Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-11-28

MINORITY EErEssExTArIoN.-Epos this
subject tie Cecil Whig says:
while many Of the foremost thinkers in
political economy arc discussing the deus-
ralizins tendency. tina, the growing patro-
mage Of tho Government. Municipal. State
and National. excrts over large class Of
respectable. inteliigcp, people. and devils
ing prcvcn,ires or checks TO the evil ten
dcney. no plan yet devised. in our opin-
ion. would go further 70 heal THE great
canker in politics titan well devised sys-
ten Of minority representation in all cleo
tive bodies. In ZONE Of the States whore
the people are altering their coDstitutisss.
attempts are being made to eograft this
feature in the asv character. At the lats
election in Illinois. the lower braDed Of
the Legislature was chosen by cumulative
voting. This is tue 6rst instance Of an
application Of this principle in large
community. In prac,icing this system
the following forms Of ballots arc used ::
Suppose there arc four delegates to be
chosen to the Legislature The minority
party. in place Of nominating four candi-
dates. nominate one or two. aad every vo-
ter will then he privileged to cast what is
equal to two ballots for each candidate. or
che whole four votes may be confined to
one name II the party is weak. and that
candidate will be sure Of his election il his
party numbers above one-fourth Of the
electors. and he receives the vote of his
party. The following would be the forms
Of ballot that might be voted
'. =
Jacob Brown. Jacob Rrown, l. - Irown. :?
: tn ThS e, $: Thcmp.o"' !, S Thompson
Peter Bright, S Thompson. I.
Under this new system an unworthy can
jiiatc would be almost sure 10 run behind
while favori:e and representative man
would often receive the entire vote his
ticket was entitled to- The minority be-
ing able pretty nearly to calculate its
strength. would concentrate it on the can
didates that ID would most certainly carry,
and the sqaatbling. lying and cheating.
ing. would be cut short. The fear Of to-
tai party defeat. and the hope of signal
victory has helped to defeat more worthy
men aud elect more notorious rascals than
any other single motive influencing our
politics. 1t is in fact the vcry banc OF
modern politics. We consider minority
representation one Of the most salutary re-
forms that could be inaugurated. Each
party knowing its strength would feel
sure that the candidates of both would be
elected in proportion TO the relative num-
bers Of the parties. Some Of the gains Of
the system are thus summed up:
1T is too soon to decide definitely the
full effect Of the minority vote in the Illi-
nois Legislature. But papers Of the State.
of both political parties. agree that it has
succeeded in several important points II
has produced better class Of nominations,
in the first instance. and. in several cases,
has compelled the withdrawal Of objection
al regular candidates. 1t has secured u
representation Of parties in the Assembly
nearly propor.ioned to their strength on a
general vote in the State. II has proven
ted any Republican district, however
strong. from excluding wholly the Demo-
! Gratis. and any Democratic district. how
ever strong. from excluding wholly the
Republicans so that no man in any dis
trict is without representative for whom,
he himself voted. And. finally il has
made the election more pure than before.
from the fact that no scheme of fraud could
be ma.ured in advance. with ally security
| that it would affect the result"