The Suffrage Question

We reproduce below that portion of Hon. James K. Doolittle's recent addreas bef ore the Wiiinebago Oounty (111.) Agri1 cultural Society relating to the suflïnfe question : How Bliall we eavo tlie republic from tlie dangers rf frands at electioua, as now couducted, eapecially in the large cities? Fraudulent voting, fraudulent eounting aud fraudulent stufting oí' ballot boxeH in large cities, froni New Orlcaiis to Chicago, have come to be practiced as one of the fine arts of legerdemain. How aha]] it be arreated ? There muet be a remedy for this growiug evil, or republican institutious wül prove to be a chcat and a eham. The essence oí republicamam is that govenimenta derive tlieir just powers from the consent of the governed, and that rulera are chosen by the people. That choice ie eipreaaed through the ballot-box, If a thoiisand votes, honeatly given by a thousand freemen, fío nullified and beftteh by a thoiiHnnd false votes the ballot-box is made to apealt, nol the truth, bat a lie. It no longer speaks the wfll of the people, bat the will of tlie few who usurp oilice by frand. It ceaees to be republican. It becomes au aristocracy of the nicanest kind ; an ariatocracy of swindlers, of cheats, of üars, of traitors to republican ideas. Of two thiugs, one is certain. Either theae frauds at the ballot-box muat come to an end, or the republic will perfeh. If these frauds are successfnl in largo eiios they will spread into all the larger towns. Is there no remedy ? I auswer : Yes, there is ; there muat be a remody. Take a large city- Chicago, for t-xample. Let the city be dividèd into precincts 30 Hlnall that all the votera, not exeeedir say 750 in a precinct. can meet in one hall on electiun day. If there ia no hall large enough to be obtained, put up a temporary shelter of boards, or pitch a tent. In addition to othcr proviaions of law, make election daya tegal holidays, and require eveiy voter, without valid excuse, to attend the j elections and do his duty aa a citizen, and tima aid in guarding the purity and aauctity of the ballot-box. I hold in my hand copiea of the records of town meetings in Massachuaetta; of Woburn in 1640, and of Keading in 1C57. Thcy imposed a fine 011 every voter who id not attend the town meeting by 9 o'clock in the 1 morning, or who abaented himself without leave until they adjourned. Do you think 1 there was any falae voting, or false countiug, then ? They made it their business to attend in persou, and to discharge their who'e duty. Why cannot we do ours? Are liberty aud country leas dear lo ne ? Let the laws provide j that the votera may themaelves, at one electiou, choose three of the Judgea aud Clerks to receive the votea at the uext ; no voter being allowed to vote for more than one, so that the j miuority may aelect at least one of the Clerks aud one of the Judges of Elections in every 1 precinet. Let it be provided, aleo, that the I Judgea of Electiona shall be upon a raised Í platform, that the ballot-boxes and the Judges shall be in full view of all the votera of the preemet duriiig the elections. in an cities 01 more than 30,000 people, to guard against repeatiug, falae countiug and Htulling of false votes in ballot-boxes, let the law provide that the name and place of residence of each voter shall bo written upen bis ballot and publicly read in the assembly before beiug put into the box. And, if challenged, requirehis identity and place of residenee to bo proved by the aftidavits of at least two electora theu present, who, if either Judge demanda it. shall, on oath, bo further examined as to kis identity and place of i reeidenoe in preseuce of all the electora. This provisión would require a ohange in the Constitntiona of many of the States. These proviaions onco adopted, in addition to the present legal requiroments, would secure the ballotbox agaiust fraud in voting aud frand iu couuting. The Judges of Election, aided by the polico and by the presence of the citizens, could preserve perfect order, and make the elections as quiet in the city as in a country town. It may be said that this last provisión impaira the nccrccy of the ballot iu large townü. That is true to some extent. But tlio necessity of preserviug tlie ballot-box against fraud in large cities overbalancos uil mipposed advantages of tlie secret ballot. The argument f or eecrecy is thia : that the laboring man may be intimid'ated by tbe capitalist if he knowa how he votes. But the day for that reasoning is past in all large towns. The laborer no longer feara the capitalist. The greatest writer upou government we know, Baron Montesquieu, as well as Cicero, who Bpoko from actual observatioa, says that the laws which rendered the fiuffrages secret iu Bome, toward the close of the republic, were the cause of ita decline. I quote their