Evening star., 1949-05-20
IL Votes Are 10 BE Bought,
Why Not OrganiRe the Business

G9 t5s E1t&os 9t Iex stSF
In the May Io issue OF The Star cor
respondent advocates the authorization Of
the direct sale ot votes IN Ire oprn market
by the individual. qualified e!ecioT Eov-
, ever. this might lead 10 chaos and entail
much wasted time and hardship OF TIE Nosey
II peddllng The ballot. In lieu Of the sug-
gested scheme Ne propose that there ee
incorporated voting SyndacateS not trusts
because our laws prohibit SUCH. These
SyndIcateS would Issue preferred and com
mon shares OF stock The holders OF the
preferred shares would purchase them for
cash and the common shares would be
purchased for proxies which would author
lie the directors OF each syndicate 70 cast
the ballot for the party that signed the
proxy. After the election the governmental
patronage would be allocated 10 the Syndl-
Gates IN proportion 10 the number OF votes
for the successful party turned IN. The
patronage would then be allocaied among
the preferred share holders Remuneration
o; each preferred stock holder securing
government job would be paid through the
directorates OF the various SyndlcateS who
would withhold from each job holder a
sum sufficient 10 pay dividends on the COM
mon stock. directors honorarium. operating
expenses. etc
The initiation OF such a scheme might
do much 10 rejuyenate the dying business
OF our various stock exchanges and the pub
lie interest in the daily quotations OF the
shares in terms of proxies or monetary
quotations for common and preferred stock
might equal the interest in prize fights.
ball games horse races or Hollywood
divorces. In any event 1t would simplify the
work and diminish the worry of already
oyerworked political executives. Instead Of
the Chief Executive having TO devise means
OF shaking a stick at rebellious Congress
and invent more and more patronage Jobs,
ne could deal quietly with the directorateS
of the incorporated syndicates and instead
OF having to blow his top 10 journalistic
inteviewers everything could be done
quietly and with proper decorum.
No Further Need for Citizens to Worry.
Furthermore once having signed and
mailed their proxies. the voters could forget
the whole matter be rid of all the incon-
veniences OF going TO the polls or primaries
and. on election day could go fishing. get
drunk or just loaf as they saw fit. In fact,
the more We consider what We think, with
all modesty, TO be a brilliant idea, the
more and more We are convinced that
we have thought up something that would
far surpass any scheme OF John Laws or
the Dutch tulip craze, Like the Mystery
Melody prizes the values (?l OF the shares
in the proposed syndicates would grow and
grow" We can visualize subsidiary plants OF
the Bureau of Printing and Engraving
springing up all over the country working
three or four shifts TO turn out paper money
and government bonds: the manufacturer OF
printing machinery and supplies would do
a roaring trade with the Treasury copper
and iron mines and steel manufacturing
plants would be swamped with government
orders; likewise the paper mills. Our forests
rapidly would disappear and there would
be a demand for stream control to harness
the ensuing yearly floods. the Army Engineer
Corps and the Reclamation Bureau could
carry on a major warfare that never would
end and so forth and so forth. In fact we
can visualize the millennium If the powers
that be will give serious attention to this
proposal and thus hasten the golden age of
universal governmental control over every
body and everything. ADAM SMITH.