The daily gazette., 1880-01-23
Universaueaffrage.


nave clear right TO prescribe the terms
upon which Others may be admitted to
snare It's privileges; either for their
children to whom they are the natural
guardians, or for outsiders who may de-
sire TO come in; and this Is exactly what
we do under so-called universal suffrage.
We set an arbitrary limit at which our
chil1ren shall be admitted to vote; we
exclude women from the exercise OF
that power; we declare that the commits
sion o certain offences shall work n for
feiture OF civil rights; and we SET purely
arbitrary terms upon which alone per-
son born out of the country NAV acquire
the right to vote in IL. We do all this,
and could do more or do less on the
same principle, resting on the sound and
logical basis that the parties to a con-
tract are those who have the exclusive
right to prescribe its conditions.
The State Or National Government
oelng, AS before said, tie EN- bojiment OF
the collective will of the nation, the
suoordination to 1t of the individual
the individual citizen is complete. He.
as citizen, holds his property by its
consent, and his life also. II can take
both. IL can say that his del tors shall
not pay him; it can excuse him from
pay Ing bis creditors; Ii can hamper his
trade, or stop 1t altogether; it can load
bim with taxes, OF vary the medium OF
| exchange to an extenl that may enrich
or ruin him; it can rob him of what
property he has, and deny him the
righ, to acquire more; 1t can deny him
domicile, free speech, freedom of move
| ment, IL can su hject him to espionage,
invade his house, aLd Cast hun into
prison; and lastly 1t can take him per-
son9lIy and send him 10 meeI bloody
death On the battle, field The rnaiion
can, IN short, do anything that superior
physical force can do; and when 1t has
In due form given its decision, there is
no appeal from IL except to other physi-
cal force--that Is, to revolutio on.
| III we turn now to the municipality,
and seek for its powers over the person
Of the citizrn, we discover that 1t has
| none and can have none. Its dealings
with the whole body of citizens within
the city limits are precisely those OF a
| railroad company to its shareholders,
passengers, ami other users. The person
| of the citizen IL beyond its reach IL can
not by It's officers 80 mneh as enter a
house without warrant first obtained
from the State. II knows nothing of the
citizen except as person who pays To-
n The argument for the Justice OF
equality in voting in regard to national
affairs is the proof of It's injustice In re-
spect to the municipality. W herever 1t IN
|
there Is no equality of obligation. In
stead of all classes of citizen being
placed upon just and equal footiDg,
there IL gross Inequality between them;
for he corporation of the city of New
York not having power over the per-
son of the citizen and only reaching his
pr operty, If he have no taxable proper
ly he is virtually unknown 10 10. The
municipality, through its Board of Alder
men, cannot pass conscription laws or
habeas corpos acts; affect freedom of
speecht or of printing pass tax-laws
or laws touching domiclle and citzen-
ship; or, in short, meddle with State con
Gel ms IN any way. The Legislative de-
parlment' of municipality has no more
o 10 with these things thanthe "legis-
tative department of a railroad corpo-
ration has. All the burdens IL can im-
pose directly are borne by property, and
are discouraged by It's holder; aud II the
citizen mas not taxablel property, the
municipality can impose no obligation
upon him. There is neither justi3e nor
] equity, therefore. in giving every man
an equal vote for the officers of the mum
icipality. The whole duty of these Off
GERS discharged where they nave pro-
vided for the raising of the moneys ne
cessary 10 run the municipal machinery,
and supervised their expenditure.
The persons who pay this money, the
taxpayers of the city,-whether they be
men or women matters nothing,-are
those who should have the exclusive
right to say how and by whose hands the
money should be spent. 1t is aviolatiop
of the principle of universal suffrage to
compel them 10 share this right with
those who do not share the obligations
going with it. The municipal constiiu-
ency should be exclusively constitu-
ency of taxpayers.
The sum of the proposition l have
sought to emphasize is : first, that the
,uffrage Is grant OF power existing sole
Y by virtue of an agreement between
the parties interested second, that the
principle upon which every citizen il
granted an equal vote in the State, is that
lhe State Tor nation) imposes on each
equal obligations third, that this prin-
ciple does not and cannot apply to NUM-
cipal corporations, for they cannot i'm
pose obligations on persons, but only on
property, and those only by permission
Of the State fourth, that the only bur
dens the municipality can impose fall di-
rectly and Immediately upon the holders
of property upon which the taxes are
assessed; ard fifth, that to give an equal
vote in municipal affairs to those who
pay the taxes directly, and TO those who
only pay a share through the remote and
contingent medium of consumption, is
an absolute violation of the principle of
universal suffrage, for 1t gives equal
rights where there is no equality of obi
gation.-Cut.bert Mills in International
ReUie,o for February, 1880, on "UHiUersal
Suffrage IN Ne,0 York"