The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-07-12

three members, each elector having three
votes to dispose of as he wlll-one vote to a,
one to B, one to G, or Two to A and one. to q,
or three to A orb orc How this works may
bethus shown: In the first senatorial district,
say, ore 1000 Democrats and $4,000 Repn6li-
can voters, or $1,000 Democratic and $4,000
Republican votes. The polls shows: ::
psuocRArs.a REPUBLICAN,. ,y;
A.......l4 900 votes. o.. Ii, 600 votes.
900 votes. D.. .l3, 600 votes.
:. ~ 80. = E.......... 11,o0o votes.
,0'A'' '''-t's'' ''e'' Total -. 50, 900 votes.
Being arranged, the List will then stand:
a, Democrat 900 votes. Elected.
hi Republican l3, 600 votes.
r, Republican. ....... -... II, 900 votes.
3. Democrat. ........... 1000 yotes.n
Now, It will be seen that this method Is
plausible and not wanting in some excellent
features. 1t strikes the mind wlth force. In
a community of 1000 Democratic voters, and
$4,000 Republican voters. the result, unaer ,n tae
present electoral system, would be the e!ec-
tion of three Republican OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
giving absolutely no representation whatever
to the minority OF 1000 Democratic voters.
But the plan of cumulative voting greatly I'M
proves this bogus representation. According
to this improved system or voting, eacn parry
would calculate Its strength before hand. The
UlalOElLy
of necessity and In self defence. They would
forbear from grasplng al all power, from the
fear OF losing all power. In the case stated,
the $4,000 Republican voters would get two
representatives, and the 1000 Democratic y0-
ters one representative.
This is the plan that hos been incorporated
in the revised constitution of the young and
growing Commonwealth Of Illinois. It remains
to be seen whether the, popular judgment Will
nnVQmant
remains to be seen whether or not the people
OF Illinois are to be entitled to the great dis
tIpctIon of inaugurating an admirable p0liti-
cal feature. In either event, our opinion is
the, same and it Is that the scheme sug-
gested, though, perhaps, susceptible OF I'm
provement, marks an era IN the cause OF pop
ular representation, and deserves the earnest
study aud fair consideration of every genuine
advocate Of self-g0vernment.
Nor does the plan Of cumulative voting, or
the system OF proportional representation
therein contained, exist in theory only. 1t has
been reduced to practice and found to work
'advantageOusly.
Amongst the early advocates Of minority
representation In. this country, was the Hon.
Charles R. Buckalew, who, in the year 1859,
was one of the Democratic senators from Penn
sylvania in the United States Congress. Mr..
Buckalew is a resident of Bloomsbury, Penn
syvanla town with population OF about SIX
thousand souls, and politically Democratic. u
There reformed voting" was first put In this
land to q practical test. Through ex-senator
Buckalew's influence, the Pennsylvania Legis-
lature passed "an act to define the limits and
to organize the Town Of Bloomsbury and IN
the act provision for new voting system,
was inserted. The town council was ordered
to consist of president and six t6) members,
and the mode OF voting indicated In one Of the
sections of the act, which reads thus:
-ssWhen six persons are to be chosen, each
voter may give one vote to each OF sixpersons,
one vote and a half to each Of four, Two votes
to each of three, three votes to each or tWo, or
six votes to one" On April IL, 1870, the cleo
tlon came of. Ex-senator Buckalew, the au-
thor of the experiment, cast the first vote.
The election was held, and the result proved
satisfactory. The town was politically divided
between the Democrats md the Opposition,
with ON iuconslderable Democratic majority.
The result was that of the six councllmen
elected, three were the regular party nomi-
nees and three were Of the opposition. Under
the old system allsX would have been the reg,
ular party nominees Thus the principle, Tried
on small scale, was found not lmpractlcaole.
ment. In the following terms. The Bloomsbury
Columbian Democrat said upon the occasion o1
this novel election:
..Our town election on Tuesday last, April
IL. tested the merit Of reformed voting In
satisfactory manner, and gave to 1t the sane
tionl of popular opinion for the future Theo-
retically 1t had been accepted 0y rejecting
men in our community as just and eXpedlenti
but as an untried plan, iC was still open 70
question among the mass Of our people. Now
oil doubts OF It's utility, fairness and practica-
billty have disappeared forever"
To some minds this may seem q "llttle mat
ter" Not so the developments OF the future
may show it to have been. AS the cioud no
bigger than mans hand sometimes grows
until it.overspreads the heavens-as the quiet
stream .olt-tines deyelopes into the majestic
rlver-so may this comparatively small mea-
sure of electoral progress, beginning ut
Pennsylvania town, increase is influence,
until it shall pass over the country, and, max
ing Justice, purity and stability possible with
universal suffrage, find Its lruitlon IN the dig
nifty, strength and, perpetulty that 1t shall
impart to popular government
As for ourselves, we may say tnat as o clCl-
zen Of this great and growing country, whose
giant strength and magnificent destiny have
not, as vet, been half developed the subject in
vests itself with unusual interest. We believe
in human progress. and so long as we repose
faith in God and humanity, we must believe In
mans capacity for self-gorernment. We know
that nations rise and fall. We know that the
world has had its Dark Ages and its Golden
Eras. We knew that the world advances anu
retrogradcs. But after all does not the close
observer find that there is an undercurrent of
healthiul waters1hat bears humanity steadily
on to better tines and purer era This is
the faith of the progressionist. But faith
without works is dead" And thus, If mans
destiny upon earth is full Of promise, and to
end at last In the fruitlOn Of his nobest aspira-
tions, 30 also are his responsibilities heavy and
his dntles important and urgent. To realize
his disputed capacity for selfgoyernment, he
must bring into play his best powers, and coll
10 his aid all those instrumentalties that his
ingenuity may contrive and his wisdom and
experience suggest. And among these instEa; u;
mentalites. we maintain that proporttonas
reprssentat,on is not the least important. We
hold 1t to be a just, wholesome, a great prln-
ciple-a conserving element, and one neces.
sary to regulate that generous suffrage Wmcn
everywhere seems to be the aspiration OF
civilized communities.
A French writer, speaking of proportional
representation, SAYS that 'it Is an improve
ment upon the system OF representation now
in use. as evident and almost as important as
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