Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-25
Politics
Without
Politicians

people, which would never tolerate
bossism for a minute. But let him
come to this land and assume citi-
zenship, and see what happens.
Twenty-Five Elections on One Day.
Taking an interest in his new
franchise he studies the subject care
fully as 1t is presented to him in the
public prints, and undertakes to
make up his mind as to whom he
wants to vote for. Going to the polls
on election day he finds on his ballot
the names of the mayor of his choice,
the comptroller and, perhaps, one or
two other candidates whom he has
seen on the public platform. At the
most he probably has an intelligent
opinion, or an opinion of any kind,
concerning four or five Of the prin-
cipal men. He confronts, however,
a huge sheet of paper containing per-
haps one hundred names arranged in
columns about twenty-five deep. AS
he would express 1t, there are twenty
five elections on one day. He finds
himself invited to choose between
Smith, Jones, Williams and Johnson
for the office of county clerk. He
has given no thought to that office,
he knows nothing Of the men who
are named, and If he should go back
to consult his newspaper file he
would find that the newspapers had
said little or nothing about them.
The offices Of sheriff, county clerk,
supervisor of the poor, public libra
rian, commissioner Of public works,
are all evidently being contested for,
but he has not had the slightest in
formation as to the relative capa-
bilities of the men, and when, fin
ally, in bewilderment, he casts his
vote for the straight party ticket he
is registering an intelligent opinion
on about one-tenth Ct his ballot; the
other nine-tenths he has delegated,
by default, to the control Of the party
boss, and is blindly registering his
comparative confidence in the men
chosen by one set of party bosses
rather than those put forward
by the opposing leaders. He votes
blindly for the most part, and man
who votes blindly is being bossed.
He is no better than the rest Of
us, you see. In fact, If this long bal
lot had not appeared in his own home
city it is probable that its conse-
quences would have been even worse
than here. For we have widespread
quick flow Of informa-
ton, unequaled political genius, and
a civic pride that will stand on its
hind legs and paw the air for Joy
when there is anything to jubilate
about.
But, admitting all this" you say,
'if our people really do want good
government. would they not have
made the politicians give it to them? ?
Would they not have rewarded merit
in bosses by electing the better
bunch each time and thus make them
seek to suit their wishes to the ut
most, as a tradesman seeks to please
a customer" Exactly so, and there
is limit to misgovernment, time
when we balk at the quality Of the
goods we are getting, and the boss
must keep us content. But there is
a counter-tendency downward, in
that the boss-tradesman wants his
profit, and it is that profit, or graft,
that we object to. 1t would seem
that we might find and keep in pow
er bosses who were so public-spirited
that they would collect no graft.
That does not happen, because the
dominant organization in any COM
munity is always corrupt. To make
a less brutal statement-the domi-
nant organization is the one that gets
corrupted. There is no point in
corrupting a powerless machine. 1t
is to the party with power that the
grafters and self-seekers flock. A
club can "repel boarders" and expel
rascals that are found inside, but a
party is powerless to protect itself
against contamination. The Repub-
lican party was out Of the grip of
its founders after its second victory.
Let the Prohibition party carry a
city election once, and the saloon
element would quietly join it and
dominate it. Reform parties without
number have gone on the rocks be-
cause the original reformers could
not prevent this internal poisoning
A long-ballot system Of government,
demanding machines to operate it.
cannot, in the long run, elude con-
troll by corrupt machines. Political
complexity thus, indirectly, invites
misgovernment as automatically as
dark streets invite crime.
The Work the Boss Does.
Yet, under present conditions, we
cannot dismiss the machine, for our
political system, not being shaped to
fit any electorate composed of hu-
man beings, would hardly work al
all without the mediation Of a GER
tain degree of extra-legal boss-or-
ganization to supplement its awk-
wardness. Suppose there were nc
ticket-making machines, for instance
in Cleveland, Ohio, where the 1905
ballot carried forty-seven offices
Can you picture the great blanket
changed from the long, ruled col
umns, with suggestive straight
ticket" circles at the top, to a non-
partisan ballot over whose unlabeled
chaos of names the voter must
sprinkle his forty-seven separate X
marks? Can you imagine any ordi-
nary voter comparing the individual
merits of each candidate in each OF
the forty-seven scrimmages? An cleo
ton purports to gather opinions, but
such an election would do nothing OF
the sort. 1t would be like letting the
school children vote-the result would
represent little or nothing. In big
direct primary elections, where there
are no tickets, the boss is often plaus-
ible when he argues: You had al
least my judgment under the old con
vention system-now you have no.