a In
not claim that when a party out
lives its usefulness there Is any ex-
cuse for its being continued. but in
that event IL should be replaced by
another party more nearly repre-
senting the sentiment OF the people
at that time. otherwise we can have
no permanancy IN our financial.
economic or Industrial conditions.
1t is impossible TO conceive OF
House OF Representatives. composed
OF more than 400 members. each
elected upon his own platform and
fighting for the principles for which
he stands. accomplishing any legis-
iation. and should by combination
any legislation he passed would
there be any assurance OF It's per
manency?
There II nothing that affects the
prosperity Of a nation more than un-
certainty as 70 its important policies.
Without parties all would be chaos
and our Government could not func-
tion.
Another serious objection 10 me
TO the direct primary IS that Il en-
ables the cities with their dense pop
ulation TO alway- hold the power In
making nominations and thus the
rural districts with their important
farming interests find themselves
without the representation essential
for properly protecting their inter-
ests where the vote is taken by the
entire state. and certainly there is
no interest OF greater Importance 10
general prosperity than is the gen.
eral producer OF foOdstuffs.
It believe it is the duty Of every
American citizen to freely
the policies OF this nation
when he believes those policies
wrong and he can suggest lesisla-
ton that would correct these evils,
but TO always hnd fault, TO always
rriticise and tear down without eug-
gesting something better. seriously
.nterferes with our return 10 normal
conditions.
Conditions may not be as salts
factory in this country as we would
desire. probably as the majority OF
the American people think they
should be. yet the United States is
in Infinitely better condition than
is any other nation OF the world.
Congress has enacted much legisla-
ton for which the party stood
pledged. shut where il has failed 10
fully meet the expectations OF the
people who voted the party in
power. this failure is traceable 10
he direct primary. The rights OF
4 minority party must always ne
protected, but fop the successful /
egislation. the majority party must /
,e able to carry out its pledges 20 /
he people-if that party is going .
o bring prosperity and happiness TO 4
,ur American people.
Il realize that by taking this
,ositlon ] shall be termed a reac-
ionary. an ultra-conservative. I am
conservative not TO fol-
ow those policies which TO me seem
o he driving our nation too far
nto the unknown.
While the convention method Of
dominating candidates may not be /
he best possible plan obtsinable, 10
ne il is infinitely safer for the fu-
ure OF our country than is the di-
ect primary"