Show CITY government THE CITY VOTERS THEIR POWERS AND butys mis 1 sis the fourth of a series of twelve articles on city govern A f trient that will appear in the progress tile the object of this arti article elt is to explain the duties that fall upon tile the voters of the cities to stir them up so that they will use the ballot more intelligently A stream will not rise above its source tile the city government will be just what the voters make it if they wish it a good government they must use the ballot intelligently if not they will it use SL it unintelligently to stir up the public to the responsibilities which rest upon them them in the electing of officers is necessary so that letter better ones we might say the best ones will be chosen to carry out the functions of the city government this article attempts to point out ut the duties and qualifications of tile the voters of the city milton A melville who are the voters of our city it is necessary to find out the qualifications of voters of our city before discussing their duties there are many qualifications to a voter in several of the states of the united states until recently only men could vote for city as well as state and national officers many of the people of 01 the cities of the unita states are not qualified because of property residence age citizenship and educational il qualifications may I 1 say here arc that the peopled people of utah have enjoyed more freedom in voting than those in nearly any other part of the united states furthermore they have exercised their ballot intelligently the voters of utah ard arc above th ea in the united states let us ua see if there are any qualifications for voters in city elections in the cities of utah particularly of fillmore Fill 1 any person who is not 21 years old cannot vote for city or state and national off officers leers in ill this city and state this aliis is uniform throughout the united states chis is placed for the purpose of aith holding persons from voting until they reach adulthood when all their reason CL pow powers ers are supposed to be Y this age qua qualification 1 iS ihulse avise 2 in utah there are arc many persons who vi e not citizens that can vite and f there here aru am many citizens who cannot vote the denson definition of a citizen is any pers person son born or naturalized inthe in the united states all of us who are arc not yet 21 years old indians and some convicts are arc citizens but cannot vote on the other hand in utah any foreigner who takes put out his first naturalization pap ers era declares his intention of becoming an american citizen is ia allowed to vote lie ile is not a citizen because he is not yet natila naturalized be lie he is allowed to vote after declaring his intention of becoming an american citizen 3 the third qualification oil I 1 is is that of residence or where it a man declares his hia home A man mail is declared it a voter when lie he says his home is providing he foes does not claim his home in two places many times a man has his bus iness in one place and his home in another it is difficult to collect taxes on his business when declares he his home in ill another place 4 in utah a man to be a voter must be tt a resident of the state for at least one year and a resident denhof of the city in ili which he lives for at least sik si months 5 in many cities of the united states only th those ose people wran read and write are allowed to vote in city elections this is in forced in the southern states state and many of the eastern ates cities i I 1 believe that there is no educational qualifications for voters in fillmore Fill this is giving the peo pie of fillmore a liberal hand with the ballot those pe people ale who have not had the privilege of learning ng to read and write te are arc not denied the privilege of voting 6 A person does not have to own property or pay taxes to vote in Fill Fl ilmore in many parts pathe of the united states they do ma is ifs another liberal voting ge which lias has been 9 grant fallt ed 0 abis people reviewing ving the privileges privilege 0 of f the voters of fillmore whom ahoi 11 1 I may address as you I 1 may say lit that you are blessed in ili being born in ili utah etc ih whore where such liberal ballot privileges are granted you are not excluded because you are too poor to own property or pay taxes you do not have to read and write your residence can call be determined by yourselves many of you who tire are not citizens are allowed to exercise the voting privilege what more freedom of the ballot than this do you want of course we should have still more freedom in ill the initiative referendum and recall this additional freedom will come when you will rise in it the power of self government A along iong with these rights that 11 awe in voting you have some corresponding duties to perform the duty that you han have hane e is to learn to exercise your voting privilege more wisely you are not lot only entitled to vote but to nominate your city officers this fall a meeting of democrats will be called in ili one building and in it a ine meeting eting of republicans in another build ling here the mayor councilmen Tred treasurer surer and recorder will be nominated only it n very few leople attend these prini primaries aries E should be bethere be there for this reason creaso I 1 herns i e r i c v i li s w I 1 i your future city officers are selected if two poorly qualified seq set ire selected by a few voters you mn can vote only for one poorly winfied set or the other on oil the other hand if you will go out to the primary and nominate two well qualified sets of officers we will be sure to have a good set of officers to run rtin our city government every ever y vot ot er must remember the importance of primaries tile the next duty is to elect tile the nominees who tire arc the best qualified fellow citizens do not be part izan and vote it a party t ticket in it a city election that is ignorance nee vote for tile the best Iti ali men then you will be sure to have a good city government it acears therefore that you have in an important duty to perform in electing your city officers whether they be good or bad whet whether herour our city government is well runor run or poorly run depends upon what you people make it if it I 1 is poorly run it is your fault in choosing poorly qualified officers if it is run well you are the ones to take tile credit remember tilt you are responsible for the way in ili which your ci city ity is i 4 run you as voters of I 1 this town ean can determine the xvi way lly ill in which this government asrun Is i srun run obey the instructions instruction given in in this article and good government will he be the result |