THE RENAISSANCE OF THE BALLOT

One of the most encouraging tokens in the political situation is the announcement that the 1926 primary vote has broken all previous records in the history of the United States. Not only have senatorial figures been surpassed, but in over twelve states the primary election has been larger than the presidential ballot in 1924. Certainly the nation has awakened, at least temporarily, from its lethargy.

The reason for the increase is only to be surmised; the candidates are, one may presume, neither better nor worse than those of former years; there is, outside of the possibility to a wet-dry conflict, no national issue; and there is no violent extreme of either great prosperity or deep despair. In other words the magic course which made the privilege of voting more than a potentiality is to be found, not in the controversies to be passed upon, but in a change in the voters themselves. And one of the most logical reasons for such an alteration is the fact that the voters have been informed, through the expose of the political scandals that all is not well with the ballot box, and that the Probabilities of corruption are manifold. There fore the desire to bring about a plausible amount of integrity in public office has drawn voters to the polls who have no interest other than to see capable and, as far as possible, honest men as their representatives. The result may be a repetition of former grafts: but if such is the case the people will have a more personal feeling in regard to the outcome.