very words : " By rendering the suffrages secret in the ] toman ltepublic, all was lost." And why ? Secrcey became the cover for fraud. bribery and falso counting in that great city. Gibbon, also, the great historian and philosopher, dates the decliue of the ltoman Kepublio from tho introduction of secret voting. Besides, the open ballot, publicly given, shows courage, manliood, freedom. It tends to make men worthy to be free. But, gentlemen, tuero is another great reform in suffrage, which, as I think, all thoughtful men should favor. Wüen fully considered iu all its boaring it will, I believe, commaud the assent of tho great majorky of all political parties. It will do more than any other one thing to bring good government to our large cities, by placing it upou tbe true basis of human society. We i have adopted in all the States universal mauhood suffrage. The reform suggested accepts that, and does not propose to change it. It, however, recognizes the most essential element ! of modern Christian civilization - the family - ite rights, its duties and its powers. It pro potse to give to householders and heads of families wlio, for suoh time as shall bo tixed by i law - say one or two years- have lived with auil i supported their families in the district where they vote, two votes- one to represent their j maiihood in common with all other men, and i one to represent the household, iuclnding women and childreu. The term householder, or head of family, in the great majoi ity of cases ' will, of course, mean married men ; but not in i all cuses. As, ior instance, a man may be the head of a family and housfiholder whose widowed mothor "or sister kojps house. { Tiie reaaons why tho h ad of a family i shonld have a doublé vote w han men without ] families have but one may be stated brieily as follows : 1. Because the man without family represente but ono human beiug, while the j head of a family représente always two, and j generally more. 2. Uocanse a man without family has not more than one-half as mnch at stakein good govemmeut as the head of a family. 8. Beoause, other things equal, tlie man without family is ouly half as well educated in all that concerns the good of society I as the head of a family, livhig with tb om and supporting them by bis own exertions. 4. cause the man without family has had little if any experienco in governing in human society ; whereas the head of a family, by the laws of God and of man. is traiued to. govern. In the j family the man is liing aud the woman is queeu. It Is a littlo natioa by itself. Within its government all human beiugs are reared, traiued and governed for twenty-one years - half aud ruora than half of the averago years of human lite - Uiose years during which charaeter is formed and children are molded iuto men and women. Is there a single man without family who hears me who does not feel the ' truth of all this? Is there one who will not frankly say so? Bonje persons favor property qualiticutioiiK, cspecially in cities. But tuut will bo found neither practical nor poasible; nor does it agree with our theory "that government derives its juut powers [not from proper; ty but] from the consent oí the goverued ;" whereas, tho reform proposed agrees with that thejry. Tho mau without famiiy, by hii vote, gives'the consent of ono ouly - bis own conj sent ; whereas, tho head of a family conseuts I not only for uimaelf, but for the household I which iio govcrus. Thcrefore, unless the hoad I of the family have a greater voico than tho man without family, tho cousent of tho household - tho cousent of all the women aud children of the country- goes for notbing at all in makiug up the consent of the goverued. Bat the qne.-,tion arises, what effect would this reform have in great citiea? Take Chicago again, for example. Suppoee the provisions I have nientioned were adopted (or soino better ones) to prevent frand at tho elections, how ! would this doublé vote by tho heads of faruiI lies operato iu that great city ? Can any mau doubt it would tend to place control over tuo elections iu tho hands of those most deeply ! interosted iu the good government of the city ? Any head of a family - I car.) not how humble he may be - desires such a pólice and such a govcrument, that his wifo and children may at any time. by day or by night, walk tlie streets with safety. It is with him a constant, everpresent nnxietyandduty todo all hecau tohavo it so ; whüo the man without family thiulss and oaiev Jittlo for polico o long as be takea cai-e r,t i.inim.if ud Ua no one elo to care for, It Uw bn doabtad by novae whetber, in repub':■■ ni-Kpie'l, any but bacls of ilicH should Vote at all. Tliey urge that, in tho beginuing, nnd lu the Very nature of tilinga, the family is tho politlcal unit of human society, Vifiiiti the famlly govemtnelit