The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-17
A NEW SPECIFIC
 FOR CITIES
Advantages of the Short Ballot = How 16O Cities Have Adopted the Idea Concentrating Attention
 Upon Important Officials
H. s. 'GILBERrsoN

H. S. GILBERTSON Assistant Secretary The Short Ballot Organization.
 | Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 Beneath its surface simplicity the Short Ballot idea strikes rudely at some of the most cherished and deep rooted political traditions in American political thought. This fact made necessary the formation Of the Ma tional Short Ballot Organization It was founded in 1910 for a single and simple object,-the education of the American people to the Short Bal -ot principle Toward this end all its ac- tivities are directed.
 The Short Ballot runs counter to po- litical superstitions which have been responsible for much Of the lack of popular control with the resultant in efficiency and corruption which have been Characteristic Of our State and city governments It is not easy to convince the orthodox Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democrat that the election of minor officials is not a boon ana a privilege but specious device to keep from the common people the control of their government
 The platform Of the National Short Ballot organization gives some of the reasons why this is so, when it says:
 The dangerously-grea power of politicians in our country . TGSLS on the IdCC LnAL we HI0 lANADE under a form of democracy that is so unavoidable as to constitute in prac- tice pseudo-demorcacy. It is un- workable because
 '-First-It submits to popular eiec- ton offices which are tod unimportant to attract Cor deseFve) public atten- tions and.
 ton so many offices at one time that many of them are inevitably crowded out from proper public attention, and,
 '"Third-It submits to popular cleo ton so many offices at one time that the business of making up the eIahor- ate tickets necessary at every cleo ion makes the political machine an indis- pensable instrument in electoral ac- The "Short BaIlot' principle is
 'F1rst-That only those offices should be elective which are important enough to attract (and deserve) public examination
 TsecondIThat very few offices should be filled by election at one time, so as to permit adequate and candidates
 obedience to these fundamental principles explains the comparative success of democratic government in Galveston, DeS Moines and other American cities that are govern ! ed by Commissions 7"
 The practical program of the Ma tional Short Ballot Organization is to educate. by tearing down the old su- perstition in favor of the popular election of many minor officials and substituting for it the doctrine of sim plicity which has been so ably and so insistently preacheds by men like Theodore Roosevelt, Hiram Johnson and woodrow Wilson who has declared that
 'fSimplificationl Simplificat!on, is 1 the task that awaits us; to reduce the number Of persons voted for to the absolute workable minimum, knowing | whom you have selected; knowing whom you have trusted. and having | so few persons to watch that you can watch them- That is the way we are going to get popular control back in this country, and that is the only way we are going to get political contro back. Put in other elected officers to watch those that you have alresdy elected and you will merely remove your control one step further away
 The. idea is not an academic one, nor does it proceed entirely along prophetic line$ But the progressive leaders are being rapidly convinced. Ca tfornia, already, a result of the Short Ballot campaign, has taken three officers off the elective list and gress easy by enacting a constitu- | tional amendment for home rule in counties.
 The Comm 'ssion Government rnove- ment in American cities, a, growth O the eleven years which have elapsed since the Galveston disaster, is the channel throu-h which the peorle are receiving concrete evidence Of the vas benefits of the simpIif+ed govern ment This catastrophe led to a movement which has reached to the four corners of the United Sta +es.- recreated the i structure of 160 cities, and put a. new note of optimism in our political thinr- ing. So it has been deemed wise Try the organtza tion. to n1aFe itself q, na- tional clearing house for inForma ion on this special phase nf the Short Bal lot movement, and within the last year the organization has become a na-