The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-06-07

Nowadays when almost all the ma
tioas of the world are discussing the
adoption of the Australian ballot system
people little ref Faat such ideas are
not as new asf1eA 'em. Well nigh
six centuries as8 ity OF Florence
was organize voting resem-
bling in its e. pies the ballot
recently adoDTa4 "a 4 s5not mere hear
say either, for a hisSI1aif who lived at
that time, Giovanni VILLAIN, has given us
a full account of it.
The city Of Florence had begun to tire
of the arrogance and bribing methods OF
the mobiles about the year 1923, so it de-
cided to pass laws by which fair cleo
tons might be held. The city was gov
erned by six priors, elected for term
Of two months. Now, it was decided by
an assembly that these priors, together
with two persons selected from each OF
the six districts of Florence, should come
together and make list of all the citi-
zens more than 80 years of age in Flor
ence that were at all worthy of the Office
Of prior.
This list was then presented to a coup-
Gil Of 81 of the principal officers and
''wise men" of the city, who voted on
each name separately. The votes were
collected by six wise and discreet
monks. They consisted of white and
black beans, and it took 69 black beans
to elect candidate. The counting was
done secretly in a neighboring room by
Il T.
ately announced to the assembly, who
proceeded to vote on the next name.
When the whole list had thus been
gone through, all those who were elect
ed had their names written together
on large scroll and also each name
written separately on little slip. These
little slips were thrown into bag. And
then comes a quaint custom, The large
scroll was kept in the sacristy of the
convent of the Frati Predicatori
The bags, one for each Office in the
government. were put in strong chest
that was loo 4, and the three keys that
could open were given, one to Frat
Conversi di Settimo, one to the capitano
or general Of the Florentine army anG
one to the sacristan of the Frati Minori
The chest itself was stored in the sacristy
of the latter monks
It is seen how religiously all bribery
and ballot box stuffing was stopped. No
Florentine, no matter how much he
hated the monks, would dare to commit
such a crime in the sacristy Of a church.
He did not feel anxious to be burning in
a hell fire after he died. But to go on
with the election, for as yet no officer
had been elected, he had only been de,
clared eligiE to the office
When election time came around, thu
thirteenth day Of every other month, thu
priors, with the general council Of tho
PEOPLE, would assemble and cause the
chest to be brought forth. Then, i'll the
presence of the entire assembly the bags
containing the slips were taken ont, anG
after being carefully mixed one slip wa
taken out from each, and the person
whose name was on that slip was de
clared elected. Thus an entirely new
set of officers was chosen every time.
This mode Of election, VILLAIN tells Us
twas ratified in full parliament in thC
place of the priors where many peopls
were congregated and where man
speeches were made, praising the lay
and condenning to severe punishment
those who might oppose it," And ye
we say socialism is essentially a thing G
the present century. -Pittsburg Chron
cle-Telegraph.