The Labor enquirer., 1886-04-10

1 uo poHc1tO sell OUT OLn6rS.
Suppo g it to require a quota of 200
to elect, then that number of vote.
either purchased or "colonized," vii
elect only one man. On the contrary
under the present system, 200, so, o
perhaps 20 purchased votes, cast in say
twenty districts, may Hturn the scale
and elect twenty representatives, ant
thereby prevent thousands of homes
voters from being represented. Thus i
is that score or two of knaves can set
out from 1000 to $4,000 Of our est citi
zens. A few hundred or few thousanC
fraudulent voters may, by defeating {
party, change the policy, check the pro
gress, and even imL eril the life of the
nation. We hear great outcry against
the purchase and sale of votes but tht
purchase and sale of majorities is th'
term that should'be used.
We must abolish this rule of the ma
ioritY at the ballot box. We must abolish
the numerous district lines which now
prevent voters from CO. operating.
Again: one vote cast perhaps by the
biggest numskull or the worst character
IN the community NAV, if 1t creates &
majority. deprive the state of the ser
vices of its best man. A few hundred
suct: votes may pack legislature with
commonplace men and other undesira.
BILE characters, although there are thou.
sands of first-rate ones to choose from
The people can choose but they cannot
enforce.their choice. The ballot box
maiorities and district lines give a few
LEADERS" the power to set the peoples
choice aside. If these few leaders are
notoriously bad We have an exhibition
of few bad men welding more power
than all the good ones in the state. 1t
is needless to refer to the numerous ex-
hibitions of this kind that have occurred
in the past. To revent them in the
future is the thing to do. But we can
not prevent them 80 long as our present
elective machine is permitted to run on.
1t only serves to facilitate the operations
of "the machine" so called, of the pro-
fessional politicians. 1t is in fact Won
derfully adapted for that purpose, The
people certainly ought to be convinced
that 1t is impo sible for tt EN- to beat"
two "nachines." They might beat the
one that rules them now had they any
thing to do it with. But to think of doing
it with II present electoral rig" which
only serves t. make the other more pow
erful is perfectly ridiculous. And all
the trouble with our present rig Is, it
compels us first to get majority, and
then it pens US up in small districts
which prevents voters of like views from
uniting to secure majority. Gould any,
thing be more absurd or delusive? Thus
hampered, thousands are defeated IN de-
tail, in their respective districts, for want
of said majority, while those who do Sc
cure majority, only ratify the nomina-
tions of the ring" Try, try again" is
very good motto in many cases, but in
this instance, try new machine, has a
more inspiring sound.
Suppose one eightieth of all the voters
IN California, irrespective Of locality,
could to a certainty elect one of our
eighty assemblymen how much power
would the bosses have then? We have
about 100000 voters divide this number
by eighty, the number If sssemblvmen,
and we have $500 as the number that
can elect a representative. We may
supposes that few bosses will still
manage to secure the nomination of the
eighty but it will require the votes OF
$500 bosses to elect a single one. In
the meantime the people cannot only
nominate an anti boss ticket but they
can electlt to certainty. Every 1900
voters can vote for and elect man OF
their own choice. Fraudulent registra-
tions, ballot box stuthng, repeating, and
purchased votes will not beat them.
The above example sup oses the state
to constitute single district. But sup
pose it to be divided into several large
districts, San Francisco being one OF
them. There were Al 900 votes cast here
the last election, and We send twenty
assemblymen to the legislature. Divide
AZ, 900 by 20 and we have 1850 as the
number of bosses that would be required
to get one man into the legislature from
this city.
To elect ten men it would require %,
500 voters and this is a larger number
than any railroad or other special inter
est can purchase or influence in the
wh Die state OF California.
will state here that the quota neces'
sary to elect one may be determined bY
different process. in which case 1t
would be somewhat smaller. The result
would not be changed. Besides, there
are wa, to secure proportional reDre'
sentation without fixed quota. Math
ematcs is quite accommodating in the
matter.
Our new method of voting will dc
away with the present enormous ex'
pense of political campaigns. Ballot box
battles will cease, and each party, instead
of irving to "demoralize" the member oi
its opponent, will have time to look after
its own rogues, whereas now we have {
watch the tricksters in all parties