The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-19
d 900 SOUTH FRONT STREET,

senting them fairly in the main, and composed
of honest and able men; and whatever plan
will secure this result is so far a salutary
reform, even If not theoretically perfect.
Indeed Mr.. Hare himself cOntesses, in his last
(third) edition, that "a perfect uniformity IN
the number of the quota of votes for every
member" is Greatly important" This sur
enders the whole point at issue.
II the propositionw went no further than this,
if every man throughout the State voted for
lis favoTte candidate without regard to his
place of residence, and the required number
at the head of the list were declared elected,
there would probably not be much more in
equality than at present. A great disparity
would, of course exist between the number
of votes received by the first on the list and
the thirty. first; but so there is now between
Mr.. Wards II, 600 votes and Mr.. Morrissey's
5000. An enormous vote for any candidate
would, under this system, be only natural
and, to a certain extent proper tribute to his
popularity. Still it would, no doubt, be wise
to establish definite quota which every sue
cessful candidate must obtain, as security
against the accident of persons elected by
mere handful of votes.
Supposing the principle once adopted, the
details would be very easy to arrange. The
most difficult point to decide would probably
be the filling of vacancies, whether occurring
by death or resignation, or by the failure of
sufficient number to obtain the quota. 1t
would seem that in these cases the best way
would be to let the Legislature fill the vacancy,
taking as candidates the two or three highest
names left upon the list. Party organizations
would find legitimate and very useful sphere
of action in assigning candidates to the voters
of different localities, and thus preventing
votes from being thrown away. 1t would be
easy to calculate the number of members
which each party in the State would probably
be able to elect, and divide the State roughly
into districts for these various candidates,
taking due account of the natural and healthy
local feeling Most persons would, as mat
ter of course, vote for the candidate thus as
signed, provided he were personally accepta-
Bile; but it would no longer be possible, as it is
now, to force an unfit candidate upon an un-
willing constituency. Such a candidate would
be so sure to run behind his ticket, and fail of
an election, that the committees would find it
their only safe way to put up their best men,
Another way of preventing the loss of votes
would be by letting the election continue ten
days, as in England. This was suggested by
Mr.. j. r. Fisher, of Philadelphia who proposed
plan for personal representation, independent
of Mr.. Hare, without Mr.. Hare's favorite fea-
ture of endorsing a second choice upon the
ballot, and distributing the surplus votes. At
the end of the first day it would be ascertained
that certain candidates were surely elected,
the second day would cast their votes where
| they seemed most needed. Mr.. Fishers other
| proposition for meeting the same difficulty, by
! allowing successful candidates to assign their
| surplus to other candidates who fell short, can
hardly be considered practicable or desirable
! By the adoption of this principle we should
! secure the chief advantage which the Eng
| llsh system possesses, of allowing the
! choice of nonresident representatives and
thus remove one of the greatest hindrances to
the development of a superior of public men.
A member would no longer be afraid to offend
local prejudices or go against the opinions of
his district and man of weight and charac-
ter might be reasonably sure of always find
ing constituency to support him, scattered
through the State but able TO unite upon
their man, and make every vote count for
him. Thus local feeling could still be graft
fed, but without depriving the State of the
services of a valuable servant, as is now often
done.
1t has seemed most natural to speak of
members of Congress, as these are the most
important and prominent representatives
elected by the people. The system can, how
ever, be easily applied to any representative
body or board OF commissioners of sufficient
Importance to interest the mass of the people
as the Legislature of the State or the Common
Council of the city. Board of Aldermen
composed of a very small number, as pro-
posed IN the Nation OF May 81, would be espe-
cially adapted to this mode of election. 1t
may be remarked that, for legislative body
within the limits of a State or city, it might
not be necessary to have any fixed number
There is no peculiar virtue in the number l2O
or 240.
1t cannot be expected, nor should it be de-
sired, that so fundamental reform as that
proposed should be introduced at once upon
large scale solely in virtue of its apparent
theoretical advantages. 1t seems as if an cleo
ton held in this way could not fail to give us
a vastly superior body of legislators to the
present, while every portion of the commu-
nlty would be fairly represented. The Re-
publicans of New York city, and the Demo-
Gratis of the western counties, would now
have their rightful share of power. No mino-
rty, indeed, not too small to be relatively in
significant, would need to be unrepresented,
and no man of power would need to search for
a constituency.
Minority Representation In England.
From The ~. T. World
We are in an epoch of marvels That more
thorough Reform bill than was ever contem-
plated by the Liberals should have been origi-
mated and passed by Tory administration, is
wonderful enough; but even this is outdone
by the origin in that citadel of Toryism-the
House of Lords-of measure so progressive
as the representation of minOrites in Parlia-
l.. 4