744 UNITED STATES HISTORY 



but the movement within the Republican party is more interesting because it led to 

 a definite political schism in 1912 and the formation, under Mr. Roosevelt's leadership, 



of a new National Progressive party. The creed of the insurgent or pro- 

 Riseofthe gressive Republicans was not well understood at first, even by themselves. 

 Progressives. But, early in 191 1, Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Oregon (see OREGON), 



with Senator Robert M. LaFollette (b. 1855) of Wisconsin (see WISCON- 

 SIN) and various radical members of both Houses of Congress, formed the National 

 Progressive Republican League. It formulated a definite programme and gave co- 

 herence to the aims of the progressives. The essential feature of that programme 

 was popular control of the government; and this it designed to establish by various 

 methods. 



It advocated the direct primary. Either by mandatory or by optional laws or else 

 by party rule the system has, in some form, made its way into all but half a dozen of 



the states, sweeping away the old nominating conventions and substitut- 



* n & an e ^ ect ^ on within each party. The object is to eliminate the .boss, to 



bring the plain citizen into participation, and to let the voice of the majority 

 govern in the choice .of candidates. Names are placed upon the primary ballots by 

 petition, although in some states (as New York) the party committees may make 

 designations and have them appear under the party emblem. It cannot be said that 

 experience has demonstrated the superiority of this plan over the simpler arrangements 

 which prevail in Canada and England. The number of signatures required for the 

 petition and the limited time allowed for circulating it sometimes handicap poorer men 

 or men who are not backed by an active organisation. It is also true that where a man 

 must make a declaration of party affiliation in order to enter the primary, the secrecy 

 of the ballot is impaired, and where no test is exacted, the primaries may be flooded by 

 voters from other parties. But whatever the defects, it has at least met with popular 

 approval ; and it has enabled the people, in striking instances, to drive out the disrepu- 

 table element and assume control. 



The selection of the presidential candidate of the party has come within the scope 

 of the direct primary. In 1910 Oregon took the lead in prescribing the choice of 



delegates to the national convention by that method. A considerable 

 Presidential number of the other states followed suit; and in their platform of 1912 the 

 primaries. Democrats arranged for the holding of primaries for the choice of delegates 



and national committeemen even where there were no state laws providing 

 for them. It was in Oregon also that voters were first permitted to express their 

 choice for President directly. So keen was the interest in the primary campaign of 

 1912 within the Republican party, that thirteen other states all but one of them in 

 the North provided for the presidential preference vote, legislation which had a de- 

 cisive effect upon the future of the Republican party. There are objections to this 

 plan. The delegates would be morally bound to vote as a unit in accordance with the 

 expressed will of the majority in the state; and the unit rule in national conventions 

 promotes deadlocks and boss control. Senator Albert Baird Cummins of Iowa (see 

 IOWA), therefore introduced into Congress a bill establishing a national presidential 

 preference primary; but it met with scanty support. As the new practice spreads, na- 

 tional conventions will do little more than register the popular verdict. 



The Progressives also advocated the direct election of United States senators as 

 against the present system of choice by the state legislatures. This would improve the 



personnel of the Senate and save the legislatures from prolonged deadlocks; 

 Direct flee- k u t i t wou i(| a i so have the disadvantage of strengthening the Senate and 

 senators. ' thus accentuating the dispersion of power in the American system of 



government. The reluctance of Congress to initiate the necessary amend- 

 ment to the Constitution has led to the adoption under state law of practices which 

 actually violate the spirit of the Constitution. By the rules of the Democratic party 

 throughout the South, and by statute in eight Northern states, a moral obligation rests 

 upon the members of each party in the legislature to vote for the party candidate success- 



