Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1928-03-09

local, it can fairly be said, there
fore, that what we really have in
this country is not government by
majority of the people, but govern
ment by a mere plurality Of the po-
litically interested.
People do not become good citizens
by going to the polls. They go to
the polls because they are good citi-
zens. They go when and because
they are interested. They stay away
because they have no interest, or too
little interest, in the issues or the
candidates. And when one reflects
upon the kind of issues and candi-
dates that are so often presented to
them, this lack of popular interest is
hardly a matter for amazement.
Many voters remain befogged, con-
fused, bewildered, because that is
what the leaders often intend them
to be.
In such cases is there anything to
be gained by having them certify
their bewilderment and lack of
knowledge at the ballot box? Is it
hard to see what real service can
ever be rendered to the cause of en-
lightened government by the mere
expedent Of herding to the polls,
with some sort Of militant propa-
ganda, larger number of uninter-
ested, uniformed, reluctant people
who go because they IRE shamed into
it by clarion calls to the perform
ance Of their duty as citizens.
We ought to concentrate our ener-
gies upon the task of clarifying the
issues, vitalizing the party system
and improving the quality of the
candidates as. a means of getting the
people interested, Informed an d
aroused between elections. We should
do this by making the governmental
process simpler, not more compli-
Gated. We should try to increase,
not simply the total number Of
voters, but the number of intelligent
voters, who will go to the polls Of
their own accord and who will know
what they want when they get there.
We need more widespread and
better-sustained campaigns Of civic
education the year round, and less
Of this ballyhoo at the moron vote
on the eve Of an election day.
There is a common impression that
chronic nonvoters are TO be found
chiefly in the ranks of well-to-do,
educated people who ought to know
better. Everywhere you hear it said
that the crowded proletarian pre-
cincts always poll the highest per-
centage Of votes in proportion to
their population, and that the fine
residential wards make the poorest
showing. It has become one Of the
formulas of practical politics, so
often repeated that most people be-
leve it to be true. But it has never
been proved. On the contrary, every
study that has been made Of this
matter indicates that the best show
ing at the polls is often made by the
best neighborhoods.
There is no good reason to believe
that a nationwide survey Of nom
voting, as related to neighborhoods,
occupation, education and intel
ligence would warrant an altogether
different assertion. Prof. Charles II.
Titus, for example, in his recent
study Of California cities, has found
that nonyoting appears to vary with
density Of population-the larger
and more crowded the community,
the higher the percentage Of regis
tered voters who stay away from the
oplls. DR.. Harold Il. Gosnell of Chi
cago, who recently undertook an in
teresting experiment in the "stim-
ulation" of nonvoters, reached the
conclusion that "persons with some
knowledge Of politics and govern
ment are much more apt to vote
than those with little knowledge Of
governmental matters" Among the
latter he includes persons with little
or no schooling, such as Negroes,
foreign-born and foreign speaking
women, and poor native whites who
have failed to make proper social
and economic adjustments to the
completely Of modern city life.