Evening star., 1924-06-01

, actuality if not of theory from rep
resentative government and to sub
stitute the principles of pure de-
mocracy.
The original idea of the trainers of
the Constitution was that the presi-
Dental electors of the various states
should be the Kind OF men who could
confer after their own election and
/ able men in the country to be Presi-
dent and Vice President. But the ma
tional conventions long ago changed
all this. Nominees are named long
in advance of the election, and the
electors, like so many animated rub
Der stamps, merely go through the
form of an election, doing no more
than register the vote of the people
for the candidates named by the con-
ventions. This does not worry me a
bit. My only worry is that the elec-
tion of a President may become the
object of political barter in the Sen
ate Of the United States.
do not conceive that I am de-
prived Of my freedom or have lost an
iota of my democracy because some
one other than myself selects the
President. I place this among innu-
merable things which 1 as a free
agent infinitely prefer to. trust to the
judgment of other men rather than
to my own judgment. When it comes
to marrying and running a business,
man may insist upon his own way of
acting, but in other activities of life
he may well defer to- the masssd
Judgment of his fellows without seek
ing to construct freedom of mind.
And in no essential particular does
government differ from several other
activities of life. "
There must be common sense in a
democracy; in fact, common sense is
characteristic of any good demo-
every one to run for Office is to pre-
vail, then we will have to strike out
state lines, establish centralized
government, apportion senator's and
representatives according to the pop
ulation at large and take our chance
on good government. But 1t VIII not
do to change representative govern
ment for a pure democracy unless we
devise a way of learning all there is
to be learned about men who offer
themselves for Office We suffered SO
much from incompetency in appoint
i've Office that we adopted the civil
service. Strangely enough, We are
unwilling to forego 1t or to extend 1t
to elective Office.
In the republic of Uruguay each
candidate for office is required to sub
nit to an intellectual test before a
national board, which determines
whether he possesses sufficient quail
fications to justify his request for a
place on the ballot. Something of the
same kind is being agitated in Aus
tralia. If we keep on nominating
dead men for office and electing men
who never had a conscious existence
even though physically alive. the
Uruguayan idea may find lodgment
in the United States. Society Will
vindicate itself, justify and protect
itself, whether we will or no. But
il we come to this, we shall have
merely travelled in a circle and got
back to representative government.
What's the difference between the
original presidential electors. who Sc
Jected our Presidents and Vice Presi-
dents on the basis of character and
fitness, and the examiners we hear OF
in Uruguay and Australia, where
mental and physical tests of candi-
dates are held desirable?
NV view is that our old-fashioned
representative government is just as
likely to preserve our freedom and
our rights as any pure democracy oil
modern times.
Copyright. 1924. BY 21st Century Press.)