Article May 23, 1925 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Söderblom, John Willard Raught, William De Witt Hyde, M. E. Van Wagenen

[From the Agricultural Reporter, Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, Nov. 17, 1924]

Not only now and at this election, but also generally, on all occasions of elections by ballot of registered electors, we hold—we have always held—that the duty of every registered person is, if not prevented by insuperable circumstances, to go to the polling booth and record his vote one way or another. We are pleased to find the same view of what we regard as the duty of a registered elector held by so distinguished a journal as our contemporary The Christian Science Monitor. To illustrate, we find in the impression of the Monitor of September 13 the following leading article entitled, "The Habitual Non-Voter." Says our contemporary: "Indicted before the court of public opinion on a charge of neglect of duty, the non-voting citizens of the United States are threatened with summary proceedings which may, if the method outlined meets final approval, deprive them of a privilege they have failed to make use of. ... Possibly a simpler and surer way might be found to solve the problem. In most, if not all the states of the American Union, it is the practice to impose a poll or head tax on all male citizens. Suppose laws were passed extending this assessment to all men and women qualified to vote, and that the rate be advanced to say five dollars per capita, with the proviso that all persons who exercised the right to vote should automatically be relieved from this tax, and that all non-voters be compelled, under penalty of a fine, to pay. The pocketbook, after all, is the vulnerable point. Some learn patriotism only as their self-interest is affected. The non-voter who is compelled to pay for his negligence in staying away from the polls might find it convenient to learn that his privilege, is, in fact, a duty. But there are, as a matter of fact, being employed really constructive processes which promise to bring better results in inducing a fuller expression of the public will. Americans are learning that it is they who must safeguard and protect their sacred liberties. They are realizing that they can no longer safely sleep upon their rights. Failing to vote for themselves, they have discovered that the newly naturalized immigrants are voting for them. The result is not always what they might wish. Patriotism perhaps has not been as potent in arousing them as the realization that their individual interests are at stake. The results of recent elections indicate a general awakening to the needs of the hour."

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