“Our ruinously expensive government, shameful system of national taxation, blackmailing of individuals and corporations, and bribery at elections and in the legislatures, show clearly enough that universal suffrage does not eliminate the influence of wealth from politics, or produce the millennium and paradise for any but scoundrels. In fact, our present system only puts wealth, or the power which it represents, into the hands of the unscrupulous who can always use the proletariat for any irresponsible power that is wanted, and for plundering the community in some form, whether by taxation or blackmail. They have become so bold that they do not discuss the problems of government at all, but carry on their business with the audacity of pirates and the immunity of saints. Universal suffrage is simply the useful instrument to this end, and the boasted policy which was to cure poverty and destroy the influence of wealth has only increased its power and handed government over to the anti-social classes, with a struggle between the anti-social rich to plunder everybody else and the anti-social poor to do the same. The proper limitation of the franchise would cut off the sources of the politician’s influence over the proletariat and place the balance of power in the great middle class whose social and moral qualities are superior to those of the rich who buy the plebs with a mess of pottage or false promises in order to mulct society, and whose intelligence and prudence are superior to those of the proletariat.” (Hyslop on Democracy, pp. 248, 249.)
The reader now understands that there was no exaggeration in the statement heretofore made and repeated in this book that the government of this country is entirely in the hands of a political oligarchy. This being the case, what is the vote worth to a fair-minded independent American citizen, living in New York, Chicago or Boston, or in any one of the hundreds of cities in the land? What is the actual value to the unpropertied American of the yearly privilege of voting, which the twaddlers and the politicians keep saying is “inestimable”? Absolutely nothing except for purposes of sale to the politicians. This statement may be sweeping, but it is true. The boasted gift of the ballot has become a mockery to every honest man by being made the mere vehicle or form by which are registered the decrees and appointments of venal and corrupt political cliques. The only remedy lies in the destruction of the oligarchy of politicians, and of this there is no hope or prospect while the system of manhood suffrage continues to produce the controllable vote.
“Experience (says Bagehot) proved what our theories suggest, that the enfranchisement of the corruptible is in truth the establishment of corruption. The lesson of the whole history indubitably is, that it is in vain to lower the level of political representation beneath the level of political capacity; that below that level you may easily give nominal power, but cannot possibly give real power; that at best you can give the vague voice to an unreasoning instinct; that in general you only give the corruptible an opportunity to become corrupt.” (History of the Unreformed Parliament, 1860.)
In other words, it is practically impossible to bring the rabble element to take an active part in good government. There is no possible organization of these corrupt groups save on the basis of corrupt leadership. Bryce made a study of the subject and devotes several pages to it (American Commonwealth, chap. cxviii), and although always optimistic, he is not able to point to any genuine source of relief. The “machine,” he says, “will not be reformed from within; it must be assailed from without.” His hopes for future relief are based on Civil Service reform, the secret ballot, and time. To rely on time is childish. Civil Service reform, if pushed to extremes, will give us a bureaucracy, such as has afflicted Germany and Russia. The secret ballot was the hope of political dreamers who imagined the rabble as possessed of hidden springs of knowledge and virtue; as secretly devoted to causes and leaders they never even heard of and never want to hear of. In the same chapter Bryce admits the possibility of future “strife and danger,” and closes it by speaking of “a hope that is stronger than anxiety.” This devil-may-care attitude may be appropriate to a foreigner, but no American worth his salt is willing to sit down in the face of such threatened danger and wait for time and chance to save the country. Those who will not make a move to save themselves are not worth saving. The Fortnightly Review recently says, in explanation of Bolshevism in Russia, that “the dregs of society have come to the surface, as they will anywhere when the ordered fabric of civilization built up on respect for law and personal rights is broken up.” But this is precisely what they are constantly invited to do by manhood suffrage. If it is not an invitation to the dregs to come to the surface, what is it? If they are in power it is because we have been silly enough to open the door. Today they are organized for party plunder; tomorrow they may combine to loot the country.
CHAPTER XII
INJURIOUS EFFECT OF MANHOOD SUFFRAGE UPON AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE BODIES
The political machine, the political ring, and the political boss crush out all independence, and bury all talent which will not lend itself to their purpose; discourage all statesmanship, wither all genuine political ambition and debauch the political conscience of the nation. One result is plainly shown in a distinct lowering of the quality of our public officials, including the membership of our legislative bodies, state and federal. The establishment of machine or party organization political rule by means of the controllable vote has replaced the former free play of individual talents and opinions; has discouraged our best men from entering political life and has degraded those who take part in it. Our Congressmen are of mediocre ability and deficient in strength and honesty; our state legislators are of a still lower type; our legislatures both federal and state and their members are more often the subject of public ridicule than of praise; the political opinions of their members fail to command public respect; with the public at large they do not stand nearly so high as during the first forty years of the republic, when they were chosen by qualified constituencies. At that time the mass of the American voters were uneducated men, yet they sent first rate men to Congress; now the mass is far better instructed and send third rate men to Congress. This is because the national political spirit has been lowered; it no longer seeks to express itself by its best. All the above is so generally asserted and commented on in books, magazines, newspapers and in daily conversation as to be notorious. It is likely that every intelligent reader of this book is fully aware of it.
In explanation of America’s failure to put the best men in high places, it is sometimes said that it is the result of a certain weakness everywhere attendant upon democracy. A similar tendency has been observed by John Stuart Mill, to accompany the widening of the suffrage in England. He says:
“The natural tendency of representative government, as of modern civilization, is toward collective mediocrity; and this tendency is increased by all reductions and extensions of the franchise, their effect being to place the principal power in the hands of classes more and more below the highest level of instruction in the community.” (Representative Government, p. 159.)
In France the deputies to the Chambers are elected on a manhood basis. The result is typical of the system. Prof. Garner says: