Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-05-28
THE scRUrIN DE LIsTE.

The change of electoral methods IN
France from what is called the scratfn
d arrondissement to the ScrutiR de Hste IS
one which involves the most important steps
in the career of the new republic. Under
the plan called Scratia d'drrondiSsen,ents
the members of the Chamber of Deputies
were chosen by districts, each elector yot
ing for a single candidate. Under the
scrutin de tSte the departments are the
electoral units, and each voter will cast his
ballot for several candidates If our mem.
bers of Congress were chosen on general
State ticket instead of by districts, it
would give us the charge proposed in
France, in fact. Now the obvious conse-
quence of the adoption of the scrutin de
tiste must be to fortify what We should call
"the machine. That is to say that the
Government or the dominant party, or
whatever power it is that controls the ma
chinery of the elections, will acquire a
great advantage through the new plan.
This must be so because it will tend to in
crease the value OF organization and to
| diminish the significance of opposing ele-
ments which are not organized or are i'll
organized. In effect it must tend to make
minority representation almost impossible
and because the Republicans in France are
the most solid and the best organized
party, it must rebound to their advantage
In fact the scrRtin de iiste was invented
for this purpose. 1t was intended to open
the door to NJ Gambetta, to pave the way
for his supremacy. He says that France
needs a strong executive. The Republic.
cans say the same, and that NJ. Gambetta
is the man for the place. But NJ. Gam.
beta replies that he will not take the
place unless they will give him the means
of maintaining himself in it. He sees that
under the old system there has been too
much fiuidity, too little fixity of party.
The elements of opposition have been I'M
comfortable. It has been impossible to use
the strength of the ostensibly dominant
party with effect. To solidify the cleo
toral system, to secure the executive Of
the control of the parliament, the Scrutin
dc liste has been introduced. There can
be no doubt that it will answer its pur-
pose. It will give NJ. Gambetta a firm
grasp of the situation. It will give the
weight of organization and discipline to
the Republican phalanx. 1t will reduce
the opposition to guerrilla mob. The
only question is whether it will not accom-.
plish too much.
It may be perfectly true that at this
moment what France most needs is a
strong executive. Bat an executive whose
strength is too great sometimes ceases to
be the executive of republic, and ma
chinery so powerful as to practically
silence factious opposition may be used
hereafter to silence an opposition not fac
tious but patriotic. The danger of ere.
ating such a system as the scr1tin de Este
is that it is capable Of being abused. Now
experience teaches that when political
machine is of this natxre it is sure, sooner
or later land generally sooner to be so
abused. The temptation to employ it so
always proves itself too great to be resisted.
To-day France has confidence in NJ. Gam
beta. Perhaps she is justified in that
sentiment, but after all it must be remem-
bered that Gambetta has never yet been in
position where he could afford to indulge
his utmost ambition, and that as chief
executive, armed with machine of
unprecedented power, he may develop
traits hitherto unsupported.
An adroit and INSCRIPTIONS executive,
backed by dominant faction in the Cham
Der, may in fact control the elections prac-
tically through the scrutm de tiste. Per.
haps it may be argued that for the present,
and until the last remnants of imperial
ism and legitimism and sansculottism are
extinguished, it will be for the best inter-
ests OF France that the Republicans exer-
else despotic sway. Granting all this,
however, we must insist that it viii be
difficult to persuade the Republicans into
relinquishing their hold upon the nation
after their work has been accomplished,
and that inasmuch as they have estab-
lished an electoral system the very essence
and soul of which is extinction of opposi-
ton, it must be expected that this prin-
ciple will be carried forward. 1t is plain
that there can be no freedom of election
under such system, which is not demo.
cratic or in consonance with the preserva-
ton of individual liberty of choice. In
France, however, repubhcanism is as dis
tinct from any idea of personal freedom as
it was in Greece and Rome, and this fact
is really the most discouraging one in the
present condition of that country. The
question which remains to be determined
namely, after Gambetta, what lis not
affected by the adoption of the scrutia de
liste.