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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1907)
INDEPENDENT 5 JANUARY 01,1907, THE NEBRASKA PRIMAMJSJFHEME JOi.iT COMMITTER L.ISTEKS TO SUP P OUTERS OF DIM'. MUCH DOUBT AS TO SCOPE MEMBERS DECLARK SOMK DILI, WILL BE PASSED, IIOWEVKIt. Resolution Committing Theiu to .. State-Wide Proportion Not entertained hy Chut r man. There was some interesting direct pri mary talk Monday night before the Joint committee of the legislature appointed to draft a primary bill. Taking for granted that the bill would be passed, a number of prominent Nebraskans addressed the legislators on the provi sions of such a measure, bringing out interesting repartee that may serve as an indication aa to how the members stand. While there was an obvious de sire to avoid the question of the scope of the primary bill, this question cropped out from time to time and fin ally Representative McMullen, chair man, addressed the committee on his views which are not for the more pro gressive measure. Mr. McMullen, how ever, stated that he would vote for a primary bill and if the legislature should decide upon one of state-wide effect, he would vote for it. At the out set of the meeting Mr. McMullen ruled out of order a resolution that the com mittee draft a bill in accordance with the platforms of the three leading po litical parties and an appeal from his decision was not sustained by the com mittee. Mr. Brown's Resolution. Representative E. P. Brown of Lan caster, moved the adoption of the res olution as follows: "Whereas, The republican state plat form of 1906 declares: " 'We demand that the next legisla ture enact a direct primary law pro viding for the nomination of all state, county and district officers, including congressmen and United States sena tors, by a direct vote, and , "Whereas, The democratic state platform of 1906 declares: " 'We will pass a comprehensive di rect primary law for the whole state under which party candidates for all offices shall be nominated by the direct vote of the people,' and, "Whereas, The populist state plat form of 1906 declares: " 'We favor the enactment of a pri mary law for the nomination of all public officers,' be it "Resolved, That this committee deems it its duty to formulate a bill providing for state-wide primary elec tions for all political parties to nomin ate state, county, district and munici pal officers, including United States senators, by direct vote." Chairman McMullen ruled the reso lution out of order holding that the meeting had been called for the pur pose of hearing expressions of senti ment from outsiders and that no ac tion of the committee was contemplat ed. Dodge of Douglas appealed from the decision of the chair and he and Mr. Brown were the only members who voted not to sustain the chair's ruling. Victor Rosewater of Omaha was called for. View of Victor nceTvnter. Mr. Rosewater said he did not wish to cover the entire primary question would give the result of the ex periment in Douglas county. He ad vised that the bill be simple in verb iage, that the dates of party elections W nxel, that provision for rapid can vassing be made, that special pains ihould Ik made not to tie up the re gull 'f the election though giving a reasoiiiiblo chance of appeal. Mr. Host-water said It was ea.-y to secure petitions to become a candi date. He never had heard of a candi date who failed to set on a tlk. t W iusf unable to necur i petition. Ho biellnf d to favor a uniall feo. I'nuualltU'd opposition whk express?! against the muting ballot, favored by Mr. l"l;t Ho favored drawing n urni uf candidate by lot ami pUuitu them on th. ballot In tmliT drawn, number ing nam" of candidates. IVttaltU that now apply t regula tion of election., providing a Unt pay. Ir-tr people to run for otnr or to get or? the ll' Wet, Mr. Ibv water favored. Tb 111'" withdrawn I from the twktt Miould I'' can-fully cited. Up rv ntatl'Mi for t ho tarty org mljutloa by iiat.ii i;il dhtrliln, liu thought wan r'.wotmlly fair with u t imk dutiiel ortf"! ie.tlott within tlu county. M nit r of lh Mule cmUuI cot. unit tM should In' Utd for wU n tl i. g.ttv for national convention wh-M rrwW-ntUU aio cieitfHl a month b. for the ituetini. Attention was called to the neces sity of providing for the "yes" and "no" vote on amendments. The platform, he thought, was imma terial. Candidates were often nomi nated during a convention before the platform was adopted with the general understanding that they were to get on the platform that would be adopted Mr. McMullen