TABLE SHOWING THE TOTAL VOTE CAST FOR DELEGATES TO STATE CONVENTIONS, 1912, AND THE TOTAL PRIMARY VOTE FOR GOVERNOR 1914-1920, TOGETHER WITH THE TOTAL VOTE FOR GOVERNOR AT THE GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1912-1920, AND THE PERCENTAGE OF THE PRIMARY TO THE GENERAL ELECTION VOTE

Governor

%

at

ing Con

General

Election

1,345,771 16

New York City (including five counties)

129,108

672,106 19

Five Urban Counties Other

Than N. Y.

39,972

227,133

17

97,286

263,243

37

92,538

299,713

714,766 26 230,054

961,437 24

216,999

1,297,110 17

129,063

377,974 34

111,045

514,253

2425

Albany.

12,145

38,677

20,006

45,274

22,258

46,393

29,472

65,612

22,458

80,990

Erie

6,653

95,215

35,735

95,156

31,634

109,993

37,424

123,125

38,512

169,809

2,689

9,302

30,531

11,860

36,556

17,285

45,819

10,652

57,677

43,055

9,665

50,738

90,797

The figures for votes cast for delegates to the state conventions, 1912, and the primary figures for 1914-1918 are from data compiled by Mr. W. E. Hannan, Legislative Reference Librarian, New York State Library, with the addition in 1912 of the figures for New York County, not there included. The general election figures and the figures for the primaries of 1920 are from the New York Legislative Manual.

• Seventeen counties lacking.

These figures would seem to indicate that the more complete the control of the "organization," the less the popular interest in the primary; certainly the Democratic "machine" remains intact. It should be pointed out, however, that the Democratic Party was particularly fortunate during this period in the selection of its standard bearers.

TYPE OF CANDIDATES SELECTED This brings us to a consideration of the type of candidate selected during the operation of the direct primary. It is unfortunate that it has been impossible to make an exhaustive study of candidates for nominations; but a glance at the names of the contestants for the more important state offices indicates that the direct primary accomplished no revolution in the type of candidate and that the general average was as high as under the convention system.

EXPENSE OF DIRECT PRIMARY

The opponents of the direct primary made the objection that it would be expensive to both the candidates and to the state. When one looks for evidence on this point one is somewhat at a loss. Candidates were required to file statements of their expenditures, but these were carelessly drawn and sometimes intentionally misleading. No doubt large amounts were spent by some candidates, but that lavish ex

7 See H. Feldman, The Direct Primary in New York State, 11 American Political Science Review 494.

penditures won the nomination is not so apparent. No more satisfactory data are available in regard to the cost to the state. In 1918 a special committee of the New York Senate compiled figures showing the cost of primary elections, 1914-1917, to have been about one dollar per vote. By themselves, however, these figures are not significant; for the repeal of the direct primary means the substitution of an election for convention delegates, and it is difficult to see how this election could be conducted with less expense than the direct primary.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, it may be said that the results of the operation of the statewide direct primary in New York State were largely negative: it did not fulfil the prophecies of its enemies, neither did it meet the expectations of its most ardent advocates. It did not result in a ballot crowded with the names of mere publicity seekers, and it did not destroy party harmony or responsibility; the work of the voter was no more complicated than under a convention system requiring the election of several sets of convention delegates, and it is doubtful whether the financial objections can be sustained. On the other hand, it did not result in a vastly greater degree of interest; the power of the 'machine" was not broken, and no striking change was effected in the type of candidate. The

THE was passed in

HE law authorizing direct primary

elections in Iowa was

1907, after a period of five years of agitation and debate, both in and out of the General Assembly. Its passage was heralded as one of the big achievements of the progressive wing of the Republican Party in Iowa. The first trial of the system was made in 1908, the year following its enactment. In the fourteen years which have elapsed since the enactment of the law it has been used eight times, and it is therefore possible to draw some fairly accurate conclusions as to its workings.

PROVISIONS OF THE IOWA PRIMARY LAW

The Iowa law is compulsory and state-wide for all state and local officers (except judicial and municipal offices) filled by popular vote at the general election. Candidates for United States senators and congressmen are chosen at the primary; and presidential electors, delegates to the county convention, and precinct party committeemen are elected by the primary voters.

