Chapter XIV - Remedies Suggested-Political Apathy

First of all, and most important, we Americans must so plan our elections as to do away to the ut most with that political apathy which is the curse of our so-called by-elections. Every four years the great mass of the voters takes lively interest in the [ 274] Remedies Suggested-Political Apathy election of a president. The great party organiza ... tions make up with infinite care platforms and issues upon which to base a campaign, and appeal to the intelligence and conscience of the voters. The elec tion is important, the term is long, the office con spicuous, and the effect upon the personal fortunes of the party workers, in and out of office, is so great as to command their eager activity. The very sim plicity of a struggle between two strong personalities, a Republican and a Democrat, with perhaps a third Socialist or Prohibitionist personality somewhere in the offing, arouses the voters and brings out the vote with less than ordinary strain upon party machinery.

On the contrary, in off years, as we call them, only congressmen, governors, state legislators, county officers, and the like are elected, and apathy reigns supreme. There are no very definite issues upon which to fight a campaign. The State and county rock along comfortably enough whether controlled by Republicans or Democrats. The voters hardly care to go to the polls, and, but for the activities of party machines, the elections would be almost farcical be cause of the apathy of the voters. The strictly local elections of the cIties and towns, usually held at dates of their own, are rather more important; because the greater part of local taxation is likely to be expended on local improvements, and local questions arise from time to time upon which the voters become interested. Even here, however, political apathy dominates the voter for the most part; and the cogent question arises to the mind of the student how to dispel it, and wake the voter up to the importance and the value of his vote.

There seems to me but one way, and that a very simple one; namely, enormously to increase the im portance of local and state elections by redueing to [ 275 ] Too Much Government-Too Much Taxation the very minimum the number of elective officers; at the same time increasing the length of the terms and broadening the power and responsibility of those elected. To offer a concrete illustration, I lived for many years in Chicago; and was always, as this book will testify, much interested in the question of good gov ernment. Nevertheless, it was a distinct effort for me even to remember, much less vote at, the spring elections for .aldermen and the fall elections for county commissioners and state officers. As I have said elsewhere, for many years the Republican boss of my ward was a livery-stable keeper and the Democratic boss a saloon keeper. The candidates put up by both party machines for the responsible office of alderman were equally insignificant per sonages, equally unfit for the duties of the office; and the two aldermen from my ward were elected, one this year and one next, for the short term of two years. What earthly difference did it make to me which of them held office; and how could I, except by becoming a part of the political machine and practically· giving my life to it, influence the nomina tion of better men? Political apathy descended on me like a fog, dispelled only once in four years by the glare of a presidential election; or occasionally by a mayoralty contest in which some such thing as rapid-transit was made a political issue, though it ought not to be.

What was true of me was true of the mass of voters. The total vote cast by the city fluctuated enormously from election to election. As a usual thing there was no real issue except that of personal qualifications of candidates for their respective offices; and that issue was lost in the insignificance of the men them selves. What went on in Chicago also went on in [ 276 ] Remedies Suggested-Political Apathy some 300 small towns, on the twenty-five or thirty railways radiating from Chicago, and within forty miles of that city; precisely the same conditions of oft-repeated elections, short terms, unimportant offi ces, and insignificant candidates proposed by petty local political machines. The success of one set of candidates or· the other hardly was· worth the toss of a penny to the voters; and general apathy pre vailed, excepting in presidential year. Now let the reader picture to himself the contrast in the importance and vitality of an election for local government, if Chicago should take in the 300 afore said outlying towns and should elect at large for a long term, say four years, a very small Board of Al dermen or commissioners, say seven in number (which would be ample) to whom should be intrusted as to the Board of Directors of a corporation, the creation of an Administration and the passing of all laws and ordinances governing its activity. The governmental expenditures of the city, thus enlarged, would prob ably approach 150 million dollars a year, so that the seven men would have the spending of 600 millions of the people's money during their four-year term!

Would not that election, and the personality and qualifications of the candidates to be voted for, at once become of supreme importance, equalling, if not exceeding, that of a presidential election? Would not political apathy vanish instantly? Would the voters, as they do to-day, require to be chased to the polls by party workers? . This illustration suggested to me the outline of what follows; namely, a plan for enlarging to the working limit all local units of government, lengthen ing terms, reducing the number of local elective offices, and in every way increasing their power and importance; with the double hope of increasing to [ 277] Too Much Government-Too Much Taxation the utmost the interest of the voters and arousing the keenest ambitions of candidates fitted by ability and education for important office. For, the short ness of term and the insignificance of local office has caused political apathy to fall upon the latter as well as upon the voters. What man of standing, ability and earning power cares for local office under existing conditions? Can we not make both candidacies and elections more interesting?

