The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-04

Popular Ignorance of Election
Laws and Methods Tricks 8off
Ward Bosses--Wl1at the Al
5 derman Thinks Of the Game
Decent Voters Allow Them
selvcsSto be Duped by shrcwd5
Party Managers.
by an Ex-M Mayor Of One Of the
Largest American Cities.
Practical politics should be 8taug ht IN
every college, academy, ana hlg h school
LIN the land he coming voters should De
trained ito skillfulys and expertly use
the machinery which mnkes public Off q.
Sclals out Of private items 7 hey should
learn IN a pra ctical way how TO employ,
the caucus the primary election. the
I8nolninatlng conven tion,s the campaign, and
| tho election to place In positions o power
and responsibility men worthy OF such
positions. rs s5s 4. n
81 AS 1T Is now the great bulk OF voters
are densely Ignorant of the means and
methods employed by practical and pro-.
fessional politicians except the "hip-hip-
lurrnll'. campaign rallies and the casting
3oh, the ballot on election day. And q
Surprisingly large number do not even
know how to properly mark a ballot.
Consequently the minority and not the
| maj ority does the electlng In this land or
l3the free and "ehsy" citizens. ,i
II am led to venture these observations
lsbecalsc from the beeinnlngAto tho end
Of my term as mayor I was much Inn
lEpressed by the startling fact that - ,ost
ofsthe business, professional, and labor
| Ing men who came to SEQ me On city
| business did not seem to possess even!
l5anF elemental linking OF practical politics.
The majority OF those II questioned did
mot know In what political districts they
lived They all seemed to be imbued with
| tho idea that WI hen they voted on election
day they then and there exe sed their
| full rights and performed their whole
duty as a citizen. 953
AZ I well recollect one little Inc dent which
took place In m " office IA delegat iol,I
composed OF a nun bera OF estimhble and
well known business men led on me
in regard to some con templa led public
Improvements. The co inference ended, q
general discussion on a pending election
followed, and one of the committee made
the remark that no d doubted IL he would
vote because In his ward both parties
had nominated notorious rascals. 4 S. He
! vehemently denounced both parties for
| putting such scoundrels on the ticket,
Liza
maries Of your party?''4I asked.
No. he answered, 7 d ldn't go to the
convention.nia53
ISL don't mean convention I said ss5''1
mean the caucus or the primary election
which selected the q elegates to the cons
|&vention that nominate ted the candidate OF
your party for alderman in your wa I'd
mo lie replied, II did not so to any
thing. I WASH t. invited. n j5S q. 8
3l"Probaby not, - I said, and my private
secretary, who was III q rs good deal OF Q
practical politician, laughed at the mans
never participate in the preliminary
movements which lead up to the nomi-
nation r. .s5 5ssa
He shook his head and said |: - really
don't know what they are ! vote rell-
glously on election day
7saAnd, o. broke In. you vote the ticket
which some one made up for you. don't
see where you haYe.anyi kick coming - on
! refuse to have anything to 10 with max
ling the ticket and II the men on " tho
ticket are not to your liking yo q y get
angry, condemn the party. and an forget
that YOU and men like you are to blame ,lli
| for the whole affair. Don't YOU know
I{that II less than half OF the; decent voters
Of the community should get to gether,
organize and properly go to work e they
could in an election or two clean out lh NJ!
whole crowd Of party bosses and pro req
sional politicians and remove from office
every boodler. crook and CRATER q n the
public service? You're just like horse.
You don't know your own strength.
What you want to DO is 70 e take - z
Find out what the law says you must
do to legally nominate candidates = or q
Office. then, following the course LAID
do wns BY the law. place good. decen t$ne .1
III uI,p, 10 be voted for. There Ism I a ward
heel erg or political run bout who 2 oesn.t
1sx4,z all fyfiny
the frsts to the last parag ra PMS. Andayo y,
ana n en- like gu are so a fraid that some-
one might say you are a pol clan4 .that
YOU permit a few elf.ntereste ed office
holders to frame up a ticket ~ H. you
saw. YOU religiously vote. w
The way to elect decent men Is TO
keep the Indecent men Off the ofilcial
ballots, and you can 7 do that uni IS you
employ the very simple means y used %
select the nominees II means nat, you
must do persona WORK must sa s,s ,lls
some. time and money, but you will be q q
Ia rne rniner for SO doing. The aston
I ishIng result TO me Of this lecture was
| sthnt5'the following year the man TO whom
SI ad dressed I'm y rem arks leq q prlnary
IN paign In his ward and nominated ZOE
lalderman u o wort y n citizen W VINO Il WIS VIC
The real streng til of the successful poll on
lft,cians lies in his intimate knoWledg go or
I$election laws and methods and tho eHs. =
getic hustllng which charae terlzes Z. a,is
IEputting such knowledge to practlca Uses
Sue Ii men are leaders Of q compare Lively e,
smailinumber Of men. who, too. are w y y
} informed In the laws and customs rela ting
$ til elections, and this small minority
rules the unorg anized nln jorit W &, !,
~ : in,nst nil large centers of popula-
ton on there are primary election laws which \
lay down a certain order Of procedure g
be- followed properly and egallyfa 81 Is
ba aI , These laws give every voter ~
$eh Chance to n the work q max 2,
iaE q ap aske l ts chance f e v9 aa
e.n,sa Ma legal rights and priv EGGS
3 SeVt IL H no license to enter q protest :
KS A party dominates dlsreputab les no
8unflts. s% a,s II. =, o,ten tal.es adj
~ H. COMMON ignorance of cleo
tian laws ana wins out IN the face Of an
oyerwhemng majority m my hss f hs a tns
primary election laW est1 W. 81 rsrt,,in
il