| Show i 1 11 2 11 NATIONAL AFFAIRS b WRITTEN FOR THE PARK RE RECORD CORD BY FRANK P so vi i 41 4 1 i i iia we are now in the midst of 0 the weeks of the general election the primary season and it is a season opinion Is growing among thinking that will last up until within a few people in the united states that the primary has about lost its usefulness it it ever had any indeed the primary la is held to be one of the reasons why the percentage of dt the people who vote la is declining 40 0 40 the acreage american like too much of a good thing even when it comes to an election and there are so many of these nowadays with our primaries referendums and so on in addition to our general eions and so much bitterness Is eu en gendered in the contests that there is little wonder so many people are refusing to go to the polls and when it comes to arousing bitterness one prin primary iary can do more than a halt half dozen general elections 4 W the primary system has tailed failed to live up to the promises ma made tor for it especially in the larger cities and in the statewide state wide contests many small counties in abich every man pretty well knows skis his neighbors get along all right with aa a primary but in larger territories and congest congested ad centers ot of population the system does not work so well 4 4 certainly it cannot be said that the primary marv has raised the quality ot of the candidates over that obtained under the convention system ot of course we have a lot ot of good men getting office but no one has tet T et been able to strew that thy they have improved either in honesty or efficiency over the ones we used to get when we had conventions then we used to get a black sheep from the convention once in awhile but now we are just as apt to get one through the primary system in the oli days the delegates had bad a sense of 0 party responsibility which ach usually prevented their nominating anyone who was waa incompetent or corrupt tor bior the simple reason that such a candidate was likely to be defeated at the polls under the primary system the people do the selecting and aad are not moved by party responsibility ot of course this puts the blame on themselves it they select bad candidates but that does not help the general situation any 0 4 4 and it Is a noteworthy tact fact that it Is just as easy if not easier for a political boss to dominate a primary as a convention the bosses are usually found to im the large cities where the average vote Is unacquainted with the candidates for whom he is voting he is unable therefore always to make a wise arise choice and the process resolves itself into voting tor for a slate ot of candidates representing one interest or another 01 04 0 4 it used to be argued that the primary was democratic but the opposite has proved to be the case it has restricted running tor for office by the poor man rather than encouraged cou raged it because it takes a lot of money to run in a primary and lew few men can afford either the time or money required to make the race our constitution was built on the theory of representative government the primary has not assisted in giving us real deliberative representative government and the sooner we wa devise a system which at least will eliminate the objectionable features feature now mow round found in a the primary the better it will be tor for government la in general we are again hearing cometh something ug through the newspapers of the proposal to abolish the rule in democratic national conventions conven iona tons requiring two thirds of the votes of all the delegates tor for a nomia nomination tion of president and vice president it is rumored that some of the leaders bleiders in th the al smili and the mcadoo tac fac eions of the party now agree about abolishing the rule it if this view prevails and the rule is eliminated there will be a fight to a finish in 1928 and the democratic national convention will be worth going some distance to 40 40 in view ot of all this talk the political writers have been digging into the musty past to see what this two thirds rule Is all about and they have found that it was adopted in 1832 at the behest of 0 andrew jackson and his friends to keep keel jacksons arch enemy calhoun from getting the nomination for vice president jacksons and calhound Cal houns views on public affairs were as opposite as the poles Jacks jackson was a strong unionist and calhoun was a firm believer in the doctrine of nullification and disunion it if necessary I 1 the democrats had jefferson dinners even in those days and at one of these affairs back in april 1830 jackson gave the toast the athe federal union it must be preserved calhound Cal houns toast in reply was liberty dearer than union at this time jackson was president and calhoun vice pre president then came cbs nullification trouble in south carolina which was to make jackson and calhoun bitter political enemies jacksons political manager was the astute martin van duren buren the Jackso did not want calhoun tor for vice president a gain again in 1832 so the clever mr van buren and his associates evolved the two thirds rule which was mas adopted in the convention and under which mr calhoun was given a thorough steam rolling mr vla van buren himself was wag chosen candidate for vice president and in 1836 won the presidency but with van buren came the continued on