Studies in American History 
377 
fairness of the above estimate, the total cost of the primaries 
of 1924 to the state and municipalities was about $38,000, 
slightly less than 5 cents per capita, or slightly less than 35 
cents per vote cast at the primaries. 
The cost of the primary to the state and municipalities each 
biennial period of 3 or 4 cents per capita will be considered by 
no one as excessive. If the primary is worth having at all 
it is worth that amount. The problem of the direct primary, 
therefore, may be considered on its merits alone, and not in 
regard to its financial aspect. 
The last question relates to the effect of the primary in 
regard to popular interest in nominations for public offices. 
Statistics, available in the office of the secretary of state, 
show that in the first Republican primary in 1912 the vote 
cast was 50.7 per cent of the vote polled at the following regu- 
lar election. It increased to 60.5 per cent in 1916, and reached 
its highest point in 1922 at 73.3 per cent. The largest total 
vote was cast at the 1924 primary where the total Republican 
vote cast for the candidates for the gubernatorial nomination 
was 93,987. The total Republican vote at the September elec- 
tion, however, was also record-breaking so that the vote cast 
in the primary was only 64.7 per cent of the vote cast at the 
regular election. 
The highest per cent of Democratic votes was cast in the 
June, 1914, primary, which was 42.2 per cent of the total 
Democratic vote cast in the September election. A real con- 
test for the Democratic nomination took place that year. The 
low-water mark was reached in 1924 with a 13.3 per cent 
vote. 
Local contests, if not supplemented and stimulated by con- 
tests for the more important offices, rarely bring out a large 
vote. When a vigorous contest among candidates for gover- 
nor, however, brings out a large vote, a relatively large pro- 
portion vote for the minor candidates. For example, in the 
1924 Republican primaries, 90 per cent of the vote cast for 
governor was cast for the candidates for the state legislature, 
and that too when in a majority of cases the candidate was 
unopposed. 
Every shade of public opinion for and against the direct 
primary exists at present in Maine. An accurate measure- 
ment of the several shades of opinion and the forces back 
