The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1888-10-24
Young voters.

Huntington 4dCeTttSers There are
thousands of young men who will
cast their first vote in November, and
it will be well for them to consider
which one of the two great parties
they will support by their ballots
and influence before election day
comes.
Every young man should be able
to give reason for the political
faith that is in him. Because
mans father was u Democrat or
Republican is no good reason why
he should train with this party or
the other The aims, principles and
status of each political party, their
past records and the platforms
enunciated by their acknowledged
leaders and organs, should be
studied and digested before one can
understand which of the two Ma
tional political organizations best
represents his political faith. We
affect to look down upon the for
eigner who presents himself for
citizenship, and yet has never read
the Constitution; yet how many
young Americans are annually adj
mitted to the privilege of the ballot,
who do not know whether John
Hancock signed the Declaration of
Independence or Magma Charta,
and if they were questioned in re-
lation to the two parties, could tell
nothing of the traditions of either;
partisans they are because they
We're born so; Americans by acct
dent, they blunder along the po-
litical channel misled at every step
by designing demagogues. Young
men should inform themselves, and
then they will be prepared to think
and act intelligentIy upon questions
of politics. Look at the situation
to-day: One party when in the
ascendancy attempted to concen-
trate all the power of the Govern
ment in one grand central organ
ization. They wished to take the
power out of the hands of the peo-
pie and place it in the hands of a
few, to degrade the States and en-
large the powers of the Federal Gov
ernment-in word, to make u
strong Government, requiring a
magnificent military establishment
and large expenditures by the Gov
eminent. High taxes would follow
as a natural consequencepand the
people be oppressed by the burdens
thus imposed. A study of the de-
bates of the convention which
formed the Constitution of the Uni
ted States will disclose the fact that
there We're those who favored giving
Senators their office for life and
framing the powers and terms of
the two houses of Congress on the
model or Great Britain. On the
other hand, there were others who
favored plan of Government SINH
lar to the one now in operation un-
der the administrator of President
Cleveland.
Young men who will take the
pains to read and inform themselves
upon the political history of the
country will learn that it was diff
ference in regard to the Constitution
which first created two parties in
the United States, and they will
find that the same principles which
divided the parties in earlier days
of the Republic separates them to-
day. 1t will be seen that the Dem
ocratic party has always contended
for strict construction of the Con-
stitution; favored low taxes and the
largest personal liberty consistent
with public policy. 1t has always
been the party of progress; the par
ty of the people, and it is the party
to which the intelligent, ambitious
young men of to-day are turning.