page seven I 1 AFFAIRS continued from pa ease gf three panic of ardithe an dithe mig victory si of 1840 which yut put van baren out ot of the ithe white house van buren biren tried to get the no nomination n again in 1844 but thi sou southern t cerii democrats were suspicious of him and resolved to prevent his hia nomination and here fate came to abe the hat bat in a estrange way and mr van suren was steam roll roller ered sd by the he same two thirds rule rule tie he had used in running over mr cal houn bann back in 1822 1932 4 4 4 by this time the southern democrats haid had begun to see bee the value of the two thirds rule tron from their standpoint they rhey might be in ia the minority but mey could always control wore inore than one third ot of the th delegates ot af a ticket which was unfriendly to 0 themselves and the slave power they represented and so it came about that the rule which was adopted originally to prevent the nomination mi nation of a southern tor for vict vice president was used to perpetuate the power ol of a southern minority in the national democratic party i ASP the two thirds arule is now mow a tradition in politics andi and its repeal is not going to lie easy in ww view ot at all 11 the history Biu rounding it but there seems to hp he in the mal malling dral a more determined effort to I 1 repeal it in the next nest convention than I 1 has been apparent for some time jand it if it is repealed there isalt is apt to 1 j be a finish anish fight in the convention that will go down Us big in history just now the newspapers are tull full I 1 of the disarmament conference con tereace some statesmen seem to tad 15 be e ol of the I 1 opinion that the man who does not advocate adi total disarmament is in ia favor of bar aar nothing could be farther from the truth george georga washington himself believed that the best way to preserve peace was to have an army and navy which would at least command the respect pa the ni world orld 0 those who favor total disarmament say that the timo has come when all nations should lay down their arms by agreement all well and good the united states has few to lay down excepting those which are in the hands bands of the gunmen no sane person objects to the limitation i of 0 armal went by universal agreement but a great many wise men believe that this is now sime ot of attain mient V 10 w they say that the only way really to end war in i to abolish the ae causes for war which are the oppression ol of minorities and the fear and prejudice ol of one country lor for another but minorities and majorities are so BO intermingled in europe that it seems impossible to devise a scheme tor for the limitation ot of boundaries which will please everyone even the treaty of i versailles was a distinct failure in this respect and it ft is going to be to abolish tear fear in europe so BO long iong as aa russia is a menace against all ot of the capitalist governments ot of the borla there ls is on one torna form of pacifism that is really dangerous 0 of the country andi that la Is the cult preaches that america should disarm entirely as an example to the rest ot of the this doctrine would lie be dangerous indeed except tor for the tact fact that so lew people believe in it 00 0 0 40 to understand the tull full limit ot of its folly we have only to consider the taa case of china the chinese disarmed t fully and we all know how much respect this gained lor four them from the rest ot of the world trey they have been kicked and buffeted around until the chinese have become the football of 0 international politics 0 40 4 0 and this disarmament has not even given the chinese the advantage of t peace at home because ot of the helpless condition of tho the government china has been tor torn n by civil wars for a generation in tact fact civil war in china has become so BO common that it no longet longer gets ov on the front page ot of the american newspapers Q W q this internal situation situations 1 la in china brings up another question suppose we could eliminate international wars by agreements and limitation of armaments what effect it if any will this have toward reducing the number urn her ot at civil wars these have always been more numerous and more bloody than the international wars and it is last as inconvenient to be killed in civil as in ili international agreement or limitation or armament have prevented our own civil war 0 this abolition ot at nar ar and thoai of armament problem is more complicated than it seems at first glance the only encouraging thing about it is that the worldly as a whole seems more tired of war than it ft has been tor for little time ilow how m much uc h ot of this is due to exhaustion and ana h bow w much to change ot of sentiment remains to be sew seem REASON III hi say old chap an where were you born in dublin my word a long distance distan away and v eliy hy did you pick out that spot sure just to be ne near to me dear old mother TOO LATE detective to tramp did you see a dark man pass here smoking a big cigar yes I 1 seen him but yer toiler faller him any lou longer ger cause I 1 picked I 1 it up u A college liege lad ate 60 hard boiled I 1 eggs iti in 49 minutes it wonderful what education will do V W husband Hus baud how about meeting me e for or dinner tonight friend alte good idea ive been thinking we should do something I 1 to get acquainted |
