The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-10-29
BROWNELL'S PLURALITY BILL.

and stubbornly maintained imperfec-
ton and inconsistency, Vermont has
government by part of the people.
The fundamental principle of the
American system of government is the
constant subject of eulogy, but in
respect of its incorporation into law.
constitutional or statutory, for the
practical business of popular govern
ment this fundamental principle is a
piece of political bric-a-brac, somewhat
ornamental, politically, interesting to
exhibit on occasion and u fruitful
theme for buncombe.
Instead of "the people, =" widely
varying superficial area of dirt, is the
basis of representation in the Legisla-
ture-in its House of Representatives.
Here the State turns its back squarely
American system in the Senate IA
bluff is male at popular representa-
tion, but the basis is irregular, cratic
one thing in this county, something
very u1HeTeuU Ill duOlneT,
In the matter of its election laws
the State is similarly irregular, incon-
sistent, unrepublican-not to say pos
itively unjust. A majority of all the
votes cast is required for the election
of the Governor and other State officers
elective by the people, and for the
members of the House of Representa-
tives, but for State Senators and
county officers the Constitution pro.
vides that plurality shall elect. An
elaborate and intricate law las been
framed to insure the secrecy Of the
ballot, one effect of which is to dis
franchise many voters-those who
depart one jot or little from the direc-
tions framed for marking schedule
of candidacies-which is often a
blanket sheet containing a bewildering
array of tabulated Names mystifying
to many man of affairs, not to men,
tion voters unfamiliar with the bust
ness of deciphering schedules and
accurately filling out complex blanks.
Then there is the United States law
which swings from the shrouded
methods of the kangaroo ballot to
the other extreme, turning on the vot-
er the search light of EXTREMIST pub
licity, commanding him to rise in
public, standing out individually and
alone from among the voting body,
and i'll his living voice declare his
preference for Senator Of the
United States.
In the secrecy of the ballot is the
palladium of our liberties, says one
class of reformers; in the publicity
of the ballot is this palladium, says
another. The former method dis
franchises honest voters and shields
hosts of political traitors and assas-
sins; the latter is the memorable Off
Ger of the law who arrests the voter
of murderous or treacherous or other
vengetul purpose and places him under
compulsion to keep in the strait and
narrow way of political integrity or
suffer the consequence of departure
therefrom.
AS to its forms, republican govern
ment, even in this ''model republic" of
Vermont, certainly presents some
crudities and inconsistencies, and con-
spicuous among these is the require
ment that in the VIGOROUSLY non-rep-
resentative body of the law making
power. the House of Representatives
the members shall be elected by ma
jority vote, or the particular super
fetal area of dirt that cannot so elect,
in the course of several days and
nights of agonizing effort, shall not
be heard in the General Assembly.
In the Senate, however, which by a
singular perversion of the fundamen-
tai principle Of a republican form of
government, is declared to be tie rep
resentative body of the General AS
sembly, and whose constitution should
therefore be all the more sacredly
guarded, a plurality is sufficient to
this difference in the manner of choos-
ing the members of the two Houses
"has never been fully explained
and is probably quite inexplicable.
Consistency and uniformity in the
manner of electing the two Houses
ought to be secured, and secured by
applying to the election of members
of the House the same rule that pre-
walls in the case of elections to the
Senate, The majority requirement
in the election of Representatives, in
many instances. in the case of con-
tested elections is actual disfranchise-
ment of many voters, men of the best
class of the citizenship. Under the
slow Australian system of voting-and
even before it's adoption-balloting
extends sometimes far into the night
and into the next day. Aged men,
invalid voters, citizens of other con.
ditions, are thus compelled to with,
draw from fine contrast and abi6a in