OCR Text |
Show DEMOCRATIC HEAD APPEALS "jV FOB FULL I'STE THIS YEAR i i Election Offers Opportunity to ' Register . Views on Many Important Issues. ALL SHOULD PARTICIPATE Deplores Fact Only Half of Electorate I Usually Goes to Polls No Excuse I .for Absentees. 1 (This is the first of a series of statements on campaign issues by ,the chairman of the Democratic National Na-tional Committee.) By John J. Raskob ! hia led our legislative bodies Into taking action In order to develop a greater vote. The principal measures In this lino have been the various L'iws ma;l3 by the states for "absentee "absen-tee voting." Forty-flve of the forty-eight forty-eight states have made provisions so that abKentees from these states may cast their ballots. . For every one hundred votes cast for President in 1920, there were ninety-six who could vote but did not. This Is no way to elect a President of the United States, who, under our Constitution, Is given more power than any one human being in the world. Remember, this campaign will be the most stirring In the history of American politics. There is no American Amer-ican who does not want to take part in It. In many instances heretofore the race has been very close. Under, our Electoral College system of selecting a president, one state may decide the result In that state, a few votes either way may determine the entire election. One man's vote Is as good as another man's vote. The quality known as Americanism Is demonstrated to a mathematical certainty at the polls. Tour vote is valuable. Do not throw it away. If debtor owed you money, and you were away on the due date, you would make arrangements for him to transmit your money to you wherever wher-ever you might be. Tou can make a similar arrangement in regard to the vote. Absentee Voting Simple Voting under the absentee voting laws is made simple and requires but, little effort Let your government hear from you no matter where you are on Election Day. The candidates will struggle Incessantly Inces-santly in making an appeal tor your vote. They are at least entitled to expect yon to exercise your franchise. fran-chise. Strong men are running. Great issues fill the air. It will be up to you to pass judgment and you cannot do it If you fall to register. The American vote has a background of bloody sacrifice by the Great Americans of all our Wars. It you choose to be voteless, they have sacrificed, sac-rificed, to that extent, in vain. After a terriflo struggle, the franchise fran-chise was granted to the women of America. In the 1920 election it is estimated that the women cast thirty-seven per cent of the total vote; and forty-three per cent of the women qualified to vole actually voted. In i only a few of the states did the worn- j en cast fifty per cent or more of their voting strength. The issues presented at the coming com-ing election will be of intense interest inter-est to the women of the land. The cost of living, employment, freedom i of conscience, religious liberty and j i equal opportunity should attract a j i great majority of the women to regis- i ter and to vote. ' i ' Nothing Is more Important to the i future of America than that our citizens citi-zens manifest their own interest In its future by voting. We must de-jplore de-jplore the fact that in the last presidential presi-dential election, of fifty-four million jQuallfled voters, only about fifty per cent cast their votes. This year, It ls anticipated that there will be fifty-jelx fifty-jelx million qualified voters in the .country, and I hope and urge that I the great proportion of these will take advantage of the Voting Right It is a sad commentary on our democ- : racy that Germany, with only half of our population, saw two million more votes cast at its election for president presi-dent than the United States in 1924. We are generally behind other countries coun-tries in the voting record, although In foreign countries the voting franchise fran-chise has been a comparatively recent re-cent exercise of sovereignty by the citizens. It Is commendable that both parties this year are making eajnest end,eaYflrs to. hare enrolled a very large vote. If an administration la to function well and . to decide wisely on important issues, it should jbe governed by public opinion. We xertalnly do not get the public opinion opin-ion ot the United States when only fifty per cent ot the qualified voters appear at the polls. The time to record either satisfaction or disapproval disap-proval of officials is on Election Day. Grumbling about our publlo servants on other days of the year Is largely a waste ot time. j Minority Government We do not want to see here a government gov-ernment ot all the people by fifty per icent of the people. We have been having a government by only a majority ma-jority within the fifty per cent, which ils far less than the actual majority tot the qualified voters. . This coming election v;!! afford the Ipeople an opportunity to register Itheir views lu no uncertain way on 'Some fundamental Issues. Neither of the candidates, if elected, would feel primed for acting as Chief Executive Exec-utive If only a portion of fifty per cent of the voters Is responsible for his certificate of election. In 1924 Mr. Coolldge received fifteen fif-teen million, seven hundred and Casts Portion of Vote Every man and woman who votes j and does not encourage the other I members of their families to do like- j wise only casts a portion of a vote. i Working women have, a vast Inter- I est at stake in the election. Gover- I nor Smith stands as the champion of 1 human rights and welfare of the working women. Of no other accomplishment accom-plishment is be prouder than ot the success attending his efforts in the State ot New York to better the conditions con-ditions ot women In industry. As President, he would have a tremendous tremen-dous Influence on national legislation towards the same end. I trust the women will appreciate his services in this respect by their registration and vote. REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT VOTE IF YOU DO NOT REGISTER. twenty-live . thousand , and sixteen otes. Mr. Davis received eight anilllon, three hundred and eighty-six Ithousand, six hundred and twenty-tfour twenty-tfour votes; Mr. La Follette received jfour million, eight hundred and thirty Ithousand and four hundred and seventy-eight votes. And there were .scattered one hundred and fifty-seven 1 thousand votes. The total vote was only twenty-tlna million, ninety-nine thousand, one hundred and thirty-one. There were qualified to vote in 1924 fifty-four million, one hundred twenty-eight thouaand, eight hundred and ninety-five. So that Mr. Coolldge, Cool-ldge, who was elected President, only received a little more than one-fourth of the qualified votes ot the country. Research into this neglect of voting by the peopla of the United States |