The Topeka state journal., 1921-12-31
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKnN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
POLITICAL EDUCATION.

\
practical citizenship so that they will
grow up to be intelligent voters. This
! is the latest step taken in the cam
paign to educate the voting public.
/ It is the women, mainly, who are
| insisting that the voter should play
| politics intelligentIy. They find that
the public is sadly in need of educa-
ton along political lines. For years,
men have taken the vote casually.
| Their knowledge of voting systems
was based on such facts as they hap
pened to pick up in conversation with
other men and what they read IN
newspapers and magazines.
When 3O,O0O,00O women were hand
ed the ballot, a large percentage OF
them turned to the nearest man to
find out all about it, and a good many
were disappointed by the meager in
formation they could get. So they
| stopped consulting amateur politicians
and engaged experts to lecture to
| them.
The League of Women Voters,
which sponsors the idea of an intelli-
gent voting body, organized course
in citizenship at Chicago as an exper-
timent. 1t was so successful that the
plan of having schools in citizenship
spread all over the country. Already,
we are told, the league has held liter
ally thousands of courses. Pennsyl-
vania alone has had 500 courses, or
schools, as the league calls them, in
the past year.
stituted a year and a. half ago, but of
late a new impetus has been given to
the project. Educators have begun
to advocate that if schools train for
citizenship there must be some prac-
tica1 courses given. Then, when the
/ loose
at an election, they will know what
sort of power they hold.
Until women agitated this subject,
the League of Women Voters claims,
political systems was not included in
school courses. Such subjects as
civics and political law were taught,
but from an academic standpoint.
The league has succeeded in i'm
pressing the importance of courses in
practical politics on a number of
colleges. One professor of political
economy at state university en-
dorsed the plan for schools of citi-
zenship, saying, THE women have
done what the men should have done
100 years ago-educate voters"
A College Course.
Yale university held it's first citi-
zenship school last summer. The Ala
bama state university held an extern
sion course in practical citizenship,
and it proved so popular that a lee
ture course was given last fall and
two more are planned.
Alabama is to be the pioneer state
to carry the system one step farther
and introduce similar work into the
grammar schools. The league regards
this as a progressive move and be-
lieves other states will follow.
Not all of the courses are given in
connection with colleges and schools,
however. Baltimore and other cities
have held citizenship schools in diff
ferent wards, generally around cleo
ton time, when interest is keenest.
Chicago held one of these courses last
month, to which men and women
alike came, to acquire information on
such subjects as: Why men do not
vote. What is the matter with the
ballot? Ballot forms. Nominating pro-
cesses. Your own election laws and
how to study them. How politics
handles electoral machinery,
During some of these courses, If
election time is near, the local candi-
session so that the students may judge
them in the light of newly acquired
knowledge of politics.
Candidates, it is said, have come to
respect and fear these students of
. politics. They cannot be easily won
over by a sob story or by fiery elo-
| quence. They wait patiently for q
promise and platform, and If the
candidate goes off the stage without
! coming to the point he generally
| learns his mistake at the poilss
Women's steadfast interest in the
, platforms rather than smiles has been
a blow to many candidates, but they
have finally accepted the inevitab BILE.
When the League of Women Voters
first sent out questionnaires to New
} York candidates asking their views on
, certain matters there was indignation
among the aspirants to office. Many
felt insulted that they should be ques-
= toned so definitely. Less than one
third of them sent back answers.
At the next campaign over hall
answered the questionnaires And
: this fall, when the QUESTIONABLE was
: late, several candidates wrote to know
if the questions were to be abolished
They were not afraid, they said. tc
answer tsl % questions. and they wisheG
their views to go on record, so that
= there could be no doubt as to theil
attitude on public matters.
Quizzing Candidates.
When the belated lists of questions
3. went out, 95 per cent of the candi-
= dates hastened to fill out the answers
! and mail them back. They had founC
! that it did not pay to refuse haughtil9
: the information which voters of the
I state wanted.
New York was the first state II
which the questiOnnaires were used
= Now they are a popular institution II
a number of states Voters who dC
= not have the opportunity to hear th'
= candidates, can rely more safely OF
answers to plain questions than OF
Il reports of excited campaign speeches
o New York women also held teas
= quiz meetings they were jokingl!
caIIed-to which politicians in offic'
were invited to come and be ques
e toned regarding their attitude on pub
S lie affairs. The state legislators wer'
especially desired as guests at thes
. | tea parties.
The women explained that by ask
e ing questions they did not alwayI
mean to criticize a mans way of vot
ing on a measure They simply asked
" because they wanted to know reason;
e and facts.
- Here again, some of the politicians
were glad of a chance to explain theil