The Mena weekly star., 1910-12-01

| to office. AS an example, one OF
Mena's aldermen recently remarked
in open meeting that "he would hate
to place the running Of his business
in the hands of the city council. :"
Doubtless the same would have been
said by every member of that body.
and there was no dishonesty inferred.
1t simply meant that no one of them
believed the city's business was be-
ing cared for with the same caution
that would make a success of pri-
vate business.
But do you not believe that if any
one Of. those councilmen was placed
in charge of a certain branch of the
city's business, and the conduct of
that was made HIS BUSINESS, and he
alone was responsible for its success
or failure, that man. would conduct
it with utmost care aud with his bes
business judgment?
Who would be so conspicuou-
that no citizen could help knowin4
all about them"
Perhaps the above, together with
the first sentence quoted gave rise
to the term short ballot" Itwould
be hard, perhaps, to select three
men in Arkansas of whom it could
be said that all voters could not help
knowing all about" Probably not
one man in thousand over the state
of Arkansas ever saw ALL the candi-
dates for state Office voted for at the
last election; and thousands upon
thousands voted for men of whose
lives they knew not one single fea-
ture beyond the fact that their
names were on the ballots submitted
to them. The principle indicated
seems to be to simplify this problem
by electing fewer men, as an exam
pie. we will say, only the governor
of the state as an executive officer,
and allowing him to select his "cabi-
net" or assistants in managing the
business Of the state. An example
of this is to be found in the office of
the President of the United States.
The success or failure of national
administration largely rests upon
the selection Of the Presidents Cab
met officers, and the President is the
one man held responsible. In the
case. for instance. of President Taft,
he has surrounded himself with men
whose sympathies seem largely to
lie with the big corporations, with
special business interests that thrive
through more or less unfair advan-
tages obtained over the great ma
jority of the people, as shown up in
Seer tary Rallinger's attempted
deal in the Alaskan coal lands, and
in the act of Attorney General Wick
ersham, who undertook to have
passed law giving railroads greater
power and privilege. That the peo-
pie are holding Taft responsible. as
well as the party that elected him,
was overwhelmingly demonstrated
at the election few weeks ago. Is
it not possible that the people could
quicker get correct idea of the
character of a state administration
through this system than through
that now in use, where the govern
or, and attorney general. and secre-
tary of state. and treasurer, and
auditor, and other officers are select
ed independently? And possibly,
too, the states affairs would be run
with less contention and useless fric-
ton where the interests of each was
to make the ADMINISTRATION AS A
WHOLE a success, instead, as often
is the case. several pulling to secure
credit to themselves and discredit to
others.
And the elections should not
come frequently"
The purpose of government is to
CARRY OUT THE BUSINESS OF THE
PEOPLE. 1t is not. as some seem to
feel, an institution especially de-
signed to distribute pie" among a
few politicians. nor to pass fat Off
ces around frequently so that many
can get whack at them.
If you. Mr.. Ratliff. were conduct
ing business enterprise. grocery
store or even an establishment like
that of The Star, what would be
your policy toward those who
worked for you-who did your bid
ding, inst as the governor of a
state is supposed to do the bidding
<,f HE .,<.,x<1o.nx- H. ~>..f-9 MA