The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-03-21
PRIMARY CHANGE BRINGS DEBATE
 ON PARTY MEN
Houses Passes Bill for Blanket System After
 Statements Made {

Declaring that almost anything would be an improvement on the present primary election system, q House majority of seven Democrats and two Republicans yesterday pass ed a bill by Rep. Jesse Lander or Fairbanks for a blanket primary.
 Under the bill, ballot listing all candidates filed would be handed each primary voter and the voter would be allowed to choose one for each office, without regard to party labels.
 "The primary law we have now just doesn't work Rep. James V. Davis declared in opening discus sion Of the measure. I'm in favor of trying this out and if it doesn't prove better than the present sys- tenn, we'll have an opportunity to throw it out after one election.
 Too Little Interest
 Rep. Allen Shattuck. saying that too little interest was taken in pri- mary elections under the present. system, declared that the attitude of party leaders that we can't touch the primaries was all wrong.
 The primary, Shattuck said, is more important than the general election, for if fFhing but poor candidates are nominated at the primary, there is nothing the voters can do about it in September He said that in this area. only about one-third of the voters take part in the primaries.
 The tendency of the present pri- mary system, he said, is to put poor men, particularly irresponsible men in office. He said that it is at the primary that the makeup of the Legislature is largely determined and thatit is more important to take care in selecting the Legislators who make the laws than the Territorial officials who merely administer them.
 Party Purpose
 AS I see it. Shattuck said, "a political party is maintained primar- fly for the purpose of putting the members of that party in jobs Af- ter they get jobs, he added, they take little interest in what happens to the party.
 When the Democratic party came into power in this Territory said Shattuck, John Troy stepped in- to the Governorship, Jim ConnorS became Collector of Customs, Simon E.ellenthal was appointed Judge. MT. Mahoney and MT. Holzheimer and all the other party leaders ob tained jobs. They stepped from the Democratic party into these jobs and kicked the cid raft back into the stream
 Shattuck said he was criticising not the men, but the system.
 Mrs. Jenne Objects
 Vigorous exception to Shattucks I leliidIkS were ttihcll Oy IOclJ. OI yStul Snow Jenne, who said she had been active in party affairs here for many years and had been candidate for Cffice from the Democratic party for the past eight years. T know" Mrs. Jenne declared, that if it were not for MT. Troy and MT. Corners and the others who have been mentioned, and for their support, financial and other wise, since they took office, the Democratic party wouldn't be where it is today, and the majority in this Legislature would not be a Demo- cratic majority"
 Mrs. Jenn's remarks were second- ed by Rep. Howard Lyng Of Nome
 Those voting for the blanket pri- mary bill were Davis, Shattuck, Will. liam Egan, Frank Gordon, Charles Herbert, Jesse Lander, Amer J. Peterson, Stuart Stangroom and Frank Whaley.
 The bill now goes to the Senate.