asked if the platform was not important. Mr. Rosewater said it was but that the inception of the platform came . from a few men under the convention system. He thought the state committee would serve their constituents when elected under the primary law and would put up a platform that the people wanted. The platform question, Mr. Rosewater believed, was not the vital part of the primary discussion. Mr. McMullen' riatform. Mr. McMullen was inclined to insist that the making of the platform was a very important duty and Mr. Rose water finally asked him if he made h i campaign for nomination on a plat form. Mr. McMullen said it was gen erally understood what he stood for. Tho platform was made later. "Perhaps," said Mr. Rosewater, "if you had been running on a platform, you would not now be here opposing the state-wide primary, that is . if your constituents had spoken- before you were nominated." H. M. Waring of Omaha, who helped draft the Dodge bill, said the difficul ty with the convention was that expe diency, not efficiency, controlled. The Dodge primary bill, Mr. Waring said, combined the best features of the Min nesota, Wisconsin and Illinois laws. He stood for the rotation of names on the ballot. He cited instances where incompetent persons were nominated because their names were first on the ballot in Omaha where there are many ignorant voters. "Mr. Waring Is there anything in the bill to prohibit political clubs from en dorsing any candidate or set of candi dates?" asked Representative Mike Lee. "No, sir." "And collecting a fee fpr.it?" asked Mr. Lee. Mr. Waring explained the penalty provisions to which Mr. Rosewater re ferred. Mr. McMullen asked about the lia bility of persons in certain sections to win over candidates In sparsely settled districts. Mr. Dodge answered for Mr. Waring by asking what chance a candidate from Omaha had under the old system as against the rest of the state. , Berge for. State-Wide Bill. G. W. Berge said the primary law has been an instrumentality to place the people in touch with the govern ment. The demand for the law rises because public officialdom has not been true to the people. He was anxious for a law to include all officers. He point ed out objections to the convention system, but said the proposed law might not be perfect. He thought the matter of expense was not vital. , It might not cost $500 to run for a state office. Mr. Berge favored complete se crecy of a ballot, giving the voter at the primary the right to choose his party ballot. Mr. Berge said the defeat of La Follette in Wisconsin was rather to the credit of the law for Mr. LaFolIctte had acted the boss to a certain degree and the people resented it. T. C. Munger favored the direct pri mary system. He said it was here to stay. The system of letting the candi dates fix the platform he believed to be good. It followed the English Idea which made the party directly respon sible to the electors. H. T. Dobbins spoke of the satisfac tion the system has brought in Lin coln. He thought the benefits largely outweighed the defects. He favored the system of letting candidates name the platform. Mr. Dobbins was asked what caused the election of a democratic mayor In a strong republican community if the primary election law In Lincoln result ed in securing the best men as candi dates. Mr. Dobbins explained that a complication Of liquor questions caused the defeat of tho republican candidate. "Ileer und More lleer." ThM brought out the condition in Omaha where a democrat won. Mr. Clarke said the Issue In Omaha was "beer or more beer." He took It that the will of tho peoplw M nccom pil.sht'd there. That wan what the di rect primary did. It let tli people have their nay and It wan it plan that worked both ways occasionally but If It accomplished the will of the people, lie nald It was a good thing. J. M. iK vlne ppoko of the "election of IW n Tillman a United Slates ena tor from South Carolina, lie va op Pid by th nrMotraey of the Mute, but the p"opki elected him with u pri mary nyntem and he represent them, If the theory of the rule of the people U ood, any limitation on the rul that Kts tlu people ieeet 1 1 Heir officer I baed ott a desire for a narrower rule, Mr. MeMRMn' lno, ThU la.it argument of Mr. ivvln brought wut a rjly from chairman McMullen of the committee. Ite said the statements of Mr. Devine that the primary system was always success ful in letting the people rule was not borne out by the facts, as in many states where it was in operation there was great dissatisfaction. The enthusi asm