Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-08-04
VOTING IN PARIS.

| A writer In IarlS gives tnc 1oiloWli K III
formation in relation to suffrage in France and
the voting at Paris in the late election. 1t
will be seen that the ballot there is as general
as here, but the ignorance of the people is a
great hindrance to its effectiveness.
In France, as with you in the United States,
universal suffrage prevails, and at the age %
twenty-one every man is voter certain
qualifications are necessary with you; here,
however, any individual on reaching man
estate cannot be DISTINGUISHED unless ne
should have committed crime which places
him without the pale of society. Inc elec'or
need not know how to read or to write, new
ertbeless he is free to influence by his mite OF
unintelligent power the destinies OF France.
From hearsay and through conversations he
gathers opinions and other information about
candidates whose names are popular. Hav-
ing little knowledge of politics, elections, ana
candidates, he starts to the voting offices with
a handful of bulletins, from which he selects
one, whereon are printed the names he has
heard spoken of so often. He votes his bulle-
tin silently and under the ballots secrecy.
| lie has played his part in universal suffrage
| There is deal of routine about French
elections sometimes meetings are held but at
this election none took place. No one can
vases, and consequently the elector is unfet-
| tered and his will unrestraned. However,
the Partisan cares little about exercising his
intellect in discovering candidate for his
vote. Many men at this last election were
puzzled whom to vote for. The Union Par
isienne 1e la P,esse sprung into existence to
supply list of candidates.
This union was composed of nearly all the
Paris journals, and for some time before the
day of election the work of judicious selection
was arduously carried on, day and night.
| Committees were established to receive names
| of candidates, and the biography of each was
| well conned to see if he were at least sans re-
proche. At last list of twenty-one names
was produced and printed on the first page of
the newspapers for several days before the I'd
of July. The space in the Figaro usually
occupied by feaiiletOn was on Sunday used
as bulletin, with the candidates names
| printed on one side, so that the electors might
easily have the authentic list.
| These elections were to fill the seats render
ed vacant by the forced resignation of those
deputies implicated in the affairs of the Com
mune, and also by the death of deputies dur
ing the war. Therefore, many names were
before the electors for the first time.
The system of voting is very simple and
practical. Let me picture to you Paris at the
urns last Sunday The aspect of the city was
as quiet as that of most Sunday mornings. |
All those who cared nought about voting
and Of this thoughtless class there are many,
for Frenchmen dislike of ali things the re
sposibility of voting-had departed by the
early buses for the outside of Paris, and a
number of voters vsted early. Polling booths
were established at the mairies Of the arron
easements, and at various sub-offices in the
different wards.
The voting takes place in a ground room or
in room up several flights of stairs. At the |
Il i Of rdi rh
chances indifferently at the passers in, taking |
no notice apparently of the people proceeding |
to vote. Around the doorway, and walking |
leisurely about, were some eight or twelve
bulletin hawkers, doing their best to intercept |
persons going by, and to place in their hands |
the printed list of candidates. There were |
many different lists of the twenty-one candi- |
dates, differing, however. slightly in many |
cases. The first name of one list would be
the last on another, and rice rersa. In the
course of half an hours walk one would re-
ceive a score of bulletins, and an uniptelligent
voter would be puzzled in the matter of choice.
AT the marie of Clichy La Garonne, an elector
walked into the voting room and presented
his card. The president asked him for his
bulletin. Il have not one" replied the I'M
enlightened participation in universal suffrage.
President. What! You want to vote with
out bulletin?" Elector. ''Well, l don't
know anything about it." President. $50
and get one, and come back afterward."
Elector. "Who will give me one?" Presi-
dent. $50 to the door and you will be given
some" The man went to the door and re-
turned with a handful of papers. Selecting
one carelessly, he asked the president if it
were a good one. The latter, paying no at
tention to the question, took the offered bull
etin and put it in the urn. The first name on
the list was that of Gambetta.
The voter, having selected his bulletin,
goes to the room and walking up to the presi-
dents bureau slips the folded paper through
slit into the urn. No observations are made
by the president, and the voter passes out of
the room as silently as he entered.
1t appears that large number of soldiers
did not vote, owing, it is said, to the Minister
of the Interior not being able to answer all
the demands made by the military for inform
alton about the candidates, &c. The soldiers,
therefore, unable to obtain the necessary lists
of candidates, were obliged to abstain from
voting. Many of the soldiers who voted caus-
ing some trouble in the arranging and count
ing of the votes, through ignorance of the
routine of voting They put into the urns
bulletins bearing merely the words: IL vote
for the Union Pdrtsienne," or, 81 vote for
the radical list" Others voted for only one
candidate, and very often several soldiers
gave their votes for candidates of the last
elections. Some electors, ignorant as the
peasants Of the provinces, who thought Napo-
leon III was no other than his namesake, the
first, when Louis asked to be elected Emperor
after his coup d'etat, chose fancy candidates
for their votes. In all Paris about one to
twenty votes were given for Louis Napoleon,
Olivier, Bazaine, Pyat, Blanqui, Rossel, and
dozen other men who have played while
on the political stage, been applauded and
afterwards Kissed off.
/ CIDENTS OF THE WESTFTELD
DISASTER.