National Republican., 1884-02-29
DISTRICT SUFFRAGE.
Synopsis of Bill to be Presented to the House
by Gen. ROSeCrans
The People to be Educated Up to the Ne
cessitics and Value OF Sclr-GOVernment'

EA bill for tho government of tho District t
Of Columbia bv popular voice is be ing pre-
Pared by Gen. Eosccrans, representative from
California, and W II be submitted to the house
rs soon AS it is completed. 4 novel feature
of the bill will be che term, "oxprea'ion of
popular preference" which is used insbcad Of
the words voting or " ballot
Gen, Ro.ccrans was seen by REpUBL tCAN
reporter last night in reference to his pl'Opo'
siuOn. He expressed himself strongly in
favor of popular form OF government in tho
district He characterized the present iCrm
OF government here rs an IAN anOmoly in dhe
United states" The bill now in course Of
preparation will start with the proposition
that this should be u self governing district
tho same as the rest of the country.
Gen. Rosocrans thinks that tho proposed
qualification Of voters hero should be thor
oughly discussed by the citizens of the dis
trict before congress takes action. Voters
being trustees designated by law and bound
to vote according to their Judgment for the
con mon veal" he said, lit is evident that tho
qualifications Of these trustees should be SO
prescribed as to secure the greatest good to
the greatest number. What qualification
will secure this is practical qucs-
tion for the lawmakers. The neculiari,
tics of the composition of
this population, consisting OF government
employees and largo numbers of needy
seekers Of employment, must evidently bo
an important factor in determining what
should bo those qualifications, and 1t will
require mature deliteratiUn by all who are
interested in the welfare of the district.
The bill will provide that the district gov
ernment consist of three commissioners. two
of whom shall DO elected and one appointed
by the President. 4 perfect system otregstra-
tion shall be establi. he'd and iUr that purpose
the city shall be divided into registration
districts of convenient size. In each of
these districtss there shall be registrar,
whose duty it shall be 10 make census
of the voters once each year. The names of
voters shall be inscribed on u register book
to be kept at his Office for the inspection of
tho public. He shall issue TO each person
whom he thus registers n certificate, and
shall hear and determine all complaints
against registered voters and all appeals for
transfers from his district, or admission to
registration within it. This shall be done
under the prescriptions of law, which should
also provide proper methods for securing u
certainty of the persons of voters. Another
duty of the registrar of voters will he to
serve n notice on each voter in his registfa-
tion district, within Il time to be prescribed
by law. Tho notice shall state the time OF
any coming primary or other election, aud
snecify the officers for which nominations or
elections arc to be held. 1t shall also re-
quest each voter to place beneath the name
of the Office to be filed tho name of the per-
son or persons he thinks most suitable to ill
them. The voter shall sign his name to
the n tice and place IL in an envelope
and seal it ltwll be called for by a collector
of ballots having sealed ballot box who will
receive and place the ballot in The box, giving
the voter a receipt for the vote and placing
his (the voters name on a stub from which
the receipt was taken.
These collectors of ballots shall be duly
sworn and qualified 20 call on each voter in
each district within certain specified time,
for the purpose of collecting such bal.
lots, to be called initial expressions
oil public preference The sealed boxes
shall be taken to the office of the registrar Of
voters, where three or five inspectors OF elec-
tiou designated by law, of which the registrar
will be eX otlicio one, will open the boxes aud
proceed to arrange and count the "eXpres
sions of preference" after the manner of
counting ballots. Tho ballots and duplicate
tally sheet shall be sealed and kept in the
archives Of the registrars Office, and the
certified returns, duly attested, shall
be forwarded to the di trct court.
The court will cause the returns from
all of the registration districts TO
be consolidated, leaving as scattering what
tho law provides for, and publishing the re-
suit as "the official returns of public prefer
ence," giving the names Of the persons hav-
ing preference for each officer with the mum
ber Of preferences for each officer. 4 suili-
cent number OF slips, printed in proper form,
shall be distributed to the registrars, who
shall furnish one slip to each voter accom-
pVnied by u notice of the time Of holding the
primary election to nominate persons for the
office aforesaid, and informing them
that they arc at liberty to strikl
out and insert any names in the list
they may see fit and to use the names as q
ballot to be voted at primary election
which shall be conducted after the same man
ner, and the returns and count made after
the same manner and with the same precau'
tions. This will iamiliari2e the registrar ol
votes with the voters in his district and rem
der illegal voting much more difficult. II
will instruct the voters in the performance ot
their duties, making evident to them that they
are trustees ana that the performance q
their duties is of serious public consequence
II will secure much more attention to the
business and be much less expensive thar
the present system. The initial expression
of public preference thus obtained will bC
far more authentic than from printed
or verbal assertions of interested
parisans. Tho results Of thu
primary election will be far more in accort
with public opinion than the results of an!
convention. Having thus educated the publi
mind the expression of the will of the voter
BY an election is prepared for This election
should be conducted upon the principles pre-
scribed by law, and analogous 10 thos
propositions for obtaining initial and inter
mediate expressions of public preference.
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