The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-26
THE NEW CONSTITUTION
"a. It. NESTS SECOND LETTER CON-
TANNING SUGGESTIONS.
The AbIest Statesmen Should BE
Eieced irrespective of Where
They Reside-Clanism is Repre-
hensibIe Equal Representation
and No Jerrymnnder.

AS our constitution must of neces-
sity provide for representative gov
eminent. 1 will discuss the somewhat
false and correct principles of repre-
sentation.
One of the most popular fallacies is
that patriotism and principle are root
ed in the soil like sage brush, and that
no man can properly represent Cow
county in a legislative body unless his
ancestors were resident herders. To
my mind nothing is more absurd than
the plea of demagogues that geograph-
icaI districts furnish more important
considerations as a basis of represen-
dation than DO the sentiments OF the
people who reside there. believe that
as between two men who equaIy rep
resent the opinions of the voters the
one having the greater ability as a
statesman and legislator, though a
nonresident of the district, should pc
chosen. Both the people of the dis-
irict and the state would be DeneHtteo
by such a selection.
Local demagogues by appealing 10
foolish local pride will usually succeed
i'm defeating the more able non-resl-
dent candidate, yet the constitution
should be so framed as to allow the
residents of a district to elect TO any
general Office the ablest man in the
state who will accept it.
FOREIGNERS VS.. AMERICANS.
And lare let me suggest another
popular iaiiacy. though L can pre-
scribe no constitutional remedy. AT
every election the Amor1nes, the irish
Americans, the Scandinavians ana
she labor unions are demanding the
election of candidates who are mem
hers of their respective clans to rep
resent them.
one would imagine from the charac-
ter of their languages that man VINO
hadn't yet learned the English IAN
guage had some interest in the AFFAIRS
of state not possessed by any average
American, by reason of which only
foreigner could be truly representative,
Nothing could be farther from the act.
AS well might the illiterate voters de-
mand a candidate who cannot read or
write. The political opinions OF labor
ing men could usually be as well rep
resented and better defended by pus,
mess man or a lawyer than by bod
carrier. When laboring men learn this
truth they will cease to be the dupes
of professional agitatorS and dema-
goeues, who too often want offices only
that they may sell out their short
sighted supporters. Let us tden keep
in mind that it is the political opinions
resented. not their foreign ancestors;
not their. physical infirmities any more
than mere barren geographical dis
tricts.
MISCONCEPTION OF DEMOCRACY.
This brings me to the neXt-miscon-
ception of Democracy. A true Democ-
racy is government of the whole peo-
pie equally represented. The ordinary
conception of Democracy is that it
means a government of the whole peo-
pie by mere majority of them eX-
clusively represented The former
means the equality of all equally rep
resented: the other means the privilege
of government bestowed on a numer-
ical majority who have alone con-
troll.
It does not follow that because min
critics must yield to majorities that
therefore minorities have no right to
equal representation in proportion to
their numbers. In the Utah legisla-
ture of 1892 there was not a single Re-
publican. and yet about one-third of
the voIers We're Republicans who might
have been disfranchised so far as
their power to influence legislation is
concerned. Though this system of
DISTINGUISHING minorities and our par
~ caucus systems we, in fact, give alb
soiute control of legislation to a ma
iority of the majority, who probably,
in fact. represent only a minority of
the whole. And this is what we blind
ly worship as Democracy.
EQUAL REPRESENTATION.
Let us then frame constitution in