ia not politicul. it is purely dotneatie. Tll9 home in a Pastlo, Witbin wbicli human lltwa do Hot enter. Withih that the latts of Ood, as utamped upon tlie very eoustitution of rotin, govern. Man iind woman together make (lp man. Each íh the complement of tho other- -neither without the completo. Man and woman, in the holy relatioii of marriügo, aro l'oth re'Juired to make up the full idea of man - male and fema!e, as Gort ereated them. From that roliition and iu that ralation the coming generations are reared. Therefore it ia that in the family, the home, under the roof which ahelters the houra of Jeep and of infancy, íh fonnrt tho true basia of human society. luto that littlo kingdom no one eau enter except by permisaion ; and if auy enter, bo Jong au they remain under that roof, however humble, they are subject, b,y the laws of Ood and man, to the head of the family. Heada of families, therefore, have natural nghta, which. iu the organization of government, should be renpectert and defended. In some of the New England coloniea, whern, under township governments, oor republiciin system grew, it wae provided, when flfty families foftned a seíllement in some new town, they could be orgaiiized. Fifty beada of families, at-sembled in town meeting, eonetituted a littlo republic with certaiu political pjwers. One huudred hcads of families had ttill greater powern. Kut in these republics, growing np trom nature, none hut the beada of families had any voice in political affairs. England, in the great reform of 18G8, in extending auffrage, atopped with householdera, tbua recognizing tbe houaohold aa the trae basis of political society. Some may say the reform I propose would induce men to marry to become the heads of families. That ia true ; and because truo, it is one of the atrongest reasona in its favor. That auch regulationa aa I have named in the early colonies tended to early ani happy marriagea there is no doubt; for in thoso days almost all yourg men and women were married before they were twenty-five. They becamethe heada of families ; their happy hornea were blesaed and tho country was blesaed with what is wortü more tliau gold and diamonda, more than houses and lauda - many, many noble children, v i(Èi strong minds and brave heaite in atrong bodies, to become the mon and the women who have made our country whatit is - the lightand of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, if the reform propoaed does tend to build up familiea, and hold out a moat powerful incentive to induce early marriage, tliat certainly is no reaBon against it. A republic does not conaiat of houaes and furniture, pórticos and public places ; but of men and women in hap"py and independent hornee. Let me cali to miud that the iincieut república in their botter days favored early marriage - giving it honor and power, xney wem bo iar as 10 jmjiuhii ueiiuucy. ' In the Roman republic, husbauds and fathers had extenBive privileges, "'and married men who had the most children," saya Montbequieu, "were always preferred, whetlier in the purj Buit or in the exercixe of houors. " The Consul who had the most children was first to receive the badge of ottice, and had his choice of the armies and of the provinces of the republic. The Senator who had most ohildren had his name written ürst upon the catalogue of Senators, and was the first in giving his opinión in the Senate of ïiome, that greatest body of atatesmen the world has ever seen. If a citizen of Rome had three children, he was exempted from all petty and troublcBome oftices. A married man could tstand sooner for ofliee, and every child gave a diapensation for another year. The object of all theBe laws was to iudnce men to marry; to marry yonng, and marry not to ba heirs, but to have theni. To tliis extent of giving a doublé voice to the head of families, let ub follow tho examples of tiie great republics in their better days. Let us build up, strengthen and honor the homes of our people. Let us give to the heads of bouseholds the power, dignity and honor, which of right, by the laws of God ar.d mau, belong to them. This measure appeals for support to all heada of families ; to all wives who preside in their happy homes; to all mothers who have discharged their liighest, noblest and most sacred of earthly duties, in hearing and rearing up children to be men and women, fit for the duties of earth, and when they are over, fit for the society of the biest in the eterna! mansions, and to all young men and yonug women who desire to build up happy homes for themselves. The support of all these must and will be earnest, intense and nearly unanimous; while men yet without famil ca, who clieriah the memories of the homes of their childhood, and know the blesaiugs of home government, will geuerally unito in favor of this great reform.