Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1917 — National and Local Issues Should Be Divorced by Use of New Ballot System [ARTICLE]

National and Local Issues Should Be Divorced by Use of New Ballot System

By MARY A. CROWE

When an able and faithful public servant goes down to defeat at the hands of the electorate, one is constrained to seek the cause. It may be. in part, ignorance of the service rendered. In studying the question, a reasonable answer to it appears in the form of the ballot presented to voters at most elections.. The diversity of issues offered for intelligent' consideration may be jgrouped under the heads of national, state and the more-local one of county issues. Surely a blanket ballot. That so large a number of voters untangle the diversity of questions presented is a matter for congratulation, predicating, as it does, a high order of intelligence. ■ / It is to be hoped that in some future arrangement of electoral questions the election of national officers may stand alone, so that the solution of federal questions may have the consideration due to national issues untouched by local coloring. , With the isolation of the federal election a candidate for the office.of coroner need not take as a slogan, “Preparedness,” nor a,.candidate, for the office of assessor, “Protection,” nor an aspirant for the office of state’s attorney, “the full dinner pail.” In fact, the pleas put forward for election on national issues could not be used to confuse the voter. „