Moisei Ostrogorski
Published: 2017-01-11
Total Pages: 840
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Excerpt from Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, Vol. 2 of 2 Pac! IV. The legal formation of the electoral contingents by registra tion. Although attended by certain restrictions on the right of voting, American registration is not sumciently careful in guarding the exercise of this right, which is considered rather as a right of the individual. The opposition which the introduction of a system of preliminary registration of the electors had encountered in the American democracy. Sketch of the mode of registration in force in the various States the selection of the oficials in charge of registration. The intervention of the party Organizations. The frauds of colonization and others; how they are encouraged by the system of personal application, by the shortness of the legal terms, and by the in uence of the parties on the choice of the registration oficers. The naturalization of aliens in view of the elections and the abuses to which it gives rise V. The reconnoitring of the electoral ground. The poll. How its indications, while having a general significance for the whole Union, differ for each political subdivision. The importance of the operations of the poll in the doubtful States. How far its results can be depended on. Its practical use 306 The election meetings. The lavish employment of them dur ing the presidential campaign and their limited number in the off years. How the committees organize the meet ings; the selection oi the speakers; how they are coached up and matched to their audiences. The predominant char acter of stump eloquence and how it corresponds with the American temperament. How the great political eloquence has declined owing to the fall of the leadership and to the deterioration of representative government, caused by the system of secret legislative committees and by the advent of the Machine (speeches are made for Buncombe only, all that is needed is to get the How the extraordinary development of the press and the change in the nature of political problems has contributed to the decline of political eloquence. Far from becoming business like, stump speaking rather takes the frivolous language of after-dinner speeches for its model. However, the quality of speeches at meetings has improved somewhat under the in uence of the economic discussions started in the country, and owing to the harangues of eminent orators delivered on the stump for want of another rostrum. But the absence of elevation in political character often brings the best speakers down to the level of gladiators, and still more the inferior ones. The workshop talkers and the spouters at street crossings. The joint debates have almost ceased to exist; the part played by them in the South of old days. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."