The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago will have their primaries on Thursday, September 15, 1910. The purpose of the primaries is to nominate the candidates who are to compose the electoral ticket. Since every party has two or more aspirants for each office, the primaries give a chance to the members of the party to decide who are the aspirants best qualified to compete on Election Day against the candidates of other parties.

Primaries constitute a very important preparatory activity before the elections because it is of utmost importance to select the right persons so that the party may appear before the public on Election Day with the best possible candidates. It is for this reason that the primaries should not be ignored; on the contrary, the voters should be as active during the primaries as during the elections themselves.

The people often complain that the so-called political bosses do all the nominating themselves, contending that when the time of election arrives 2the people can do nothing except to support one boss against another. That is the reason why we have primaries--that the people themselves may decide whom they wish to have on the ticket from the party, or even from outside the party.

In recent years, we have often heard, many Polish voters have ignored the primaries even more so than voters of other nationalities. This attitude is detrimental to the Poles. If our people wish to have power and prestige, if they hope to find many Polish names on the ticket of every party, they should go as one man to the polling places and vote for Polish candidates if they are on the ballot, or, when there is no Pole, for the non-Pole who is most favorable to them.

The Dziennik Zwiazkowy does not favor any political faction in the United States. We know that there are Polish voters in all parties. We are aware of the fact that no party has the privilege of perfection, and, thus, we keep ourselves 3distant from so-called party politics. This newspaper, however, will always and everywhere support Polish candidates for all offices, regardless of party affiliation. The only requirement it makes is that these Polish candidates be truly good Poles, right-thinking people, law-abiding citizens possessing the qualifications required for the offices they seek.

All Poles should select qualified Polish candidates at the primaries, so that as many of them as possible may appear on the electoral ticket.

In a nation such as the United States, where various nationalities live in harmony and peace and work for the welfare of the Republic, it is permissible for each nationality to endeavor to have as many representatives of its own as possible. The Irish, Germans, Swedes, Italians, and others do this. The Poles should also do the same, even more so, because, as has been proved by experience, public officials of Polish extraction have always shown themselves worthy of public trust. No one has ever had any difficulty with any Polish public officials, a thing which cannot be said of officials of other nationalities.

As far as we can remember, among the candidates on the primary list we find several Poles who aspire for public office in the Cook County. On the Republican ticket, we find the following candidates from Chicago: Dr. E. F. Napieralski, Julian B. Oglozinski, and Frank J. Karch. On the Democratic ticket, we find F. W. Koralewski, S. Adamkiewicz, T. Weyna, S. Kuflewski, J. Prystalski, J. W. Reimer, J. F. Helminiak, A. Onecki, F. H. Landmesser, and A. Rostenkowski.

It could be possible that we have inadvertently omitted someone, but it matters little, because the principle of supporting our own candidates applies to all. Wherever there are two or more Poles from the same party and each is aspiring for the same office, the Polish voters should select the one whom they think best and induct him on the ticket with their votes.

We do not give here the name of any Polish candidate nor the nature of the office he might seek because it would require considerable space. At the proper time, this newspaper will publish their names and the names of the offices they are seeking.

We know nothing of the Polish candidates of other cities and states, but we recommend them all to the Polish voters on Primary Day, provided they are qualified for the offices they are after.

We repeat again that we are not so much concerned with supporting any person in particular as we are in seeing that the Polish voters do not refrain from going to the primaries, leaving such an important matter as the nomination of candidates in the hands of people of other nationalities. There are often cases in which even a few Polish votes can decide who should receive the nomination. If, for example, there are three candidates for a given office of a given party, and there is one Pole in that number, the Polish votes can determine the result in his favor and place him on the ticket. To refrain from participating in the primaries and then complain that we are slighted, is the same as placing our own fault upon others. We ourselves should guard the interests of our nationality, because no one will do it for us. It is to the benefit of all Poles that their own people run for office and figure prominently on the tickets of all parties.

With our support our candidates will have a chance to get the public offices they are after. It would be best if there were Poles on the tickets of the two large parties, each aspiring for the same position. It would then be certain that, regardless of the outcome of the election, a Pole would always be elected. When that is impossible, it would be well to have at least several Poles on the ticket of our predominant party. Even if these Poles should not be elected to their respective offices, the presence of Polish names on the ticket always creates a good impression on the Americans, awakening in them a greater respect for the Polish nationality.