Evening journal., 1912-04-29
SHORT BALLOT PROVIDED
FOR IN NEW CHARTER
10 The Editor Of THE EvENING

posed city charter, the charter COM
mission has also embodied the idea /
Of the short ballot, as promulgated by
"The Short Ballot Organization" OF
which Governor Woodrow Wilson is
president and Richard S Childs, sec
retary. Mr.. Childs, it will be remem-
bered, delivered a talk before the
Wilmington Civic Association last
spring and also spent one evening
with the members OF the Charter
Commission presenting his views on
municipal charter building and
threshing them out with the charter
commissioners. AS defined by this or
ganization, the short ballot principle
is:
First.-That only those Offices
should be elective which are import
ant enough TO attract (and deserve)
public examination; and
Second That very few Offices
should be filled by election at ono
time, so as to permit adequate and un-
confused public examination of the
candidates.
The commission form Of municipal
government meets these require
ments. and It is one of the chief rea-
sons for its success. When few Of
ficials are elected on election day, and
those running are candidates for inn
portant offices, the people know what
they are doing on election day The
few candidates for important Offices
are brought into the limelight Their
history, qualifications, fitness, and
characters are discussed, and the citi-
1af 10
vote, is armed with facts about the
various candidates, and his vote rep
resents well-defned opinion He
will not concern himself with candi-
dates for minor offices, hence it is
usual for the machine candidates for
those offices to be elected. Mr.. Childs
defines a politician simply as an fex-
pert citizen" who knows what he is
doing on election day, as contrasted
with the ordinary amateur citizen,
who, when he has a big ballot to vote
on election day, with numerous candi-
dates, does not always know what he
is doing II you simplify the work of
the citizen so that he knows what he
is doing on election day, he will do
his work we'll and thereby also put the
politician out Of business, because the
ordinary citizens duties with a short
ballot, are so simple that he does not
need the advice or assistance of the
politicians on election day. Is it not
true that our American cities, as a
rule, have been olligarchies; that the
office holders have been under obli-
cations to the little ruling class OF
politicians. and that in consequence
thereof government has been rather
in the interest OF the politicians. than
in the interest of the people? Simpli-
fy the work Of the citizens on election
day, and the people can perform their
duties without the aid Of the politi-
clans. and when you remove the
power and influence Of the profess
sional politicians from municipal gov
ernment and elections, have you not
removed one Of the potent causes for
misgovernment?
Last weeks Saturday Evening Post
in one Of its editorials, gives a graph
&c picture OF the facts and results
when citizens have to vote ballot
with an endless lot Of candidates. It
says:
"One hundred and thirty candidates
for City Council submitted themselves
to the voters Of Chicago at the April
election. Probably not one voter i'm
ten, OF the 100000 who went to the
polls, had ever heard the names of
more than a dozen of these candidates
thirty days prior to the election, or
could have named the candidates iu
any three wards of the city on cleo
tion day.
Having selected thirty-fve out OF
these one hundred and thirty candi-
dates, the people are only at the be-
ginning of their endless electoral
task. Next year they must elect
thirty-hve other aldermen to succeed
those who hold over this year. AZ
comparatively short intervals, they
must elect q mayor, sixty odd judges
president Of the county board, ten
county commissioners, a sheriff. coro-
ner, surveyor, and states attorney
besides some four score Representa-
tives and Senators for the State Leg
| islature and members of Congress.
By consulting a roster of elective
Offices and an actuary's table Of the
expectation Of life. we find that male
/ residents of the city who are now
twenty-one years of age and who con-
/ tinue TO dwell In that otherwise ad-
/
| called upon TO vote for ten thousand
| mostly strangers to them
and mostly for petty offices.
The outlook would be discouraE-
! ing; but, some years before Calves.
! ton invented city government by COM
mission, Chicago,-driven by th,
same necessity, a sort oi
government by proxy in the form of a
non-partsan voters league, which, In
effect does the good citizens select.
ing OF petty candidates for him
Thirty-two Of the thirty-fivo alder.
men elected this spring were indorseC
or unopposed by the league In com.
parison with the commission gov
ernment which Chicago ought TO have
It Is clumsy device; but voters sim
ply cannot choose intelligently them
selves among swarm of obscur.
candidates
In cities the only practicable al
Tentative to commission government
Is sort OF unofficial voting by prox,
through non-partisan league likl
that in Chicago"
We are not quite so badly off as
that IN Wilmington. Our ballot al
municipal elections has been fairly
SMUT, Dul We nave elected 0iiic.a ais 10
minor offices. concerning which the
people have manifested little inter.
est In past municipal elections we
confined almost all Of our interest and
our discussions TO the candidates for
mayor and neglected the other offices
on the ticket We used 10 elect oul
city solicitor and city auditor and
found from experience that Il was moi
always we'll done. for the reasons
above given. Why not do away with