The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-12-01
PRIMARY LOSES ANOTHER
FRIEND
Duluth Herald.

Duluth Herald.
Probably the primary election sys-
TEN has fewer defenders today than
it has had at any time in it's history.
And the reason is that it is all
too evident that it has brought about
a sharp and painful lowering of the
average calibcr Of men in public
life.
Men have won primary nomina-
tions who never could have been
chosen by conventions, and the re-
suits have been damaging both to
the parties and to the public SER
vice. They have been particularly
hard on the friends of the primary
system.
The Herald has defended the pri-
mary election system as long and
as stoutly as any newspaper. And
if the choice today were between
the primary election and the old
fashioned convention, the Herald
would choose the primary, with all
its faults. The primary works badly
because the people don't use it as
intelligently as they should, and
perhaps in time they would learn by
sad experience to use it more in
diligently.
But the choice is not between the
primary election and the old fash
Toned convention. 1t is possible to
safeguard the convention system by
putting it under the regulation of
law, and by keeping the primary
election in reserve as a check
against possible abuses Of the con-
vention system.
If the old convention plan were
brought back, presently it would de-
velop the old abuses, rule and ma
chine government. But if there
were conventions, with delegates
duly elected at legally regulated
primary elections, with Il provision
for holding primary nominating
elections if the conventions event
wrong" it would be possible to get
all the benefits of the convention
plan to forestall most Of it's evils.
The conventions might nominate
candidates for the primary election,
and in that event if the convention
nominations were wisely made they
would probably win in the primary
Or there might be conventions
with the provision that a primary
election would be held if the con-
vention results dissatisfied enough
people to make it possible to get up
i pretty stiff petition calling for "A
primary election.
Whatever is done should be done
carefully and thoughtfully. 1t is
neither necessary nor wise to be
dogmatic about it, and to insist now
upon some particular plan.
The members Of the legislature
should approach the problem with
open minds and with the sole pur-
pose of getting up nominating
system that would do the most good
that will make possible wiser Sc
lection of candidates than the un-
adulterated primary election does;
that will rid the ballots of the names
of irresponsible self-seekers who
have no qualification except the
filing fee; that will restore party
responsibility; that will keep the
nominating process free from the
control Of bosses and machines; and
that will result in nominations in
which party members can take pride,
and in election results that will dig
Nifty the public service.
The Herald has stood for the pri-
mary system in season and out. But
it must confess that this has proved
to be another theory that hasn't
worked as the theorizers hoped it
would.
And, surveying with dismay the
evidence cluttering up the country
that the unchecked primary election
has put a premium upon demagogy
and has resulted in u marked de-
terioration in the public service, the
Herald throws up its hands vrtl
calls upon the legislature to free the
state from the evils of the primary
without hurting the state back into
the arms of the boss and the ma
chine