Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01
Sunday Morning Talk.
Facing the Ballot Box.

We are on the eve OF another impress
sive demonstration of the unity solidarity
and meaning of our national life. The
ballots falling like snowfiakes will regis
ter In one short day public sentiment from,
Maine to California. from the lakes to the
gulf. The psychological significance of
such concentration OF thought on a SIN
gle end is tremendous. Only once In four
years is the nation thus envizaged In the
thought of all its citizens, east, west.
north and south. Our primary concern
Is not now with state, county or munlci-
pal issues. We have our one chance to
determine national policies and we shall
not have another like 1t until 1912. That
fact helps us to realize the greatness and
the scope of our national life and to make
more acute within us what we call our
national consciousness.
Then. too. we shall have next Tuesday
fresh realization of the meaning OF a
political democracy. Be he plutocrat or
day laborer, college president or lgnora-
mus. the man who approaches the ballot
box has just one vote That Is one or the
relatively few places In the world where
he is measured by his manhood and net
by the cut of his clothes or the size Of his
pocketbook.
And It is all so quickly over. But is not
that true of most of the richest expe-
riences of life: 1t takes but a moment to
utter undying marriage vows. But. like
that covenant, the freeman's quickly de-
posted vote may represent months or
earnest thought. and may and should be
followed by day-by-day devotion to the
cause to which his heart Is pledged.
How any man who stops to consider the
meaning and requirements of democracy
can fail to vote If heath and opportunity
permit. passes knowledge. Shame on the
hundreds OF thousands OF stay-at-
homes" too lazy or Indifferent to cross
the street. Hardly less reprehensible Is
he who plans his business and social en-
gagements forgetful Of election day. so
that when 1t comes he puts forward this
excuse: circumstances over which he
had no control Let him sacrifice. even
at the eleventh hour, the contemplated
trip so that he can stand at the polls
shoulder to shoulder with the ardent
youth filled with the enthusiasm and JOY
that go with the casting Of his first vote
and stands. too, with the no less admir-
able man who hasn't missed presi-
dental election for sixty years" In other
lands today men are risking their lives IN
order to help establish constitutional gov
eminent. Should we to whom this chance
to vote has come so easily that we forget
what 1t cost an ancestor to win II. fail to
make use Of the privilege placed in our
hands?
Nor can any one be excused who let's
his vote become weapon wherewith to
strike some one else or to pay up an an
cient grudge. This is profaning the free
mans privilege. His vote should repre-
sent his judgment on the main ISSUE not
personal spite or the desire for revenge.
Only the noblest aim should govern man
when he walks up to the ballot box. He
must not be Influenced wholly by what
loyalty to the party" demands or by
aversion to all change or by a chronic
yearning for constant change, or by an
unwillingness to break new paths or by
a disposition to part with all that the past
has taught US and brought US. The one
crucial consideration Is how can my single
vote tell most for the prosperity and In
fluence Of this nation and Of all its citi-
Zens?
There are only two places that are in
vested with the same holy Significance
that surrounds the ballot box in free
country. One Is the marriage altar. The
other the table spread with the sacred
feast OF the Christian church. Before all
three alike the true man will bow In rev.
erence and there pledge himself anew to
his duty. THE PARSON.