The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-01-16
QUALIFIED SUFFRAGE.

tiidt Iue tlohu VI P"oA'os oPo" J'
now is in the direction Of a qualified
suffrage. Glad, because of the stimu-
lus it promises to the cause of educa-
ton, and glad because of its logical
consistency.
The highest ideal of suffrage is I'M
donbtedly that form which gives, at
once, the fullest and freest expression
to the fullest and most complete pro-
lection to the property of the governed
and governing masses.
In matters affecting property most
Intimately, the voice. of property
should be the londest heard;- mat
ters less connected with property, the
intelligence sof the masses should be
the voice of the law, and there is no
care of any sort in which, under an
ideal scheme, a mere "count of the
polls is of the polls" is of value.
If, for example, it is proposed in
a city to pave certain street the ex-
penses Of which are chargeable one
third to the municipality, and one
third to each of the contiguous propri-
etors, it is evident that the voice of
the property on either side the street
should be heard regardless of its pro-
prietorship. 1t matters not who owns
the property, it may be perchance, a
foreigner, or minor, or a woman, it
may belong to a soulless corporation
or even be unfortunately involved in a
chancery suit, the only question an
even handed justice of it is. Will it
be benefited by the proposed i'm
provement in amount sufficient to JUS
tify the expenditure? and its proprie-
tor, whoever or whenever he, she or it
may chance to be is of Importance
only as mouth-piece through which
the answer to this question can be ex-
pressed. 1t wonld be an outrage to
determine such question as this by
popular vote of the citizens of the
town.
On the other hand, questions affect
ing the police or sanitary condition of
a locality call for an expression of the
intelligence of the persons to be affec-
ted by their decision. 1t matters not
a feathers weight from whom comes
the knowledge, the practised wisdom
and experience that can be transmu-
ted in the crucible of Legislation into
the pure gold gold of health giving
life saving law, it is the knowledge,
the wisdom, the experience that are
needed, and these alone are of value
ia such a case. But the world has no
need of Ignorance at any time, or in
any place, and the government that
approaces the nearest to a true ideal,
is that from which its baneful infu-
ence is most thoroughly eliminated.
There is popular misconception
tt a. suffrage is natural or Unborn
right. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. Suffrage is everywhere
granted by law, and is a condition of
citizenship. It's not necessary, nor
at all desirable, that every "feather-
less biped" should be made citizen.
Citizens shonld be selected for what
they can do for the State, and not
alone for what the State can do for
them
But leaving the ideal and coming
at once to the practical, we are in
favor of a restricted suffrage for its
stimulating effect upon the masses.
Let the standard be raised, not above
the clouds, but within the ready reach
of reasonable effort, and there will at
once begin all along the lines of hu-
man progress, struggle upward up
ward for a higher intellectual devel-
opment, and as its necessary sequence
in most cases a purer, nobler manhood.
= Baton Rouge Advocate.
Pimples, Sores, Aches and Pains.