The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-26
.ABoUr aNFoncED SUFFRAGE.

: u f.. :
ABoUT nNFpRcED SUFFRAGE.
There is saying to the effect that
q bird that can sing and win, not sing
should be made to sing, and that seems
to be the theory Of Governor Fort. Of
New Jersey, with regard to voting,
He declares that ''the man who may
vote but refuses TOT do 80 should be
eompelled to vote or pay tax or tine
or IS or $40, or other specified sum :"
In Other words II . man refuses to ex-
ercise right, which IL both q privi-
lege and . duty, then . state should
force him to do It..
'But," asks The Kansas City Jour-
nal, "in what way win any of these
purposes be subserved by compelling
an unwilling voter to cast his ballot
rather than pay . nney The impose
ton Of fine would accumulate fund
Of sordid dollars, but It could serve
no more efective purpose. The mere
matter of numbers at an election is
Of minor importance. The casting of
three votes would satisfy all the re-
qnlrements Of our majority system Of
Government, but the public welfare de-
~uands the fullest expression of the
popular viii. The underlytng theory Of
ali suffrage is that It is gift and a
responsibility in ene, . privilege and
a duty. Millions of men have been
slain to secure this right and it is
only demeaning the legacy of suffrage
by linking it in any suggestion with
a fine or tax. A better way would be
to take it away from those who fail
to exercise It.
"But. 1t will be argued at once, Of
what use to deprive any man of a right
which he fails to exercise? Human ma
ture will solve that problem. 1t is hu-
man nature to desire ardently. that
which is withheld, to appreciate that
which Il taken away after having been
once possessed, A man without 3
vote is a man without a country for
the tims being and p graduated system
Of Acknowledgement for failing to vote
would secure better results than fines
and taxes. The sullen and unwilling
vote is contrary to the spirit Of our
institutions and ia hardly less to be
deprecated than the ignorant and vi
cious vote"
But 1t seems to Us that there is an
other point Of view which The Journal
fails to note, and that is that the plan
of Governor Fort might tend to build
up a system Of class suffrage. We
have more than once heard the argu-
ment advanced against Alabama's poll
tax. requirement that the very poor
man could not afford to pay the tax
for the pHivilege of voting. but the
well-to-do could pay It and thus they
would do the voting while the poor
were left out. We suspect that the OBJ
lection is not well taken, and that the
wealthy are about as lax in the per-
Torrance Of this duty as the poor are.
but the argument il used.
The same argument, but from an OPP
posite point Of view, might be used
against the Fort proposition. 1t might
be argued that the rich men would
rather pay the fine than go to the
trouble Of going to the polls, and thus
the elections would be controlled by
| the poorer classes who are not. as a
general thing. so well informed as the
rich are, because they have not the
opportunities to keep posted that the
rich men have. and that as q conse-
quencs all our elections would be left
to the decision of those who are per-
haps least able to decide correctly and
intsllIgently.
while both sides Of this argument
| may have more or less force. neither
will solve the problem, which is. How
shall men be induced to so to the polls
ana east their yotss7 The right to
vote as one chooses is one Of the high
est privileges Of . free government
but If men refuse to exercise it.. how
can they be forced to do so7 II Cover
nor Forts suggestion should be put
into 8 law would It be possible to de-
teet ana punish ali the pop.vetsFs7 We
] should say not. There would be 20