The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-07-29
Tho ou,stIon Of The Futuro.

10 ono among many gratifying " /.
dencss OF The decay Of mere partlsAn
feeling, to mud such uttsranCea a. the
following in Col. Forney's Washington
Chronicle, one OF the most devotsdly
radical OF ali The Republican press Of
the country. Even Col. Forney has
come to SEQ that the Time for an expan.
Hlon Of political vision 10 ct hand.
Having established our fundamental
theory OF government, aud, after paBs.
Ing the ordeal Of civil war, having
strengthened and fortified the demo.
cratic principles enunelatoa In the
Declaration Of Independence, we now
stand ready 10 give more attention 70
the details Of government. We cannot
claim that Ia its practical WORKING our
political system gives uB oil the benilts
which Il Is capable OF yielding. Passing
over election frauds, such % those per.
petratea last fall In New York, and
other gross abuses that urgently require
reforming, we may remark what has,
no doubt, occurred TO most OF our read.
erB, that our goVeTnments-Na tIonal,
State or munlcipal-are not 90 repre-.
sentative In their character % thew
might be. Theoretically they are rep.
resentative, and this 10 one strong point
In our favor, because II accuatoms both
those who ill our offices and those who
elect them thereto, to the constant rec.
ignition OF the principle that the people
have the right 10 be represented, and
thus keeps that question outside the
M Ia ~ .AhaNRNWaRdU Thu aRlSF L.
be done 10 TO devise 0 way by which the
advantages Of the right may DO practl.
cally enjoyed. fn.. n
We have been In the habit OF permit
ting our political Blates 10 be made up
for Us by comparatively small num-
Der OF men, and the mass Of the people
have done little but vote for or against
the men set up for them by their party
leaders. A reform In this respect will
require some substitute for the present
caucus system, whereby the people
may exercise q more active superVIs-
ion over the choice Of their candidates.
The election Of Senators by State Legis.
latures 10 another subject that will de-
serve attention In this connection, IL
can hardly be doubted that the present
system Is uniaVorable to q true repre-.
senlaLion Of the people OF the several
States In the Senate. 'H
There seems also TO be room for i'm.
,provement In another direction, and
that Is the representation Of classes or
interests. Our present system seems
70 DO mainly geographical. Certain
classes which form y minority In every
community, but which, taking the
country through, are altogether too
large 10 be overlooked, lack representa-.
ton for the want Of an opportunity to
concentrate their votes upon O rep
resenlative. Take, for example,
the teachers Of the country. Had
they an opportunity 10 elect 0 rep.
resenLatIvs Of educational interests
by q concentration OF their votes,
we should be likely to see In
Congress one or more members who
had made educational topics special
study. The advantage Of having some
one or more who would be ready TO
give the legislative body the benefit Of
their studies whenever question relaS
ting to education came up Ia sufficient
~ obvious. So, also, It would be with
science, men Of Letters, the professions,
merchants, manufacturers, farmers,
mechanics, &c., might each have their
representatives. The comminRllng Of
men from such diverse walks OF life,
andthe comparison Of their views, on
different subjects, would be likely to
secure far more enlightened legislation
than 10 Rttainable under the present
system. The idea Is one which has
been discussed considerably by the
more thoughtful political writer's Of the
day, and various plans have been sug-
gested. The deslderAtum 10 a plan
which shall make the representation OF
classes compatible with an equitable
representation ofnumbsrs, and 70 avoid
the use Of cumbersome machinery In
the doing OF tt,4l lg9 ~ tnIro 1