"Yes. Here in Ireland, when we have an election, we have to send in the police from all the country round to keep the peace. If we tried to have all our elections on one day, there would be riots everywhere."
"What about?" I asked.
"I don't know—the people wouldn't know themselves, most likely; but there's many of them would welcome the chance for a shindy, if the police wasn't there. Isn't it the same in America?"
I told him I had been an election officer many times, but had never seen any serious disorder at the polls.
"Aren't there many riots next day?" he asked.
"Why," I said, "the day after election is the quietest day in the year. Everybody goes to work as though nothing had happened."
"I don't think there is much danger of riots," put in the salesman, "but we couldn't have your system over here because with us a man has a right to vote wherever he owns property and pays taxes, and if all the elections were held on one day, he couldn't get around."
"Ah, yes," nodded the priest; "I did not think of that. How do you manage it in America?"
"With us," I explained, "every man has one vote and no more."
Again his eyes goggled.