of the people in convention was needed to keep up the party organiza tion and enthusiasm. He read a letter from the secretary of state of Min nesota. There the governor, who had been an ardent advocate of the sys tem and was until recently favorable to extending it to the selection of state officers, in a recent message made a recommendation against this. The letter mentioned the expense of a double campaign for a state office and the difficulty of preventing the re publicans and the democrats from vot ing indiscriminately and disrupting party organizations. Mr. McMullen said the committee did not want to make light of import ant Items. He thought the platform was a most important matter. The newspapers could make or unmake men. He closed by stating that he would vote for a primary bill and for a state wide primary measure if necessary, but he did not favor one. The close of the session was taken up with a desultory discussion of the merits of the system. Members from York county showed that country pre cincts there turned out well on stormy days when the system was in actual operation. The comparison was made with the caucus system and there was a good deal of discussion as to the ad visability of permitting a voter to make a secret choice at the primary between parties or to announce his politics and vote the party ticket he selected. The committee will meet again on Friday night. "THE PRESS AND PRIMARY" "It Is claimed that the direct pri mary will establish the press in power. This argument is based upon the fact that since an advertisement of candi dates and of policies is necessary to success under the system, the news paper as the best advertising medium will occupy a position of undue ad vantage. It is claimed that since it operates - upon strictly business print ciples. and is fully aware of its high function as a channel through which information regarding the different can didates can best reach the public, it takes the selfish and unpatriotic stand of charging for its monopolistic adver Using, and adjusting its praises of men to the size of 'what there is in it.' " These sentences Include the opening paragraph of a chapter on "The pub lic press under direct primaries," in Ernst C. Meyer's book on the direct primary, the standard work on that subject. The Interests opposed to tho direct primary in Nebraska are trying to prevent the carrying out of - the party pledges on this point, and being foiled at every other argument are at tempting to use the objection referred to by Mr. Meyer In their effort to in fluence legislators. This argument amounts to the as sertion that it is better for the public to have nothing at all to do with nom inations, or nothing more than tho merely nominal part they play ordinar ily where nominations are mado by conventions, than that they should take the risk of being deceiver? by the news papers in making nominations them selves. The plea could tw used equally well to prove that the public should not be permitted to vote at elections, since it might be deceived by the ucva papers Into supporting the wrong can didate. If the; case must come to p question of abolishing government by the people and abolishing the news papers, evidently it Is the newspapers, not the right of the people to ule, that should be restricted. The direct primary is the essence ol democracy. If the newspapers stand in the way of successful direct nominations that is an argument against newspapers, ot against direct primaries. ISut It Is worth while to observe Mr. Meyer's treatment of the argu ment. Ho admits that newspapers might and would inietlmes bo void in connection with primaries aa they have been In connection with t'lccticia. Hut ho nays cn tho ctlev tn.p.d: "We can all point to in-taiices (under the convention system) where ihtlal combinations miect candidate.1 monnp. ollxo the pres., and advertise tnc available political material.' Thb? 1 e.speUlly true in tho cities, whero tho power of tho prex 1 greatest, py since direct primaries rrit Inevitably reduce the machine, those who upo thsi nsNumpttiiit of uttitltlopal power by the prex In essence ilirUte that In1.). anl professional politician uro more to be truatcd with the welfare of to people than our newspaper t'dilotN Thu h pot round In face of thc uv r ago M.