The World's Work Volume 44; A History of Our Time (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 Excerpt: ...that of his most influential Republican colleagues. On the whole, therefore, Senator McCumber's defeat marks a distinct loss to the character of the Senate. Still more interesting than their personal aspects are the political implications of these changes. Perhaps the most impressive lesson to be drawn from them is the power which the direct primary places in the voter's hands. When this reform was sweeping over the country, in the pre-Wilsonian days, the most effective argument in its favor was the fact that it provided an agency which the electorate could use in a crisis to transfer political power from the bosses to themselves. That the primary was accompanied by certain evils its most eloquent advocates recognized; it was clearly an awkward method of obtaining results; it really provided for two elections, one within the party and one between the parties, and thus made a political campaign a tedious process; it seemed not improbable that it would tend to disrupt political organizations and promote factionalism, since the rivalries aroused by the intra-party struggles would produce lasting bitternesses that would be carried over into the general campaign; it would inevitably lead to large expenditures and thus give the rich man an advantage over his less fortunate brother. The results of more than ten years' experience have justified practically all these forebodings, and have already, in certain places, particularly New York State, caused a reversion to the old convention system. But there was one argument for the primary that seemed to counterbalance all these objections. There was a general agreement that, in ordinary times, direct nominations presented no great improvement over the ancient methods, but it was urged that it would prove invaluable when...