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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 October 2013
The statewide direct primary became an issue of New York politics in 1909. But it was not because any considerable portion of the voters of the Empire State had been captured by the advancing doctrines of direct government. As in other States, apparently, the direct primary was forced to the front by the attempts of a group within one of the dominant parties to secure possession of the regular party machinery. Just as the convention was used by Jackson's belligerent followers to destroy the caucus system then in the full control of the old office-holding aristocracy, so the direct primary is employed in capturing old intrenchments. It has its great moral and philosophical justification, of course, but it is brought to play in the practical game of politics only when some decidedly strategic points can be captured by no other process.
1 This system is fully described in an article by Mr. Ludington, Arthur C., Political Science Review for August, 1909Google Scholar.
2 In his message to the legislature, January 4, 1911, Governor Dix said: “I strongly recommend to you a revision of the election and primary laws of the State, so as to provide for a system of direct nominations—state-wide in its application—which shall insure to the people the right to choose members of political committees and nominate candidates for public office. The more completely the people are brought into close touch with these most important matters, and the more they can be induced to take part in their party primaries, the stronger and more healthy will be the atmosphere of public confidence surrounding party nominations, and the more likely the vast majority of our citizens to exercise the right of suffrage on election day.”