-uolird of our pre, nnd the equity ami noundrw of modern Jour n ilt!ii. It muM nlno be reim mU red that a ttevmpuper can only peinut netttly Influence Che public while its lnftu' iico U SmwU. When It ehxK'4 a by-way, It will soon be discovered. . Deceptive, journalis-m cannot Ions de ceive today. Should a newspaper once establish the unsa,vory reputation of indiscriminate and commercial adver- i Using of candidates or of unscrupulous and unreasonable attacks upon tho f party in power, the best way to tend a good man to an unearned political grave would be by getting that paper to favor his nomination." He adds: "The argument against the press can therefore not be serious ly considered." He Illustrates tho im possibility of the retention of Influence by a venal newspaper by his own state, Wisconsin, of which ho says: "Even a better illustration of the inability of unscrupulous politicians to gain .heir ends by corruption of the press is af forded in Wisconsin, where, during thu last year, an organization patterned strikingly after the New York Tam many, has, by a variety of wrongful methods obtained control of both edi torial and news columns of a very large number of daily and weekly newspapers in all' parts of the state, to prosecute their fight against the enactment of a direct primary elec tion law and the institution of a more just system of taxation. Notwith standing the comprehensive manner In which the work was done, with thor ough organization to support it, both money and labor appear to have been wasted. Within a brief period after newspapers commenced taking their inspiration from the organization which had subsidized them, they began to be discredited by their readers, even be fore the opposition had made com plete exposure of the means by which such newspapers were controlled.". , The direct primary docs away with the political influence most likely to corrupt the press and by observation it will be seen that it is these influ ences that express the greatest terror of the alleged power of the press under the direct primary but as Mr. Meyer points out, very soon after the press becomes corrupt it becomes without influence. He says: "Even though they are in business for 'what there is in it,'. they can realize their aim only by following a rational and an honest course. While they make mistakes, and at times fall in proper business meth ods, if the desired goal is to be reached they must in the long run hold to the road of propriety, honesty and Justness. However great the inducements of the moment may be, their existence Is not to be terminated by the day, the week or the year. Their reputation grows slowly. Their hold over tho public mind tightens with yours only. No -prominent paper under sane manage ment would for a moment entertain the idea of compromising a future and hard earned reputation in return for an immediate paltry sum of money." The later experience with the pri mary in Wisconsin Justified his further assertion that the press as a whole, "will continue to perform the high ser vice of an unprejudiced, disinterested disseminator of information in behalf of a trusting public, and that devia tions from such rules will be resented by the readers of the papers in the most effective manner." If a news paper were to attempt to set Itself up as a boss, it would be in the Imme diate power of the public to foil its first attempt by withdrawing their sub scriptions. They have no such power over the boss of the back room whom their representatives In the legislature have promised to put in their power to eliminate by means of the direct pri mary. The state wide direct primary, as It bears upon the members of the Ne braska legislature now, is a question of good faith, not of argument. It can do no harm, however, for everybody to understand the nature of this latest bogey man set up by the endangered bosses of the back room and the inter ests they represent. No difficulty was experienced in get ting the bill through tho house at Washington making It possible for maU local distilleries to be installed for miking denaturlzed alcohol. The "enate now has a chance to proved Its good faith In voting for tho free al cohol law passed last year. PRIVATE maternity home; best med ical attention; baby adopted. Work for part expensei. Mrs. Sherman, 1701 Mo. Ave., Kansas City, Mo. LIFE PRODUCERS SUCCtUILl UCUI1TSIS. LIFE PRESERVERS (A- J IKCtUm IIHB1RS. 1 1 ir J k , ..., . . Mtt. Kwmktat, "0ft l I I Mlif n ill l hi. it, lx I Ttaktr," I.. poultry - , est Momts ittcusATO eeninNv, TREES AND SHRUBS At Um than On tu'l of AittoV prkt tAra I tuvul ! t'ltiO ami On ih Tr. hhruh. I'UIU VallM elr, Hirttrtt lU'fr ami elhr mli I rnll I ' t lhan H tf MrbU' Hrr. ';. rnt rt-it IHil IN tire ru:' lortctt tnjulrrr W rU nu, NORTH UNO NUfttERlIt, erlt llrml. lUntg County, NftrVt.