The primary in Iowa is conducted as a regular election. The voter's oral choice of ballot, of which a record is made, determines his party affiliation. Party affiliation, however, may be changed by filing a declaration of change with the county auditor ten days prior to the primary election, or by taking an oath, if challenged when offering to vote, that one has in good faith changed his party affiliation.

Other provisions relative to the manner of filing nomination petitions and the like need not be given here. The names of the candidates for United States senator and state offices are placed in alphabetical order in the county in which the party they represent cast the largest vote at the preceding general election; in the other counties a system of rotation is employed so that each candidate will appear first among those seeking nomination for the same office as often as the rotation system permits. The successful candidate must receive 35 per cent of his party vote, cast for the office he seeks in order to be nominated.

NUMBER OF CANDIDATES

At the time of the enactment of the Iowa primary law it was predicted that, owing to the large number of office seekers, the voters would be so confused and disgusted that the system would not accomplish its purpose.

By reference to the table, p. 150, it will be seen that out of the eight offices there listed, only four times have more than four candidates been offered for any office. Nominations for the office of United States senator have been made six times under the primary law, but only once (during the war) has the nomination been uncontested in the Republican primaries. Never before 1922 have there been more than two candidates. The campaign for the nomination of United States senator in the Republican primary of 1922 attracted nation-wide attention and

to

has been one of the chief causes for the renewed agitation against the primary law.

In 1920 Colonel Smith W. Brookhart contested with Senator Cummins for the Republican nomination, making his campaign largely in opposition to the Esch-Cummins railroad law, and certain phases of the Federal Reserve Act. He was unsuccessful, but polled nearly one hundred thousand votes. When Senator Kenyon resigned early ed in 1922 Mr. Brookhart promptly i announced himself as a candidate. K The leaders of the Republican Party organization characterized Mr. Brookhart as radical and dangerous, and sought to checkmate his ambition to go to the United States Senate. It is asserted that the organization leaders encouraged numerous candidates to enter the field in the anticipation that no one would receive the necessary 35 per cent of the vote cast, and thus leave the convention free to name the candidate. Much to their surprise and chagrin however, Mr. Brookhart, in a field of six candidates, carried seventy-six of the ninety-nine counties of the state, ran second in all the rest but two, and won the nomination by 42 per cent of the vote.

When the state convention of the Republican Party met following the primary, the "standpat" wing of the party was in complete control, and they took the occasion to show their dislike of the man who had made his own platform and won the nomination without their approval. The convention refused to call upon Mr. Brookhart for a speech, or to indorse his candidacy; demanded the repeal of the primary, and inserted a plank against socialists and demagogues.

One of the organs of the "standpat" element, speaking editorially of the platform, said, "It turns down every plank which the radicals had proposed

and endorsed almost everything to which they objected. It is the

voice of the people speaking through their accredited representatives chosen by the primary to attend the state convention and it adequately and correctly represents the views and wishes of the Republican voters of this state." Again the same paper declared that, "the last so-called Republican primary was a rank fraud and the candidate for United States senator was dishonestly nominated." It is somewhat difficult for an impartial student of politics to see how the candidate was "dishonestly nominated" while the delegates who made up the county conventions (which in turn select the delegates to the state convention) who were voted for at the same time were "the voice of the people." Most of the people who voted in the primary were interested in the contest for the senatorship and not in delegates to the county convention.

Competition for nominations to state offices has been healthy in the Republican primaries. In eight primaries there have been twenty-one candidates for the nomination for governor: only twice has the primary been without a contest for this office in the Republican Party. The least contested office has been that of state treasurer (see table, p. 150). Seven candidates for the nomination to the office of state superintendent of public instruction is the largest number so far offered for any one state office in the primary.

THE SIZE OF THE PRIMARY VOTE

One of the objections frequently urged against the primary in Iowa is that so few turn out to vote. The number of candidates for nomination at the primary does not necessarily determine the size of the vote, though