Show Politics IN every country where popular suffer- suffer j a age is allowed there is always alway great I 1 excitement when election time comes This is true not only of republics but also of limited monarchies Whenever there is is a contest at the polls between the two great political parties of Great Britain it costs the people something I I 1 like ike a million pounds besides much valuable time and barrels of whiskey that might night better h hive Lve been emptied into nto the gutter at once instead of bringing bringing bring- bring ing ng men down with them The rivalry is s not generally so intense in the British colonies because party lines are not so strictly drawn as they are in the mother country But even where there are no nowell nowell nowell well defined political parties as is the case in N New ew Z Zealand aland there is great rivalry between the men who put tt themselves themselves them them- erp- erp selves up as candidates for office The situation is quite different in India where there are no popular e elections The country is divided into a number of crown colonies the governors and other officers of which are appointed by hy the F Empress of India Queen India Queen Victoria The writer has been informed by men who have lived in Engl England ud Australia and India that in their opinion the named last country is governed better I and with less expense than any other part of the United Kingdom This means that a monarchial form of government govern govern- m ment nt under a good ruler is better than democracy where the soverign people are dishonest In this country political poetical contests have long been fought on party lines not only in national campaigns but even down to the election of school trustees in the country districts The greatest political campaign ever conducted in this territory is now being bein carried on Clouds of smoke are already a ascending and the unwary are in dart r.- r. ger of being led astray because ljj f dense suffocating atmosphere E The beat of drums the blare of l Ura r Ys' Ys bands Jf I r rand and the vociferous stump orations orations o ok or politicians all have a tendency to d draw w win in the unemployed and often those who have employment and who ought to be beat beat beat at their work To march in a parade carry a banner and shout II Hurrah for their political party is a source of great pride to many people L. L But the trouble is that under such circumstances something more than pride is cultivated prejudice also grows rows up and stints reason just as thistles ana and thorns choke the good seed which otherwise otherwise otherwise other other- wise might bring forth a hundredfold Under such conditions a man gets in inthe inthe inthe the way of thinking that there is nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing bad about his own party and nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing good about the other party He must support the action of his party whatever it may be and when the other side does something that is praiseworthy he is not willing to acknowledge that they have done some good There are to be sure some differences in the principles of the great political parties in matters of national importance import import- ance but what has that to do with the election of a city council the appointment appoint appoint- ment of police or the paving of the streets Why spend so much time disputing about tariff and free trade that people may know how to vote in a municipal election If we could have candidates who are sound honest men free fre from political trickery and if all upright ht would vote for them we would be sure of good government The present system of politics has a aten ten tendency ency to foster fraud both before and after the candidates are declared elected In proof of the former we need only refer to the scheme of stuffing ballot boxes that was carried on here last year The latter case we may look into more closely Every campaign J l l J o J cost casts S poli party a large sum of mOl money money ey and dt it J i generally falls to the candidates fo for te to pay the expenses whether they are ae elected fleeted or not After ei e the he H defea defeated d candidate as wella well 4 O 0 O C J a as s th-eQ th the victorious on one gets a note note from quarters head telling him that his share of the expenses amounts to fifty dollars or some other neat little sum Perhaps the same candidate suffers four or five defeats before he is elected He may then become becom mayor an alderman or a 1 It member of the county court But all this campaigning has cost him many valuable hours and several hundred dollars dollars dollars dol dol- lars with interest Now the public must furnish him money not only to pay for the paving of the but also for the replenishing of his own pocket He has spent much time and money in trying to get an office and now he thinks it only right that he should get all ll that with interest out of the office Many voters become so excited over elections that they these points I Instead of viewing the situation in the light of cool reason they are guided by prejudice and their wrought p p feelings The best thing that students can do dois dois dois is not to let politics interfere with their work Quietly consider the conditions and then if t they ey have a right to vote use it as reason may dictate D Unless they learn to do this of what benefit will their education be to themselves themselves themselves them them- selves or anybody else Indeed indeed the purpose of all in intellectual and moral training is that man may not b be lead leadon on by blind fanaticism but that he may maybe maybe maybe be able to grasp the truth and use it for the bettering of mankind A citizen that will vote for a particular candidate for mayor simply because he is a Republican Republican Republican Re Re- publican or a Democrat qualities that neither fit nor unfit him for the position and at the same time disregard the essential qualifications of such an officer officer officer is simply throwing aside judgment justice and reason and committing J himself to a policy that means m meis s iri in thre th e end ruin The situation is made ade the the themore themore more appalling when when we we realize that the results affect pot not only th the jn individual indi- indi vidual but the whole j j nation n J i con conclusion elusion it may be said that education tio is rs opposed to what may be called popular politics It fosters statesmanship not pol political i trickery conform conformity i ty to the demands of reason not yielding to mental mental mental men men- tal excitement or the sh shout ut of the demagogue It aims at that which may now be termed the ideal but which will eventually become the real M. M B. B |