The Washington herald., 1911-03-12
By FRANK PARKER sTockBRIDGE.

movement, is the agitation for the So
called Short Ballot" or reduction in
the number of elective officials. Less
than two years old, the Short Ballot
Organization" of which Gov. Woodrow
Wilson, of New Jersey, is president, has
done effective missionary work in many
states, and political leaders all over the
country arc beginning to realize that the
full measure of popular government can
not be achieved until the Individual
voter is given an opportunity to make
an intelligent choice between candidates.
which is what the short ballot movement
aims at. The gist of all constructive
reform" is the expression used by DR..
Charles W. Eliot president emeritus of
Harvard University, in describing the
short ballot
The short ballot movement differs from
every other reform proposition in that
there is no difference of opinion between
rcformers and nonreforners as to its
effectiveness to correct the conditions at
which it is aimed The only difference
of opinion is as to whether these condi-
tions need correcting or not In the
case of many other reform propositions
the opponents of the reformers are per-
feCtly willing to Concede that things
ought to he different. but they deny that
the method proposed would make them
any different. But nobody with even Il
smattering of information about praCti-
cal politics denies that the short ballot.
il generally adopted. would accomplish
the purpose for which ii is intended
This purpose is. primarily, to make
every voter politician, at least to the
extent that every voter could. without
undue effort. inform himself as to the
qualifications for office of every csndi-
date for whom he is askel to vote 1t
having been demonstrated during the 10
years of our national life that the aver
age voter will not go into politics. the
short ballot aSitators propose to reverse
the process and bring politics into the
life of the average voter. 1t is the old
story of MahomCt and the mountain over
again.
The short ballot movement really had
it origin in the study by American -r-
formers of political conditions abroad,
especially in the English municipalities,
where. all critics agree. there is uniform
" better government than there is in
most American cities. The principal roa-
son for this difference is statcl to he
in the fact that while this country We
elect as a rule from ten to forty city
officials at every election. in England
no voter is called upon at any time
to vote on candidates for more than one
office. This. naturally. has the effect of
Centering interest on the individual can
didates for that office. and making it
easier for every voter to learn all about
them. In consequence ii Is rare that
a man VIGOROUSLY unfit or even QUcs-
tionably unfit for office becomes a can
didate at all, and the municipal govern
ments are in the hands OF men who arc
the real leaders Of their communities. no
cause or their personal qualifications for
leadership.
Psychologists who have studied the
matter carefully declare that any per
son can make an intelligent choice of
candidates for three offices. and most per-
sons can carry in their heads the neces-
sar!- data about five candidates. but THAI
when the number of Offices to be filled
at one election exceeds FIVE, no man but
the professional politician can attempt
inteligentIy 10 differentiate between the
candidates. 1t follows. therefore, that the
majority of votes cast must be cast un-
intelligentIy. Take. for example the list
of offices on which each eleCtor was eX-
pected to vote at the election of 1910 IN
Ohio. In each of the larger counties OF
the State the ballot contained the names
of from two TO five candidates for each
OF the following Offices: One governor,
~
State. one State treasurer one member
Of the State board OF public works. one
attorney general one dairy and food COM
missioner one state superintendent sf
public instruction, two judges of the
State Supreme Court. one clerk Of the
Supreme Court one judge of the Circuit
Court one county clerk, one sheriff, one
county auditor, three county commission
ers. one county treasurer. one county re-
corder. one county surveyor, one prose-
cutting attorney, three infirmary directors,
one coroner, one judge of the insolvency
court, three State senators, nine State
representatives, and one member of Con-
gress.
There were nearly two hundred names
on the ballot, out of which every voter
was supposed to select the forty men
whom he personally thought best quail
fed to fill the forty offices named. In
ether words he was required to do at
A single election more intelligent polit-
cal work than a citizen of the well-gov-
erned little republic of Switzerland would
no asked to do If he lived to be four
hundred years old; more than the Can
adfan voter is asked 10 do in eight cleo
tiors: as much as the English voter Is
ASKED to do in forty elections. Admit
ting all that is claimed for the superior
quality of American citizenship, the bur-
den would still seem TO be a trif1e heavy.
Conditions like those in Ohio exist in
substantially every State. How intelli-
gently the voters perform their functions
was shown by canvass OF the voters
in the most independent assembly dis
trict in Brooklyn Immediately after the
election of 1908. This is 4 'brown-stone-
'front.' district. the inhabitants of which
are well to do and presumably lntelll-
gent. Thirteen per cent of them knew
the name of the new State comptroller
lust elected; . per cent knew the name
of the new State treasurer; 80 per cent
knew the name of the man they had just
elected togrepresent their district in the
legislature: 20 per cent knew the name
of his defeated opponent, but only is
rer cent knew both names; 81 per cent
could not3 tell the name of the county
surrogate, but only 10 per cent knew the
name of their alderman. and only 2 per