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Show WfflT ELECTION DAY MEANS TO AMERICAN PEOPLE I The Sunday evening services In I"irst Prpsbytorlan church were made attractive by two excellent vocal solos tendered by Misses Marina Chausse and Lillian Scott. Re. Carver said in part "Our election days are not counted a.; our great days of our history and yet thoy are the supremely powerful , days In Bhapening our country' s des-! tiny. Thin election day must hae ai ceep and solemn meaning to all , thoughtful minds. G-ermany would have not been In war had the common com-mon people tbe complete vote Rulers in Europe bigoted with conviction of i a divinp right to rulp and govern, have decided affairs of state. It is our plection day . its power and meaning, mean-ing, that is our besr aid to peace By its power we dethrone autocrats and select canal boys like Garfield and rail-splitters like Lincoln, who can bring the power of the nation Into sympathy with common people, their liven nnd needs "The election next Tuesday presents pre-sents many lessons to the thoughtful mind. There is first the long story Ip It of the long, slow, upward progress pro-gress of the race. Not only has it taken ages to bring men to the en lightenment and liberty of the ballot but it has taken long years to nerfoct the act of balloting and free it from intimidation and fraud. It may be that the word ballot comes from the balls, white and colored, used in old time voting. Cases of privilege were first decided by ballot and thus the naturalization of foreigners, and release re-lease of state debtors were thus dp-elded dp-elded In Syracuse the voting was done by writing words on olive leaves and was called petalism. An early method in England was to pierce with a dagger the card you wished to vote j A still earlier, if not the earliest, method was to write your own ballot in disguised hand writing This was used in parliament as early as 1662 Greece very recently if not at present, pres-ent, conducted elections in the church to attempt to lessen fraud. The voter qualifies before the church authority and Is given one bullet for each candidate can-didate A clerk carrlps these to thp boxes and hands the voter one bullet for each box Each candidate has his name on a box The voter reaches his hand down a funnel and drops the bullet In a "yes'" or "no" opening as be desires thus making the ballot sp-cret sp-cret Hungary hss a peculiar method of voting Secret balloting was un known there prior to 1848. Tho mode of voting was most peculiar Each candidate had a large box' we read with his own color and name. The voter was given a rod of from four to six feet in length to prevent se crecy, which he placed in the box through a slit in the top. The ignorance igno-rance of the oter has been aided in many ways. For a time each candi date had his separate colors. Today we have a party emblem to aid an ignorant voter to cast his ballot. "The old method of deciding by casting lots was the childish method Of a primitive racp II was directly opposed to our present plan of life Thought, reason and udgmcnt are more and more desired In civic life To decide by lot Is to confess either ignorance. Indifference or Inability Strange to say, not only religious and politjcal affairs of moment but also choice of women for a w ife have been often so decided It Is the easy method meth-od of non responslbilitv that means very little It is, however, no more foolish to choose a wife by lot than to decide upon a civil or church leader In that manner "The second thought election day brings to us Is that it is but an outward out-ward acting of inward realities Our ballots are but the result of our Inward In-ward voting Unseen but real w hold elections almost every hour of our life nnd determine upon plans of life or trends to be followed As we Inwardly decide bow our ballot shall be cast or as we are lnfluencpd from without how to cas' it so our action and character are results of either our inward reasonings and dpslres or of outward const rainings Disgraceful and abjectly base Is that one who permits his or her vote to bp deter mined by another False and pernicious pernic-ious is society that strives to dethrone de-throne judgment In its Individual members Do you not see that it takes away the one trend that makes ut- men and women, for if wp have neither right nor power to decide for ourselves, we are only animals He who seeks to tell you how to act or vote seeks to dethrone your judgment judg-ment Ho offers you the deepest in suit of which he Is able namely, that of pretendine that you have not thp ability to think for yourself. It is better that we think for ourselves and be half right than surrpnder our Independence even though by so doing do-ing we should happen to be completely right, which Is very doubtful "Our ballots seem to contain manv names and grow larger and more complex each year. We havp morp and more trends to decide by ballot and yet the secret ballot w-e all are dally using is complex in comparison. We are electing our convictions or 'uir desires to rule over us. We are selecting trends that fasten burden-1 Bonn habits or ways of llf that mean liberty, We are voting for our prejudices, preju-dices, pass, oris, bigotry, self Interest, weaknesses or for our best impulses, Ideals, motives and knowledge. Ev-1 rv drink of that which enslaves, every ev-ery oath of hlnsipliHrny. .-erv sensual I thought, every jealous, spiteful or en-' vious word thought or judgment, every ev-ery covetous desire for that which Is i tiot our own, is a ballot cast for a more base, lowly and Ignoble self to rule over us in thp future "We all bousp In ourselves manyl registerpd voters Some of them registered reg-istered in past Plpctlons are self-seeking, sppculatlon, justice, malice, mer-CJ mer-CJ . hate, love doubt, faith, fear, conscience. con-science. These and many others vote daily as to how you shall live They do not always carry their elections unanimously. Often malice w ins over I mercy by a small margin or faith outvotes out-votes doubt by a few consldpratlons or promises. "Most pathetic is that life that neither knows nor cares that i( if Fflectinc and electing its own destiny And mastery herp on earth as well as j hereafter. We select the kind of a life we will live and elect the habits and desires ideals and conduct that lorm the Joy or sadness, success or failure of life Hearer, look well to the kind of a character you are voting vot-ing for in your inner life " |