Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-02-24


in 1915. BY that instrument, all the
present state officers and judges
We're made elective. and also the
state canal commissioner, and the
state inspector Of prisons. The In
cluslon Of these latter officials, rela-
lively unimportant. in the list OF
elective officers. was indicative Of
the chaotic ideas that prevailed as
to how far this sort Of thing was to
be carried.
Lack OF Uniformity.
Great lack OF uniformity was, and
still is, observable in respect to the
sort Of offices which should be filled
by popular vote. Certain officers
are found to be elective in one state,
and their counterparts appointiye In
adjoining states. New Jersey, for
instance, adjoining New York, never
changed from the original plan and
today nearly all its state officers
and its judges are appointive. The
New Jersey ballot at state election
therefore, approximates more nearly
"short ballot" than that voted In
most states.
In q majority Of states, the idea
of eIecting state engineer and sur
veyor as we do in New York would
appear to be a needless safeguard IN
states where they elect their COM
missioners of education, insurance,
and banking, which are appointive
offices here. This very lack OF uni
formity seems to present fair line
of attack for the short ballot adVo-
Gates, who can contend that what has
proved unnecessary as q safeguard
to democracy in one part Of the coun-
try cannot be Justly regarded as sac
red In another.
There has been in many parts Oh
the country a tendency toward the
centralizing Of authority, and the
consequent concentration Of RESPONSE
bility, and this has meant in many
instances a shortening of the ballot.
This movement has been particularly
pronounced in the Eastern and Mid
die states. In the Far West ana
throughout the South there has been
an actual drift in the other direction,
save in some Of the cities where the
commission form Of government has
been adopted. And it is right here
lin this attempt to solve the problem
of municipal government that one
of the most striking tendencies to-
ward the putting into practice OF the
short ballot idea is to be noted.
AReverse Tendency,
What the increase in elective ofli'
ces has meant in some Of the states
in the West and South, where the
tendency has been away from the
short ballot, may be seen from the
statement that within the past ten
years the following state offices have
been transferred from the appointiye
to the elective class, or have been
newly created as elective offices:
Kansas state printer; Louisiana regis
[trar of the land office and commits
sioner Of agriculture and immigra-
ton; Alabama, state fish and game
commissioner and commissioner OF ag.
!. riculture; Mississippi, commissioner
of agriculture and statistics. The
mere naming of these offices, and
the list is by no means complete
is indicative Of the wide difference
|, that exists in various parts OF the
, country as to the offices which
| should be made elective. It is one
of the plans of the short-ballot ad'
|, yocates to show that the placing Of
, these offices in the appointive class
would not necessarily result in as
surfing that they wodld be better ad'
, ministered.
AS to the extremes to which a pal
J lot may be carried we had striking
: example here in New York City at th'
} recent municipal election, but ina
vas nothing compared with some IN
stances of the long ballot cited b.
: Prof. Charles A. Beard Of Columpi'
! in the last number Of the Politica
: Science Quarterly. He cites, among
others, ballot cast at a recent cleo
} ton in Chicago which was two inche'
: nv eighteen inches in size, and con
: tanned S24 names for such office
as court clerks, trustees Of the san
E itary district, members of the Boar
4 Of Assessors. members Of the Boar
a Of Review, county commissioner
: and baiIiffs Of the county court. H
cites the case Of a Tammany pr
t mary ballot used here in New Yorl
: city on which there were ss5 candl
a dates. In such cases a. these Il