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Indiana University 
party harmony. It has been suggested that greater interest 
on the part of the mass of voters in the selection and work 
of the committee and more publicity and frankness on the 
part of the committee would tend to eliminate the distrust. 
With the distrust removed, the party committee and chosen 
party leaders could then exercise the legitimate function of 
conferring with party members in all sections of the county, 
advising and aiding to secure the adjustments necessary for 
party harmony. 
The fifth question is another one upon which well-informed 
opinion is much divided. The opponents of the system declare 
that the officers nominated under the direct primary are de- 
cidedly inferior in quality to those under the convention sys- 
tem. They fail, however, to mention names. The advocates 
of the primary system, on the other hand, ask if it is true 
that Curtis, Milliken, Baxter, and Brewster have not been 
equal in courage, judgment, and administrative ability to gov- 
ernors of the convention era. Opinion is also divided with re- 
gard to the quality of the legislature under the primary sys- 
tem. It seems that there are fewer dominating leaders in the 
legislature than in former years. It is more difficult to secure 
the passage of measures thru the legislature at the dictation 
of one man, or a few men. No one maintains that in recent 
years the legislature of Maine has been bossed or that it will 
obey orders. Persons interested in the passage of a meas- 
ure can no longer “fix it up’’ with one or two men and know 
that its passage is assured. It must be admitted, moreover, 
that much social welfare legislation, such as limiting the hours 
of labor for women, workingmen’s compensation, and public 
utility regulations have been put on the statute books by the 
so-called inferior legislators. The efficient state budget sys- 
tem is also a product of the direct primary era. 
A majority of the state representatives are nominated with- 
out opposition. For example, 91 of 151 Republican candidates 
were thus nominated in 1924. These unopposed candidates 
are selected in the main by the same party committees and 
party influence that selected them under the convention sys- 
tem. When it comes to the selection of candidates for 60 con- 
tested positions, the independent and unbossed candidates 
have much better chances under the direct primary than under 
the convention system. A good illustration of the possibility, 
thru the direct primary, of nominating an independent candi- 
