The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-04
Undemocratic County Management

This county has a just right to make two de-
nands of al of it's political servants: one is that
they act in harmony with the well-recognized
principles of fairness, justice and integrity, in
other words, that they be honest; the other is
that they be capable and willing to act in an
economical, responsible, and business-like man
leh in other words, that they be efficient.
In the light of these principles the recent
extraordinary action of the county council In re-
gard to voting machines is seen in its true light
and the real issues made plain.
The question is not whether these men acted
honorably; it is, whether they have acted eff
GENTLY. AS it they have not.
1t is no small item for county to invest
twenty-one thousand dollars in venture and to
reorganize it's method of handling ballots at the
election BOOTH Any radical change attempted
should, to say the least, be carefully gone over
from every point Of view and investigated with
painstaking care. Did our county council reveal
such business-ke ability? They did not. They
do not know the a-b-c's of the voting machine
question. They don't know whether Wayne
county needs them not, they don't know
what the average experience of other counties
using them has been, they don't know what the
effects of their use in Wayne county will be.
All of which is to say that they have plunged
into an investment of twenty thousand dol
lars carelessly, lightly and irresponsibly. A
sible man would devote more time to the pur
chase of a bicycle than they have to buying
small fortunes worth of machinery. woman
would make more investigation into the merits
of an article offered at her kitchen door than
these have to matter that will vitality
affect the business and political conditions of a
populous county.
Worse than that many times over, they have
deliberately acted in manner that is complete
violation of the obligations of every office holder
in self governing community.
This county is joint-stock company of which
every citizen is share holder. These politicians
and their assistants are business-agents of the
citizens AS business-agents they should at all
times act in strict subordination to the citi-
zenshp.
Have these men done so? They have not
They went about the whole matter if they
the sole proprietors of the county. They
did not inquire if the citizens wanted voting
machines, they did not even give the citizens
time to think about the subject at all, but under
took the job in a pussy-footed manner. Why
were the members of the county council in such
haste? Why were they secret? Why did they
choose to spring their actions Unexpectedly
on the community? Why haven't they permit
ted the citizens of Wayne county to decide what
election machinery shall be used in Wayne
county?
Every man concerned may have acted from
the purest of motives; voting machines may be
the most desirable things imaginable; but this
is not the point. The point is that these men
have acted undemocratically. They have carried
the whole thing through in a high handed way
that reveals utter indifference to the will of the
people.
Mr. Citizen, these men are business agents to
transact your affairs for you: for that you pay
them. Will you not vigorously demand of them
that they consult you first, give you a chance to
inform yourself at least, before they embark on
big and questionable scheme?
How long will we permit our county affairs to
be run along the same lines as the back-woods
store of fifty years ago?