The Advocate and news., 1898-08-24

be equal to that Of any other group or
party Of equal number.
The individual exercises his sovereign
right Of participating In his government
by casting his ballot, and IL this ballot
Is needlessly made ineffective he is un-
justly deprived Of representation. That
system is best which gives the largest
possible percentage of effective ballots.
SOME PRELIMINARY CoNsIDERA-
TIONS.
The theory of democratic government
is that the people govern themselves,
but this theory has not yet been fully
reduced to practice in the United States.
Vox populi, vOx Del (the voice Of thu
people is the voice of God) is often used
by ignorant or venal politicians as a
grand-stand play, but this class of polit-
ical Vultures bitterly oppose all efforts
to reduce this theory to practice. They
do so because anything which increases
the political power of the masses must
necessarily decrease the political power
and influence Of such politicians, hence
the vultures have less Of value to sell to
the men who manipulate legislation for
financial purposes. A small number of
voters is more easily controlled than a
large number; plurality can be ham
died more easily than majority, and
majority more easily than the whole,
hence men who do the controlling al
ways wish to keep the number neces-
sary to be controlled as small as possi-
bic.
Government by representatives elected
by either a majority or minority plural
ity means government by the /, 2 or S
per cent. of that majority or plurality
which dictate it's action. This fact was
admitted in a recent editorial against
proportional representation in the To-
peka Capital, the unlearned editor pro-
Tossing to know of no remedy for this
anachronism in democratic government
If his ignorance is real, it is phenome-
nal; but there is much reason to think
1t only assumed.
The true ideal of democratic govern
ment is that it shall be a miniature or
reduced copy of all the people-that all
the people shall be equally represented.
This ideal cannot be realized under
either majority or plurality representa-
ton, but can be under proportional rep
resentation by the Hare-Cridge, or pref
erential ballot, system, and to a lesser
yet great--extent by the older and
cruder systems, known as "the free list
system" "the cumulative VOTE" minor
ity representation" etc.
While the animus to most OF the op-
position TO a more effective ballot comes
from the monopOlles and specially priv
ileged classes and their political para
sites and subsidized henchmen, a few
honest but poorly informed persons
either oppose it or are lukewarm in it's
support because they know neither the
grave defects and disastrous results OF
the present system, nor the merits and
beneflcent effects Of the improved one.
To this latter class this series of arti-
Cles Is addressed. To ask the specially
privileged class who make their mil
lions by monopolizing government to
aid a measure which renders such ma
nipulation far more difficult, If not abso-
lutely impossible, were folly, and to ask
the venal politician to destroy the
source Of his own corrupt power Is use
less, but TO ask the betrayed and robbed
masses to arouse themselves and re-
claim that control Of their own govern
ment which naturally and properly be-
longs to them is the duty of every true
patriot and real American who believes
this should in fact as we'll as In name
be "a government Of, by and for the
people"
Fortunately those who wish to be
properly informed on this question have
h,,t 10 hn vNwonAfno1 tyOo,
of proportional representation where 1t
has been long and thoroughly tried, as
in Switzerland, Tasmania, and in other
countries, and especially as applied
through the preferential ballot in cleo
tion Of directors of the Mechanics In
stitute of San Francisco, Cal. In the
latter instance It displaced boodllng pol
iticians Of the basest sort with the ablest