Show response Res responsible ible government threatened because of apathy of voters by SARAH SCHUYLER BUTLER new york politician 61 per cent of those entitled to exorcise exercise tile tho franchise W in in 1934 1924 did so BO the would have been smaller had it not been for tile work of the party machines what is true of tile tho general election is ia even more true of the primary theoretically tile the primary gives every enrolled voter in a political party an opportunity to participate in the selection of candidates actually it makes it possible for a small minority to select or defeat candidates aln rc n ders it difficult for a man of moderate means to run for political office on ice since pinco lie ho must now finance two campaigns instead of one and in many cases consolidates tile the control of a party machine the reason is that tho the voters will not tako take part in ili tile the primaries even in primary contests in which public opinion is is aroused the number of qualified voters who take part is rarely over a third and in some contests tile the primary vote dwindles to pathetic proportions the result sometimes being decided by less than one tile the registered voters this great power of minorities and particularly of organized organic ed minorities nori ties is having a serious effect upon the who whole I 1 I 1 e system of representative government in in the united states representative government depends pen ds for its success upon tho the operation cooperation co of the individual citizen government lovern ment by minorities cannot be truly representative tt it is fc for ir each of us as amo american rican ci citizens to choose whether inthe in the generations that are arc to 0 o come our representative form of government shall continue and flourish i or whether so BO far as we are concerned government of the people by the people and for tile people shall perish from the earth |