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Show SOUTH DAKOTA'S SEVTN FOOT BALLOT. It will be recalled that in a recent episode in our political history the citizens of South Dakota had the pleasure of voting upon a ballot some seen feet in length. The Intelligent voter was expected to grasp the document docu-ment firmly, read it through carefully, careful-ly, debate the laws and constitutional amendments thereon at length, and then vote in accordance with his reason rea-son and conscience Maybe some of the South Dakotan electorate did just this. But it seems very likely that others did not. And there is every Inherent possibility that Dr. Anna Howard Shaw guessed the truth when she thus ex-plained the defeat of the suffrage amendment upon this sevenfold seven-fold sheet: "It was the seven-foot-long ballot that helped to kill the woman suffrage bill in South Dakota. There were six amendments to tho constitution, of which the woman suffrage was one. But tho light was not against ua Tho liquor dealers wished to down one of tho amendments, and to prevent confusion con-fusion with that seven-fold ballot, they sent out word that all of the amendments amend-ments would be voted down. If ours had been the only one, I think we mLcht have won." Exactly such chance considerations hao determined referendum? In the past and undoubtedly will continue to do so in the future. And where it not for the present unthinking hue and cry for "more democracy." no one would expect anything else. In truth ther is no need of complicated political po-litical theory to support the representative represen-tative system of government founded by our ancestors. Blaln common sense would demand it. The voters of a state or a city cannot draft and properly consider complex legislation any more than the stockholders of a large corporatlnn can pass upon the details of Its buslneos. If our La&ty reformers of South Da-kota Da-kota and elsewhere would spend the time which they devote to undermining undermin-ing tho reprosentathe system to labor-Iur labor-Iur for a better quality of represents- tion, something beneficial might be accomplished. ac-complished. At least they would not be turning the country back towaid a primitive and long-discarded form of! government. New York Kvenlng Sun. |