, 1926-05-19
W Y @ N | N G
CAPITAL COLUMN
THE PEOPLES BUSINESS
Reviewed Briefly For Those
Who should be Interested
By George R. Hand

SOHle VI MS pOiltlcal opponents
might wish him to be but he rarely
speaks without saying something
well worth listening to. This applies
to sew lral of his recent ~utterances,
notably to his warning of the dan
ger to our Institutions which is
presented by the vote Stacker"
The people of this state have
need of such a warning and may
well pause and consider the Presi-
dents timely portrayal of the in
creasing peril of the s~tay-at-home
habit which is getting more and
more prevalent. In referring to the
form of government instituted fol-
lowing the War of the Revolution,
which was fought to vindicate the
principle that taxation without rep
Fascination is tyranny" Mr.. Cool
'idge uttered these burning words:
A Solemn Warning
"If We are to keep u represen-
tative form of government and
maintain the principle that the ma
jority shall rule, it behooves us to
take some drastic action to arouse
the voters of this country to a
greater interest in their civic du-
ties on election days. Many rene
dies have been proposed, from dis
reimbursement to criminal action.
The most practical, l believe, is for
all bodies of men and women in
terested in the welfare of this
country to join together under some
efficient organization to correct this
evill.''
Slump in Voting
The disquieting fact is hal in
the five presidential elections, from
1880 to 1896. eighty out of every
hundred persons entitled to vote
went to the polls and voted. Then
the slump began and vot Sinking
became more and more common,
until the last two presidential cleo
tons, as shown by carefully prepar-
ed statistics, were decided by about
NO percent of those entitled to the
franchise.
Let's Heed. the Lesson
All of this applies with startling
emphasis to this state of Wyoming,
where we are and frequently in
the past have been, governed by
a minority for the simple reason
that the effort to "get out the vote
was unsuccessful, due to various
causes which need not be discussed,
provided this early in the campaign
of 1926 the evil is recognized and
corrected.
Compulsory Voting
All of this naturally leads up to
this phase of the troublesome ques-
ton, suggested by President Cool
idge and for many years advo-
Gated by deep students of public af-
fairs. Those people maintain, with
every show of reason, that a gov
eminent which can take a man from
his, business and compel him for
days, or even weeks, to do jury IT,
or serve reluctantly OF not, in a
case in court as witness, or draft
him for military duty, may with
equal justice as a citizen n voter.
Why not? The signers of the I'M
mortal Declaration of independence
individually pledged their lives,
fortunes md sacred honor" Tor the
priceless privilege of sharing In
the government to the extent OF
being allowed equitable representa-
ton. The primary election in Wyo-
ming is many weeks in h future
and the general election is still
further but it is not too early to
begin to consider this important
matter, which will be heard from
frequently as the voters and party
leaders become more deeply con-
cerned with the deplorable situa-
ton.
Wyoming Honey
An alleged humorist in an east
ern newspaper the other day re-
ferred to the hero of his tale as
having smothered his hot cakes in
"Wyoming honey. Probably the
writer had never been west OF Bur
fac or else his knowledge of Wyo-
ming was confined to occasional
glances from the window of a pull
man crossing the state, but in his
case a true word was for once
spoken in jest. Honey may be a
humble part of the OF
some eastern dude but as far as this
state is concerned. honey is no joke
in fact it is no longer an infant
industry although capable OF eX-
pansion scarcely conceivable
How many Wyomingites know
that bees can be kept profitaply
almost anywhere in the state! IN
large or small quantities? That al
ready there are over 800 keeper
of bees on a commercial basis with
a present production of well over
100 cars of the finest honey on n
market? The keeping of bees ana
tha nrndnntinn of honey NAV quite