Studies in American History 
355 
ing the several committees, the manner of their election and 
their duties, were left to the decision of the convention. The 
chairman and the secretary of the convention were required 
to certify to the secretary of state the platform adopted and 
the names of the members of the committees chosen.^^ 
Nominations of candidates have been made under the direct 
primary law of 1911 for seven biennial elections. No amend- 
ments have been made except in the clause relating to the en- 
rollment of voters. Sentiment in the state in favor of bring- 
ing Portland and the towns of 2,000 inhabitants or less under 
the application of the act gradually grew. The legislature in 
1923 extended the application of the law to cities of more than 
35,000 inhabitants, which, in Portland, eliminated the shift- 
ing of a voter from one party to another within six months 
prior to a primary.""^ The enrollment of voters for primary 
elections was completed in 1925 by the extension of the ap- 
plication of the enrollment provision to towns of 2,000 in- 
habitants or less. Thus after fourteen years the primary 
became a “closed’’ primary for every section of the state. 
Since the close of the World War, a movement for the repeal 
of the direct primary law has been growing in Maine. The 
chief causes underlying the movement seem to be: first, the 
conviction in the minds of many that the direct primary has 
not sufficiently produced the betterment in government prom- 
ised by its proponents; second, the reluctance on the part of 
many voters to go to the trouble of signing nomination papers 
and informing themselves regarding the qualifications of 
candidates to be voted on at the primaries ; third, the natural 
hostility toward the primary held by the old-line politician who 
sees in the present state of public indifference and confusion 
an opportunity to restore the old convention system ; and, fur- 
thermore, many of the amateur political workers, also trained 
under the convention system, long for the return of the good 
fellowship, secret or mysterious conferences, and the trading 
and playing the political game enjoyed in the old-time con- 
vention; fourth, the reactionary swing of the political pendu- 
lum which tends to place under a ban of disapproval the 
progressive measures of the Rooseveltian era; fifth, the con- 
viction in the minds of a number of people that the principle 
Ihid., chap. vi. 
^ Maine, Acts and Resolves, 1923, chap, ccviii. 
Maine, Legislative Record, 1925, pp. 432, 566. 
