The Washington herald., 1914-04-19
ny EDWARD J. WARD,

by EDWARD J. WARD,
! CAdviser on Civic and Social Center De-
velopment, University of Wisconsin,
The first physical step in Strengthening
out our political deranSement is the use
Of each public schoolhouse as the poll
( ing places of its district.
/ That a good start has been made is
evident in the fact that more than so
schoolhouses throughout the country
/ have already been put to this appro-
I pirate use Seventy school buildings are
serving as polling places in Chicago this
! spring. New York. with go public
! schools and 5I other public buildings.
still votes in 4I5 barber shops as well as
many pool rooms bakeries, undertaking
esta blishments and small stores AL
though a bill failed at the recent session
of the legislature. the people of New
York are still struggling for law
which will permit the use of schools as
voting cSnters.
Why II Must Succeed.
This movement must succeed. Expe-
rience and reason make 1t clear that the
public school Is pre-eminently the place
I in which the people should vote their
will in their own affairs.
I Ii Is economical To use existing pub
lie buildings obviates the needless ex-
pense OF renting private places. or pur-
chasing transporting, setting up, out
hitting with means of warmth and light,
( taking down. retransporting and storing
| special booths for voting. This expense
! tends to increase with the growing fire.
quency of elections.
II is worthy. The ballot box or voting
machine is the instrument of sOciety's
self-determination, to attain which man
kind has sacrificed and struggled. Hope
of orderly progress for the race centcrs
chiefly in the intelligent use Of tn" baii u
The instrument of the ballot should nave
| the most nobly significant housing the
community can give. The public schpi
building affords that housing.
II is appropriate. Elections are, first
and finally. examinations Of public intel
ligence The common educational bulih-
ings are the natural places for the Pc
riodiC testings of the common intelh-
gence.
II is convenient The public SCHOOL,
houses are so distributed as to he easily
reached by all the children Of each dis
trict The distance children go each day
adults may readily go to vote.
Permanent and Educntive.
1t is permanent. The storing of the
voting apparatus in cellar, lott' or sheu'
excepting at election times. suggests an
intermittent and occasional democracy,
as though the people were in authority
for only a day or two each year Inc
continuing presence of the voting lnsttu-
ment. permanently installed in the COM
munity building. prOclaims the continuing
responsibility OF citizens.
II is educative. In Milwaukee the ones
tion whether the public schoolhouses
should be used as the polling places
was referred to the school principals.
Their vote was unanimously in favor OF
il: the reason being that this use OF
the school buildings would be positive
aid in the most important part of the
children's training. The central object
of the public school is development OF
the capacity for citizenship. The prac-
tical difficulty is to visualize the busi-
ness Of democracy. The operation of Vot-
ing is the supreme civic expression which.
IL the children can see II. makes for
tbem n point of contact and departure
from which they may go on to the under
standing of the processes of government
as reality.
It is simplifying Making the public
schoolhouses the polling places implies
making the voting precincts and the
school districts identical. This does
away with the confusion that arises from
having two differing units of neighbor-
hood, a confusion in part responsible for
our failure to appreciate the neighbor-
hood, the group unit OF society next in
importance to the family. This perma-
nent identification of voting precinct and
public school district reduces the posi-
bility of gerrymandering. This use of
the schoolhouse as voting center re-
moves one practical reason for the failure
of citizens to vote. Not infrequently citi-
zens fail to vote at primaries and even
at elections because they do not know the
location of their polling places. Every
body knows the location of the public
schoolhouse in his district.
1t is unifying Not all the citizens in
every public school district send their
children to the pubic school, There are
parochiaI or private schools. But there
is no parochial or private ballot box and
when this all-uniting instrument is per-
manentIy established in this neighbor-
hood house II makes plain the fact that
with the adult civic uses of this public
building the distinctions that cause the
separate schooling Of the children have
nothing TO do.
Helps Citizenship Standards.
1t promotes better citizenship. The
polling registers are the active-member- /
ship lists of the district voting bodies. |
The establishment OF the voting equip |
ment in public buildings capable of being !
used as citizens common counsel cham |
bcrs, is the constructive nrst step toward |
the self-organization of the voting body |
into a deliberative body. This will SUBJ /
stitute clarified common sense for muddy /
partisanship at the source Of govern
ment.
1t is proved feasible and altogether sat
isfactory. Boston, Chicago. Los Angeles, |
Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Worcester.
Madison, and other cities and innumer-
able smaller towns have begun the use