The Portland daily press., 1900-03-05
DUTY OF ELECTORS.

Municipal elections are more closely re-
lated to the welfare of the citizen than
any ether. The management OF home
Affaire mure directly and moro vitality
affects him than the management OF
stthor state or national mstters. 1t 10 to
meet the demands Of municipal govern
msnt that he has to pay the most In taxes.
1t follows. there fore, that In municipal
elections the citizen should take the
dee peat interest ard make his voice most
felt About all the bad municipal gov
eminent In this country has It's origin In
the apathy OF the citizen. In his indiffer-
enoe, and bis indisposition to make his
wishes felt in a way that will produce
en- impression. In the long run mun,-
Opal government Is pretty likely to be
about what the majority Of the people
want, or what 1t is reasonable to infer
they want from their action. or LACK Of
action. When the citizens Of town or
city are vigilsnt, sorutlnizing the acts OF
their municipal Affairs carefully, con.
demning them when they are bad and
praislng them when they are good they
are promoting in the best way possible
good government. When they ara In
different, when they shut their eyes to
what is going on they are tempting their
officials to be Indifferent and neglected.
also. The fountain of all laws and Of the
execution of them 10 public sentiment.
and neither the laws nor the execution
Of them is likely to else abovs..the foun-
tain. There are crises in every city aud
town in which the people are soussd
and take an active interest In public
affairs. There are spssms of reform In
our worst governed cities. But they do
not yield good government. The Or Toe
of that IL constant and eternal
vigiiancs; careful scrutiny from
day to day Of the manage
men of government affairs and the going
to the polls at every election to express
opinion In the only really effe,tive way
1t osn be expressed, namely, through the
ballot box.
The point of these remarks lies some.
what in the application of them, and
| the application OF them which we would
make at this time is that every legal
voter Of Portland, who ID ply sically able
TO do so. should 60 the polls today and
yots for candidates for municipal officers.
What candidates they are to vote for
they should determine for themselves
after careful consideration of the char
aetsr. ability and experience Of sach ans
OF them, and also Of the ir duences that
are likely to be behind them II elected.
We do not ask them to vots for Judge
Robinson II they think that Mr.. SWEET is
more competent to conduct the affairs
of the city, or that the party which
has put him In nomination IL ompossd
of men whs are more likely to exercise
influences conducive to good GOV
eminent than the party whose candidats
Judge Robinson Is. II any one thinks
! that the party that was responsible for
the JngrAham administration, and the
candidate who was Q part of 1t, and en-
influential part of IL too are likely to
sd M inistsr the affairs of tbis city bsttsz
than the Republicans and Judge Robin
son. the proper thug for him to do 10 to
follow his conviction and vote for Mr..
Svstt. II 10 difficult to conceive that any
intelligsns person can think that way
bat II thsre be any by all means let him
stick 10 his convictions.