Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 394, 22 Pepeluali 1892 — PLURAL VOTING. [ARTICLE]

PLURAL VOTING.

We have a con»titution whieb deciares that aii men are free an equai but practicaliy it operates in tbt direction of creaUng an aristocraty, Tbe belief that property and wega* r.t $aU dciilarg a month or uiorv, a>e tbe pagsport* to re» pectabiiity and poiilieai power. ha» heeome a deep rootfnl Buperstitioii, and the indiviuual «vhodoes notown three thouBand doll&rs wt»rth of property, or eouimana fifty dollars a monUi ss a wages serf. is iuoked down upon by tbe upper five huodred. with tbe eame loathicig aud BCorn as the feudai digi)itary of okl looked down on the unoonsidered i member of tbe eommon herj. Tbe outward and visitAe grove! to the god of property ean be seen at every regiBtratio(i before au eieeit is then that tbe son of tbe soil whose property is r ite<] at less than $3000 atid who spendp his time on his own kuieana iiiBtead of workiug for a planter, is made to his bomiiiation. Tu work on hiB own land and raise food fr«m it for hie own iami!y, is of uo accoont compared witb the dignity of betng % a eierk or eome otber pieee of wageB meehaniem, bired for fbo am3nth. The efi*et is about the aame as divtding tbe adult male popolaUoo into 80 many dukee and so many eommoo oeople. Pv*BBib)y it may be, that only a _ few amonj the most retropressive of Reform Tories. veoture to tki*k coherentlr that tbe mao wbo poe* »esse« property is necfoBarily better or wiKer, mort monil or more pat riotic, than the oLa:i wh«» d**es imt To put tbe idea into ahaoe wouid be to give the lie direct to Jesu« Chki?t and all the AiK»tleB, to repo iiate the wholv theorv of the Cburches. to juir.p upc*n and b!ast Christianity in gencraī; and to go back on the teachingF of all the philoeophe!** frntn r>iogeiieB and Moees down to Henry~(ifOrge; and evt-u the eouiOien or garden gro▼*Uer. seldom ventures to formuiate bis creed in wonla. , The oJd ahoiU tbe ma& who bas "a Btake in the eountry" hardiy appiiee to the dude who boards at the Chlnese haah feoose a«d owea for hie last weeke toOird, or fer ihe mao who is mort-

gaged U* a bmk. for teo thoasand «hieh wsottSd aot bi wo*th foreci«Mtiiig. The penon wiih Ihe 'Siake M i* too q(U>u but an ejtplodixJ shao» who«e ne(t arfsets if realI ized on woulel he about a manure heap and a goat. and the other p*r* ty with the "stake" aforesaid, uiloo ' often a peraoQ who ha« money to bolt with or getoutofthe wav whenever his coontry wanted him. The facl Ī8 that the Torie«of the R«fortn Partv who plajed d©mocrat in 18$7, have not had tine to unroll iHir charter and eaamiiie it in ti»Ught of tbis pfeMi)t century. To pef> •Ut in maittUltiißf the pneset gy«tem of plaral votiiig ie an attempt to rule the oountry by **l- \ bal } «rhmb it is in the pown of Hia| peopie to thwart. !