Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-05-22
BALANCE OF POWER.
SHOULD PRoHlBlTIoNlsTs ADOPT
THE PLANT

Many Good Men Advise This Method of
Defeating the Saloon-Reasons why the
Plan VIII Not Work With Prohibition
lists.
How often Prohibitionists hear these
words of advice from old party temper
ance men: make yourself felt as bal
ance of power"
But to make balance of power move
ment possible several conditions are nee
essary:
First-There must be large control
ling vote ready to form a combination
and adopt that method of operation.
Second-Every man in the combina-
ton must be ready to vote for the party
to which his own party is now opposed.
For instance, all Republican members
must be ready to vote for Democratic
candidates, and all Democratic members
must be ready to vote for Republicans
should the occasion arise.
Third-Every man in the combination
must not only forego the opportunity of
voting his own party preference on other
questions, but must be ready to vote di-
rectly against his whole former political
convictions to secure this one point.
Fourth-And this disfranchising of
ones self on all other questions must be a
permanent thing, for ordinarily only by
perpetuating the balance of power vote
can the results of a victory thus gained
be maintained, while direct majority
vote would put an end to the contro-
versy.
Fifth-The men in such combina-
tion must not only be men of zone idea,"
but they must he willing to have their
ballots bargained away to any one. No
matter how bad, he must be bad enough
to be a bargainer in politics and for any
cause. No matter how false, it must be
false enough to have its strength in a Sc
cret bargain rather than in public can
vass and do this in order to secure their
way on this one matter, and when the
bargain has been made they must
promptly and continuously ratify that
bargain.
Sixth-The other side of the same in
terest must not be working the same pro-
gramme at the same time. AS soon as this
happens party lines must go to pieces
and the fight come to be not fight for
the balance of power, but for the power
itself
To all this conscientious men must an
swer:
First-That balance of power rule is
always a rule by minority, which is
an un-American and unjust proceeding
where majority ruleis the acknowledged
principle.
Second-It is a minority rule on ba-
sis which only vicious minority would
accept or could successfully operate.
Third-Questions when seriously dis
puted must be settled, when settled
right, by open and honorable methods
by full hearing before the people and a
deliberate decision at the hands of the
people. For these the balance of power
method makes no provision.
Fourth-1f new party will in its be-
ginnings frequently give the triumph to
the worse of the two old parties, the bal
ance of power programme means moth
ing, which is usually the case, or it in
wolves a frequent vote directly for the
worse of the two old parties.
Fifth-This is not a new idea in poll
tics. The balance of power dodge is as
old as the baser school of politicians.
If honorable men are to attempt the
use of such programme, then it's advo-
Gates are bound to name the instances
in history where such a scheme in the
hands of honest men, with a field of ac-
tion at the ballot box, has been made a
success for worthy ends.
There are few instances of its hon.
orable use in Legislative bodies, where the
men to combine were but few in num-
ber, where their end was one already in
dorsed by the public conscience and
which could be secured with few ballot
ings-usually with single vote-but al
the ballot box under conditions with
which an honest man could comply-not
one.