Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-29
COMPULSORY Suffrage

Secretary Of the Navy Daniels takes a high vie"
Of the dignity OF the right of suffrage. In Il recent
address he advocated compulsory voting, with string
ent penalties for neglect to exercise the right when
is held in such slight esteem by so many citizens.
He placed these negligent citizens in the same cate
CORY with deserters from the army or navy, classify
ing them as those who abandon a post OF duty in
time of danger.
There can be no doubt that the underlying princ-
pie enunciated by Secretary Daniels-the duty OF the
citizen to vole--is eminently correct. The country is
suffering from many suffrage evils, but the lndnfer
ence of the otherwise good citizens when the tine
comes to vote is probably productive of more Aar1n
than the votes Of those who do not use their privilege
periodically and intelligently. The representatives
of the latter class are not the straightforward They
are always in evidence and each vote of this class
carries as much weight as one patriotic and inteli
gent vote, while in the nature OF things it counts Tor
twice as much as the vote that is not cast.
1t is q necessary feature of Mr.. Daniels view llut
the qualifications Of voters should be rigidly scrutin-
lied. One Of the weakness OF universal suffrage IS
that-to many o.. the wrong kind Of votes are cast
and too few of the right kind. But when all voters
have been subjected to the surveillance" which pil-
dence suggests, those who possess the qualifications
of intelligent citizenship should, by all means, exer-
else the privilege inherent in them by reason of these
qualltcatlOnS. Popular government is only StllClT9u
when the least worthy are the most active, while the
right fol-, which millions Of men have fought and died
is either exercised pertunctOrily or not at all by so
large a proportion of the citizenship.
Every good citizen has the right to the protection
and cooperation of every other good citizen-to pro-
lection from bad citizens and to cooperation in all
efforts to realize the best results from a system OF
government based on such mutual protection and Coz
operation. If good citizens STOOD together" many OF
the evils Of abused self-government would disappear.
They cannot stand together more effectively than at
that common meeting ground-the ballot box, and
they have only themselves to blame il they suffer
from conditions brought about by their own indiffer-
ence to the supreme prerogative Of citizenship. Sc
long as the right Of suffrage is considered only Il
privilege and not as a solemn duty this indifference
may be expected to continue. The good citizens
should take a leaf from the book Of the ward leele"
and political tout and look upon election day as IN
opportunity, not q task Or an option. There is all
ton day as the day when q voter ought to cast his
ballot and regarding it as the time when he may
do so ii he feels like it. or if he has a friend on
the ticket, or if his p~ocethook is touched by The issues
involved.
But the duty to vote and compulsory voting are
two entirely different things. Forcing a citizen to
cast his ballot is no guaranty that he would cast it
wisely and periodically, and it would be an infringe
ment of his personal liberty that is | hardly in keeping
with the basic principles of free democratic govern
lnent.