Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-02-21
Compulsory Voting.

Wendell Philips, in his lecture in
Chicago, said that we had as yet fail
ed to control any large city, and that
our system of Government has still to
master the problem how to manage
great municipalities. The city ofNew
York is an example of robbery and
misrule. She is a riddle difficult of
solution. While her influence in the
nation is slight, still, as long as she
exists in her present condition she
presents a sarcasm against the ballot
box. Republicanism says, "The ma
jority must rule" Tweed replies,
"Give me one hundred repeaters and
| will create any majority | wish"
If the country rolls up fifty thousand
majority for Grant, Tweed gives
sixty thousand majority against him,
in spite of registry laws, the presence
of United States troops or any other
influence.
The tendency of the age is towards
Capitalization. The nation can stand
one New York city, but what is it to
do when all our great cities become
too unwieldy to manage, as at their
present rate of increase they surely
will. Here is nut for coming poll
ticians to crack.
The influence Of increased popula-
ton is beginning to be widely felt.
Already we are experiencing the
pressure Of the thumb of great cor
poratioDs. In the division of labor
consequent upon the employment of
machinery there is danger that we
shall fall into the same difficulty that
fastened on the Hindoo and Chinese,
that man will become amere machine
"A creature possessing only manual
dexterity, but no mind-and that all
originality and soul will be lost in an
inevitable round of unvarying work.
There may come time in America
when the man that makes pins, will
bequeath pin-making to his children,
and the man who ..makes axes will
intrust his children only in that
branch. Such are some ofthe results
Of an overcrowded population. The
solitary laborer in forest is his own
blacksmith, shoemaker, tailor, and
cook. The denizen Of a tbickly pop
ulated territory confines himself to
one small art, and frequently knows
nothing Of any thing else, or does
not even know the whole of that.
The first is free to go where he
pleases and do what he likes. The
seconds driven to work by necessity
and fastened to it by strong compe-
tition.
There is still another evil. Napo-
Icon debauched France by interfering
in the private life of her citizens IN
every possible way thus teaching
them to depend upon the Govern
ment for everything, as a child does
upon his father. We are growing
into the same vicious course. We
rely far more upon the Government
now than we did ten years ago; and
at the rate we are going, we shall be
much more dependent ten years
hence than we are now.
A class of persons have sprung up
who say that the evils we suffer re-
suit from the apathy of the people
The majority take no interest in pol
itics, and therefore politics are ma
nipulated by the corrupt and the
dishonest. The remedy they propose
is to compel every man to come out
and deposit his ballot. Voting, they
say, is no less the duty Of a citizen
than fighting 1t is absurd to COM
pei the citizen to defend his country
with his musket and allow him to
neglect his duty with the ballot, when
in most cases the first struggle comes
at the polls. The difficulty is, how
ever, that we transform men into
mere voting machines, the instru-
ments of the Government, and this
evil is more to be dreaded than any
other. Thus we are met with two
dangers. If we weaken the govern
ment, the pressure of our growing
civilization drives all our large bus
mess centres into anarchy. If we
strengthen the Government, its pres
sure brushes the individual. Who is
skilful enough to find the happy
mean that shall control turbulent and
corrupt municipalities like New York
city, and at the same time preserve
the independence of the citizen s.
Peoria ReUiew.