Simplification of Framework of Government. During the last one hundred years or so modern commerce has evolved avery perfect type of pure democracy with high efficiency, to wit: the great business corporation; one well worth our study. The reader may interject at this point that business is one thing and politics another; and that the efficiency of the great corporation is no criterion of possible effi ciencyofgovernment, if organized alongthe samelines. The reply to this objection is, that the conduct of government is nothing more or less than an aggrega tion of many big businesses; but businesses they are, all the same. First, the Government must insure its own existence; and for that it must undertake the business of levying and collecting taxes; which is as purely a matter of business as banking, for instance. Next comes its business of legislation. Here again is an affair governed by the same intent as engineer ing or architecture or any other matter of purely commercial design, namely: to accomplish the most at the least expenditure of time, effort, and money.

Then comes the business of police and military pro tection of life and property; again an orderly employ ment and disposition of many men for a given purpose, subject to the same requirement of accom plishing the most at the least cost. And so on through the long array of the secondary [ 278 ] Remedies Suggested-Political Apathy functions of government; fire. protection, sanitation, poor-relief, education, etc; each of them is a business, best governed by business rules. In its entirety, the whole is a business machine, operated to maintain and further the human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The more efficient the ma chine, the better those rights are maintained. There is then no essential difference to safeguard between political and business organization. Many of our great corporations equal or exceed in annual turnover our greatest cities and states. The turnover of the United States has, however, al ways been great~lr than that of any single corpora tion. "Billion Dollar Congresses" were denounced as wasteful and extravagant before the war, though a billion would now doubtless be considered as quite rea sonable turnover for the United States Government.

The Steel Corporation comes in annual turnover well beyond that figure, and Henry Ford must approxi mate six hundred millions. The Steel Corporation had in 1920 over 105,000 stockholders or voters at its elections; about as many as voted in the State of New Mexico, although the Ford Company had but three actually one! The Bell Telephone Company had in 1921 over 186,000; not far from as many as the State of Florida. The· Steel Corporation once a year elects nineteen directors. Ballots are for the most part cast by mailing written proxy; the election .is held in a moderate-sized room with perhaps fifty to one hundred stockholders present, and the whole proceeding occupies perhaps an hour or two. The State of Connecticut (by way of comparison) holds annually three sets of elections, for which a tre mendous amount of political work has to be done in state, towns, and counties by many hun dreds of politicians; working also the entire year [ 279 ] Too Much Government-Too Much Taxation round in order to elect no less than 6,379 state, county, and local officers. The gross annual turn over of the Steel Corporation for 1920 was $1,755,000,000; that of the State of Connecticut, with its counties, cities, and towns, as compiled by the Census Bureau for 1912, was about $16,500,000, or about one hundredth part as much. The operations of the Steel Corporation resulted in a net profit of $55,210,000. Those of the state, county, and local governments of the State of Connecticut resulted only in the foregoing amount of taxation. Of course the business of the Steel Corporation was carried on for profit, while that of the state and local governments was not; yet one may make the comparison to illus trate what can be done by the highest type of repre sentative in the transaction of business, whether chosen by the stockholders of a corporation or resi dents of a state, toward minimum cost and effort and maximum efficiency. In both political and busi ness organization the simple object to be obtained is honest and faithful transaction of common busi ness. The old New England political theory was that this could be accomplished only by almost infinite diffusion of authority and responsibility.

But the results achieved by our governments, or any others, as compared with those shown by our great corporations, demonstrate the exact contrary that the interest of. all is best subserved by concen tration of authority and responsibility. They show that great results can be best achieved by elected officers of great mental power; and that it is perfectly safe to trust such men with corresponding authority over property and personal rights if at the same time they are held to concentrated and real responsibility. The difference between our political and our business theory is as fundamental as the difference in results. [ 280] Remedies Suggested-Political Apathy I found it a most entertaining mental diversion some years ago to make a rough draft of state and local political reorganization along the well-.known lines of private corporate organization. When com pleted I could see no reason why simplification should not work as well in politics as in business. I submit the outline herewith for the entertainment of the reader, if nothing more.

[ 281] CHAPTER XV OUTLINE OF PROJECT FOR SIMPLIFIED STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS LET me say in advance that there is nothing more difficult than to change rooted political habits of a democracy; nobody is more conservative, more "standpat," than the average voter. For that rea son it is easier to maintain and modify existing politi cal forms and boundary lines than to attempt to abolish and reconstruct them in toto. This has been borne in mind throughout the following sugges tions: 1st. Make a commencement wherever the mind of the voters may be sufficiently plastic to consider a novelty. The best starting point would be in a state in which a number of cities have already adopted a simplified form of commission government. Start with the local governments. Build up consolidated units as follows: 2nd. Let each natural railway centre, namely, the wholesale marketing city of the region, annex all surrounding towns for which it already serves as a central marketing and distributing point. In the past this has depended mainly upon nearness by railway lines. In the future good roads and automo biles may change certain boundary points by mak ing them tributary to other centres of distribution, but hardly enough to make much political difference.