"ONE MAN, ONE VOTE"

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 664, 17 October 1933, Page 6

"ONE MAN, ONE VOTE"

WRONG PRINCIPLE UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE ONE OF WEAKNESSES OF DEMOCRACY ADDRESS TO ROTARY » The interesting proposition that democracy has received the governments that it deservfes and in consequence has brought very many of its present troubles upon its own head was put forward by Rotarian E. Earle Yaile in an address to the Rotorua Rotary Club yesterday. In a professedly demoeratic eountry it requires courage to assail' the principle of "one man one vote," but Mr. Vaile has never disguised his conviction that this prineiple is at the root of the present political muddle and in his address he expressed his convictjons without compromise. : "Governments, Mr. Vaile pointed out, were of all kinds — tyrannies, dictatorships, monarchies, artistocpacies, . oligarchies (the rule of a privileged few), plutocracies (the rule of wealth), democracies, and ochlocracies (the rule of the mob). The first and the last were definitely bad, but Universal sufferage though it had been a cherished ideal, imposed a system of government that was fundamentally unsound. • Democracy implied the equality of all persons exercising the f ranchise — in a British eountry, of all persons male and female, above the age of 21 years. John Stuart Mill nad said. "If the institutions of a eountry assert equality, they assert a thing which is liot." That was true. It was farcical to assert that because a person had attained the age of 21 years ho had attained equality of intellect, of education and attainment. Human ability was as diverse as its component parts and it was not surprising that a political system which presupposed equal ability on the part of all adult persons was becoming increasingly muddled.

Pand'er to Largest Secticn England, as an example, had given the franchise to millions of politically uneducated young women who were quite unable to appreciate the problems which faced their eountry and the type of men which was required to deal with those problems. Universal sufD'age placed absolute power in the hands of the most numerous class, but it was folly to asseit that +he most numerons class was the .class best qualified to exercise an intelligent and competent interest in the affairs of the eountry. It comp'elled a political car.didate to suppress his own convictions and pander to the demands of the most ignorant section of his constituency merely because it was the most numerous. It amounted to this. No candidate could go upon the public platform ano Speak what he knew to be the truth because to do so would spell political suicide. Impossible promises weie inade because the uninformed and most numerous section of the voters demanded something of this natuie for their votes. History pointed the moral. In the reign of Queen Mavv, England s prestige had sunk very iow and the country's fortunes economically and politically had been at a very low ebb. There had been men of ability in the countiy, but they had been thrust into thc background and replaced by -sycophants and place-seekers who had surrounded the Queen. Then Elizabeth had ascended the tbrone and had surrounded hevself with these same men fchat Mary had passed over. The result was that the fortunes of England had rmen to the loftiest heiyht so far attained in her history. Then had come James who had cast out of office the men who had raised England to eminence under Queen Bess and had replaced them again with men who had iost a great deal othe ground that had been gained. This was not a demoeratic examplbut it indicated the effect upon a country's fortunes of incompetent administrators. The present demoeratic system created a similar position, for in very many cases it made it impossible for men of real ability to reach Parliament. It was the man who made the largest promises and who sought the favour of the electors, rather than the country's- good, who secured office. The Remedy The remedy, Mr. Vaile suggested, was to allocate votes aecording to the qualifications of the voter. He suggested that with certain necessary exceptions, everv adult person should be entitled to one vote, but that an additional vote should be given for property holding, landholding, and educational qualifications. In othei words a man who was at one and the same time a property holder, landholder and of good educational attainments would be entitled to exercise four votes, one each for his extra aualifications and one as an ordinary citizen. This, he suggested, would redress the inequitable balance which at present ranked the wastrel and spendthrift on a footing of equality with the man of substance and attainments won through hard work and ability. Property, he pointed out, could in the majority of cases be taken as evidence of personal worth and effort and for this reason he considered that it should entitle its holder to additional voting power. Education too was evidence of sustained personal effort. There was no royal road to education, but it meant application and a proper -development of the faculties. Here again additional voting power would only be a recognition of the increased value to the state of a man who had improved himself by increasing the sum of his knowledge. All Could Qualify The acquisition of property and of educational attainments was within the reach of all by hard work and thrift and it was, therefore, possible for any citizen to qualify by his own effort for the additional voting power. The holding of household and landed property, he pointed out, implied a stake in the eountry and a certain standing which was a security for the payment of debts and the status of the individual as a citizen. In conelusion, Mr. Vaile stressed the critical nature of present world conditions. All Europe was under the rule of dictators and there v/as general dissatisfaction with the condi- ~ tions of the political system. In such , a time, it was imperative that the ability of its best citizens should dir-

ect the state and not the rule of mediocrity and inferiority. Rule by popular vote merely meant the election of mediocrity which in time degenerated into inferiority. The eountry needed the best Parliament possible and only an enlightened national elecjtopate could give it that,