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production.COM rULHlt;IKY VOTING.Tile Bsrauton Truth recently talked along a line that is new. That is* people In this 'land of the free and the home of the brave’1 have never bad their attention called seriously to the subject of compulsory voting; but when one thinks the subject over he must agree with the suggestion. If compulsory education is till right and a good thing, then as to voting, why not?Here is a part of what the Truth says;' Secretary of the Navy Joseph Daniels has spoken again and this time his oratory has the appearance of leading to something practical. There may be* people who possess the art of creating theoretical difficulties who can conjure up all kinds of reasons why Mr. Daniels' suggestion cannot be carried out. We content ourselves with the assurance that our sovereign government cun compel Its will if that will la based upon reason and right.“Secretary Daniels says that every citizen should be forced to vote. We agree. Citizen ship andvoting are inseparable. That is, no one can think logically of the meaning of being a citizen and leave oui the ballot. At present voting is optional. A man may go to the polls or stay at home, just as he pleases. He ought to be made to go to the polls or suffer consequences prescribed by law. Why should a man enjoy ail the privileges, rights and Immunities of citizenship and neglect its chief duty?“But the suggestion does not go far enough Every cltiaen should be compelled to register or the registration should be done for him by the authorities. For instance, fully 25 per cent, of the citizens of Scranton are not on the poll list. According to the federal census of 5. S10. there are 37,050 men in Scranton over twenty-one years of ago. Of these 8,750 are of native parentagethat is, Americans of at least two *_! generation*, and 10,617 are the American-born sons of foreign or mixed parentage. Thus, there are 10,370 men in Scranton who are American citizens by right of birth. That is Just about the number of voters there arc on the register. But over and above these there are 7,-330 naturalized citizens within the city limits; therefore we ought to have at least 27,000 voters. About 7,000 voters never register,**The Citizen would like to hear I h from its readers along this line. If compulsory voting and compulsory registering Is a good thing according to your way of thinking, why, write out your thoughts and let us publish them. If you think compulsion Is wrong, give your reasons and we will gladly publish what you have to say.Now, take your little pen in hand and go to work.
Newspaper Details
Honesdale Citizen
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Aug 05, 1913
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 31 Jul 2023
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