“It is safe to say that never before in the history of Raymond was there a primary like the one in the court house last night.  It was, first of all, a complete surprise to the city politicians who have been in the habit of carrying on the affairs of the city as if they owned them, and every one else was simply a tool or a cipher.  The overwhelming surprise of the wire pullers last night consisted in the fact that a large number of the citizens of Raymond who have heretofore taken no part in the city’s affairs, entered the primary and controlled it, nominating some of the best men for all the offices to be filled at the coming election.

“It was a tremendous lesson in good citizenship.  President Marsh of Lincoln College, who never before entered a city primary, and whose face was not even known to the ward politicians, made one of the best speeches ever made in Raymond.  It was almost ludicrous to see the faces of the men who for years have done as they pleased, when President Marsh rose to speak.  Many of them asked, ‘Who is he?’ The consternation deepened as the primary proceeded and it became evident that the oldtime ring of city rulers was outnumbered.  Rev. Henry Maxwell of the First Church, Milton Wright, Alexander Powers, Professors Brown, Willard and Park of Lincoln College, Dr. West, Rev. George Main of the Pilgrim Church, Dean Ward of the Holy Trinity, and scores of well-known business men and professional men, most of them church members, were present, and it did not take long to see that they had all come with the one direct and definite purpose of nominating the best men possible.  Most of those men had never before been seen in a primary.  They were complete strangers to the politicians.  But they had evidently profited by the politician’s methods and were able by organized and united effort to nominate the entire ticket.

“As soon as it became plain that the primary was out of their control the regular ring withdrew in disgust and nominated another ticket.  The news simply calls the attention of all decent citizens to the fact that this last ticket contains the names of whiskey men, and the line is sharply and distinctly drawn between the saloon and corrupt management such as we have known for years, and a clean, honest, capable, business-like city administration, such as every good citizen ought to want.  It is not necessary to remind the people of Raymond that the question of local option comes up at the election.  That will be the most important question on the ticket.  The crisis of our city affairs has been reached.  The issue is squarely before us.  Shall we continue the rule of rum and boodle and shameless incompetency, or shall we, as President Marsh said in his noble speech, rise as good citizens and begin a new order of things, cleansing our city of the worst enemy known to municipal honesty, and doing what lies in our power to do with the ballot to purify our civic life?