The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-01-17
- Per the Farmer ana Mschanfks
Minevisy Representation.
BY A LAWYER.


BY A LAWYER
In the State IF New York. whenever
| there are two Judges to be elected each
| narty elects one. In the State Oh fenn-
svlvauia in the rear 1874 there were
| t~weEty-eight delegates elected from the
| State-at-Larye to the Constitutional
| Convention. Each party elected 'our,
! teen. In New York each voter coui
| vote for but one Judge. In Pennsyi-
| yania each voter could vote Tor out
| fourteen delegates. This system se-
| cures what is called Minority Represen-
| tatiou. By it every man has a voice III
| the government. 1t has many adVo
Gates. Senator Buckalew has made a
national reputation in its behalf. IL
| has been often tried; q IN tins ana
/ other countries. aid has always beer a
| decided success.
In all partnerships. stock companies,
I and other associations. each member
! ha. a voice in pro ortion 10 the capitai
, invest d. In politics the minority If
; dumb. The decisions of the courts are
supreme e all. but majorities only
! make judge. No mai IS exempt from
( taxation; but majorities only levy
them. In politics the burdens are
| shared alike. but the benefits are alb
| sorbed BY the majority. L assume thai
| the time will come, and that soon, when
the right to elect county officers Viii De
| restored to the people.
The present system n the old sys-
, tenn are alike obnoxious to objection.
; A few men in each county under the
present system virtually appoint the
/ Justices oil the Peace. who in turn gov
| ern the counties according to the Will OF
. their masters. Under the old system
] property was given up to the mob
: Happily the system of minority repre-
! senta:iou offers relief from the evils OF
both. BY it property is prote ted, and
! the right, of the people are
/ ANY system Of gov. rnment which leaves
: a respectable minority OF the people I'M
represented is unjust and imperfect. In
! tie Legislative department this never
| happens. There is always some repre-
| sentation of the minority. l wish to
| direct attention to the Judiciary and 10
| the government of our counties.
There should be in North Carolina at
. least five Supreme Court Judges, OF
] whom two should represent the party
| in the minority. This result can be had
! in various WAYS. If each voter could
| vote for but three Judges the minority
| would elect two. Or give a voter
! live votes to be distributed as he pleases;
three for one Judge. and n each for
two others, or all five for n Judge. or
! three for one and two for another.
! While l prefer the first plan for its sim
| piicity, yet the purpose OF this article Is
! not to 90 into the details and operations
| of the system, but to advocate the prin-
| ciple. There should be five county
commissioners in each county, and live
| Justices of the Peace in each township
! elected by the people, each voter to
! vote for but three. With two thorough
| ly honest men ON the board of county
! commissioners, the other three must be
unblushing rogues to do much damage.
! In Halifax county, under the proposed
system, the board of county commits
/ sioners would be composed of three
! Repub leans and two Democrats; in
| Stokes, of two Republicans and three
! Democrats ; in Franklin it would be
| sometimes n way and sometimes the
other, thu, inducing both parties to
nominate good men.
l saw in the papers the. other day
where a prominent Democrat said:
while [ am decidedly in favor of civil
service reform, get I am opposed to
those who are now III office remaining
So it is the world over. TO relinquish
power voluntarily is not to be expected
in this day. But is il not better to re-
linquish power III part than to lose it
altogether? A plain statement of the
doctrine Ut minority representation
ought to be sufficient argument in its IA
vor. The principal Mt thus far
made against it is, 1T won't do :" and
| this. If true, would be cOnclu i've. For
lunately it is untrue, as has been pro-
ven by actual trial over and over again.
But unless the present popular sys-
tenn of cheating at elections is stopped,
together with the wasteful extra vagancc
of the public money, it matte rs little
whether minOrlties have their right re-
| spected or abused, for the present form
OF u government is going to the devil
as fast as time can carry it. Che Phil
adelphia Times grew very merry over
the idea of d%efrauding kellogg out of "a
seat in Congress to which he was le yal-
ly elected by a large majority. 1t spoke
beautifully OF ''retributive Justice" and
feeding out of the same spoon.'' etc.
Where can this business end except at
the devil? So, too, in regard to the
public money.
In ancient Greece taxes were levied
not as they We're needed and for specific
purposes, but in a lump sum. After
the amount agreed upon was. collected,
the struggle began as to who could pro-
pose the most popular way of spending
it. One demagoyue proposed to send
abroad and buy a ship load Of corn to
be sold at cost to the people. This was