The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-07-27

Strange Regulations and Laws
That the American Cannot
Readily Comprehend.
General Outline of the Method OF
Voting and Protection Ac-
corded the Ballot.

HOLlHX ana FEOlSSIAOM <1S Sfa
corded the Ballot.
To the American mind, accustomed to
| quick action and immediate results, the
English elections are mystifying, says the
/ Chicago Tribune. It cannot understand
why weeks are necessary to carry on and
determine an election, nor can it grasp the
situation when tits announced that a can
didate. defeated and discredited in one
district, can 60 to another district and try
it over again, or that one man can vote
more than once There are other things,
too, that the average American does not
comprehend, and it is the. purposes OF
this article to make these enigmatical
points plain. ~
The British parliament Of 1892 is dead,
and its successor Is In process OF being
elected. It will be near the end of the
month before the new House Of Commons
is complete, though it is now clear what
will be the nature of Its composition. In
this country 1t is but few days ere the
public knows the result OF the elections,
national or otherwise, because they take
place the same day. Here the date OF
elections is absolutely fixed by law; there
the exact date depends much on the whim
Of the returning officers in the various
electoral districts. Not only does the date
and the period covered by the elections in
Britain differ from the American, but the
method Of election, while both are con-
Quoted under what is known as the Aus
tralian system, is radically different.
In the House Of Commons there are 6fss
members, and of these 461 represent Eng
land, 72 come from Bonnie Scotland, "a
from Wales, and Ireland has 103. The
constituencies vary greatly in size, Hud-
dersfeld, for instance, with population
approximatfng 100000, having but one
representative, while Stockport, with but
SO, 900, has two, and Scarborough, with
little over 10000, elects a member to re-
present her interests in governing body
of the nation. 1t is not every able-bodied
and intelligent male individual of 81 years
and upwards who has lived In one pre-
cinct' for 80 days or. in one state even for
IL months who has the privilege Of cast
ing a vote to determine whether Lord
Roseberry or Lord Salisbury shalt be at
the head of public affairs in Britain. In
some cases it happens that a man may
have lived nearly two years and a half
in one place and has paid his rent or
owned the house in which he lives for the
whole Of that time and yet may not be en-
titled to a place ON the register on which
the election takes place. This is due to
fact that twelve months residence In
one parliamentary district prior to the
18TH of July is a necessary preliminary
to his securing vote at any election
which may be held during the year COM
mencing on Jan following that date.
1t will easily be seen how long 1t will
take man who commences to reside in
a certain constituency on July lS to OBJ
tain his vote, for there is no supplement-
ary registration a few weeks prior to the
election. The effect of this on the NIL
gratory working classes IS immense ana
will be as great as ever at this election,
seeing that 1t will take place on register
already twelve months old. Imagine,
for instance, the election for mayor last
spring taking place on register which In
cluded only those who were qualified to
vote in the election two years ago, the
result bf which was the return Of Carter
Harrison. Yet that is practically what
the present system Of registration in En-
gland amounts to-
In addition to the plain proposition
that residence which must be actual
loccupation of premises for twelve months
there are few fancy franchises conferred
on the people No member OF the House
Of Lords has a right to a vote, and no
lords name is ever found on the parlia-
mentary register, but any male member
of his family can, If he have money
enough, obtain votes in any number OF
county constituencies, and it often hap
mems tI1at a man has votes In half dozen
different constituencies because he pos
,sesses a forty shilling freehold in each
one of them. And it is not necessary that
he have owned the property for twelve
months prior to the making up of the
register. either; six months possession Is
enough. It is on record that at the e4ec-
tion Of 1880 one fortunate individual, a
Tory, by the way, voted in no fewer than
|ithirty-seven Different constituencies, vot-
| ing at as many as half a dozen on one day,
| where the constituencies were near to
gether. Considering, however, that tae
POLLS were at that time only open from .
4. %. to s p. M, this was a wonderful feat.
| The reduction of the franchise to that
Of almost pure household suffrage since
THAT date has made It somewhat less
profitable, from a party point Of view,
tnat such feats shall be attempted, and
faqm voting. as 1t is called, IS not now 50
Icomnon as it was. The keeping open,
| too, &C the polls from TO 8 has given fhe
twnrkfns classes q better chance to record
Ither votes. :. 4sF s555l5s ss
ri a mother clause in the household sui
frage act enabled, too, a number Of those
who had not previously possessed votes tc
exercise the franchise. This was clas.
az people, who; resided in q house but who
were neither owners nor oecupiers, paying
no rent but merely residing in It 80 long
~ they were engaged in the service o.
lone employer and doing the same partlc-
Mar duty. For nstance, lod d8ekeepe1
1 IS gateanan i, whose Work c0mpelle hin
| toEs res..d de sin one nov
Egsexs ~ fFii eleetIpels g
e ttle
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