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Show J EXERCISE YOUR FRANCHISE r ' RECENTLY an audience in the city of New York ' was told it would be fifty to one hundred , -L, years before the American people are able M xSRfjjitf intelligently to exercise the right of franchise. This LH i severe arraignment came as something of a shock 1 W to self-satisfied residents of the big town, but there M was more than a measure of truth disclosed in the H statement. Perhaps 1 00 per cent of truth would have M k- been disclosed had it been said that 50 years arc H likely to pass before the American people WILL cx- M ercisc the right of franchise intelligently, for we H jgk must not forget our besetting sin of apathy. H 3P The average citizen believes he has done full H , duty when he has cast his vote, and feels a sense H " of satisfaction when victory crowns his own good H . judgement. However, too often our. victory is but M y ' the mantel to defeat, for usually the Voter has good H ; no voice whatever in the selection of the candidates M ' f for whom he has cast his ballot. The average busi- H ness man pays more attention to the selection of an H '- office boy for his business than he dues to the sclec-saHr sclec-saHr . r'- tion of a man to represent him at the national cap- jT " " itol. Also after selection he watches the boy more Uf' .. closely than he watches the activities of his lcgis-H, lcgis-H, , lativc servant. L , Representatives are sent to Congress to work RfLr- for the convictions of the people who sent them Vj W there, not to express their own views. Of course, the H A1 average representative forgets this fact as soon as M jl Wk he takes his oath and follows his own bent, largely H ' perhaps because of custom, his constituents failing H ji j to give him other bent to follow. Public interest & in the work of a representative usually is confined ,3-V. j to endorsement for an appropriation for some local H'Fi' improvement. The Pork Barrel results, every com- II munity making a scramble to get its nose into the public trough. Votes are traded to obtain results, '' making the people's will a purchasable commodity, ' and bringing down upon the nation millions upon millions of dollars of expense, a condition that seems to mean little or nothing to the individual, v This is not a condition peculiar to any one party. ''' - It is part of the accepted form of governmental v activity, the result of apathy on the one hand and l ,f i the desire to score an advantage on the other. Is H " it any wonder we are weighted down by taxation? imHt There is not a business man of note in the country rwho does not know that when the first Liberty Loan was voted it could have been sold to the people at 3 per cent instead of at 3J2 per cent had the gov- hi ' ernment approached the people as any great bond B house would have approached the people, by ad- flVj' ' vertising in the newspapers. When you write to .your H congressmen or your senators about the benefit of H the government getting in closer touch with the peo- H pie through advertising, and they try to squirm out " under the plea of economy, ask them how much H money would be represented in a saving of the half H. of one percent on the interest of the first Liberty B Loan issue the millions of dollars that must be Lr ' paid by the people into the national treasury for K years and years to come. H ', The people never will get efficient or economical H f government until the people force the government H to use advertising in government functioning. Let B us have light. |