The Washington herald., 1910-05-15
The Iona Ballot.

The Long Ballot.
Take Ohio. for instance. In this state
the people elect the governor, Heuten-
ant governor, secretary Of state. state
treasurer. three railroad commissioners.
attorney general. auditor. clerk Of the
supreme court superintendent OF pub
lie instruction, dairy and food commits
sioner and a lot Of judges and county
officials, a total list OF forty odd. The
ballot on election day IS a yard square
and contains the names OF about 200
candidates.
What happens?
The people 80 % the polls on election
day and get the big official ballot
There on the ballot is a group Of names
Of candidates for secretary Of state, for
instance. Smith and Jones and Rob
inson have been nominated for the Of
fee, and the people are to say which Of
them shall get IL. DO the people have
a clear idea Of what Smith and Jones
and Robinson look like. what their rec
Ords are and what their abilities are2
You think they do. do you? Well how
about the candidates for clerk OF the
supreme court? Do the people know
them too? And those dozen candidates
for the railroad comuissionerships ?
And the rest OF the 200 candidates?
The people are supposed 10 know ell
OF them. but do they in actual fact?
Not the Peoples Fault.
Perhaps you say the people don't
know now, but they ought 70 bestir
themselves and find out? Well, let's see
If they ought How are they 20 do Il?
The newspapers haven't the space for
all the information. No doubt each
candidate would Ike TO have the papers
publish a lot about him every day. II
the papers did try 70 do II, could the
average man ever endure reading all
that stuff? And II he did. could he
ever remember his forty separate
opinions long enough to get his ballot
marked?
Perhaps you say, The people ought
20 go into politics and learn that way"
But the average man viii say he hasn't
the time and strength 10 go TO caucuses /
and primaries and conferences and dis
trict battles and all that Isn't he right
about It? II he had time and energy
enough for politics, shouldn't he rather
devote It to profitable work so that he
can afford to give his wife a nicer
home or his son a better education?
Shouldn't he work just as hard as he
can for his family, even II politics does
go to the dogs? If this average man
did go into politics and work night and |
day 70 make politics betters. everybody |
would soon be sneering, IF that fellow |
would give his business the attention !
he gives to uplifting the state, his chill |
dren wouldn't be wearing such old /
clothes" And wouldn't they be just-
fed?
The people are all right. They are
doing just what they ought to be do
ing under the conditions. They at
tend to politics as much as they can.
They vote for the good Of the state as
far as they have light to see which
candidate is good and which Is bad.
They demand good governors and may
ors and usually get them. There Is
light to see by IN the case Of these Of
fees, but all the little Offices they leave
TO the party by voting a straight ticket
blindly. The little places are the per-
quisites Of the political experts who
make a profession Of citizenship.
Danger In Government by Politicians.
The party machine is absolutely nee
essary while we have blind voting.
Without a machine, politics would be
worse chaos than It IS. But what is a
party machine? An organization which
anybody can join-any good man or any
bad man. There's 10 way Of barring
the bad man out If all the good men
IN town got together and formed a
strong party, the bad men would Join
It. and as It means money to them. they
would work very hard until they domi-
mated that party and crowded out the
good men. There's no way by which
party can resist this inevitable con-
ANIMATION.
A party IS therefore unfit to hold ap-
power, Let Il recommend can
iidates, but the people must inspect its
'ANiA SuoPiNiOl4 anu lAoAOuSH- .
hess. But when the candidates are
'nly small fry that are hardly worth
he labor Of inspection or when there {
ire so many offices to watch that the
people can't possibly inspect all the !
then there is peril. For the ]
'arty, knowing that its minor candi- '
iates won't be scrutinized. knowing ]
hat It will get little credit for a good {
domination and little discredit for a '
'ad one, Is sure. sooner or later, to fall !
nto the hands Of leaders who will uti- l