Harold F. Gosnell

An Analysis of the 1932 Presidential Vote in Chicago.

In many ways, the city of Chicago is typical of the United States as a whole in the twentieth century. It is a cross-section of the mixture of races, religions, sects, linguistic groups, and economic classes that go to make up modern America. In the past two decades, the political behavior of the citizens of Chicago in national elections has been similar to that of the entire American electorate. Except for the election of 1916, when Hughes carried the city by a narrow margin, the presidential candidate who carried Chicago also carried the electoral college.At irregular intervals, there have occurred in American party history certain crucial presidential elections which appear to have set the party alignments for several decades. The election of 1896 was such an election, since it determined the supremacy of the Republican party for a period of a quarter of a century, interrupted only by the Wilson Administration, which came to power because of a split in the Republican ranks. A new era in American politics was definitely started by the election of 1932 which ended the Republican dominance. An intensive study of the behavior of the voters in Chicago during this political upheaval will throw some light upon the motivation of the voters in the entire United States.

THE POLLS AND OTHER MECHANISMS OF DEMOCRACY

THE THEORY of democracy postulates that authority is to be exercised by those who have to submit to it. But how in practice is it possible for a sovereign of 45,ooo,ooo adult citizens as in the United States to exercise power? To implement the democratic theory it has been necessary to invent the mechanisms of the ballot, representative government, political parties, legislative hearings, advisory councils, the initiative, referendum and recall, etc. Most of these devices made public opinion available only at infrequent specified intervals. As long ago as i888 Bryce stated in his American Commonwealth that it would be desirable to keep in touch with the state of opinion at all times but he had no conception as to how the mechanical problems involved could be solved.* The public opinion poll has added another device to the kit of tools available to make the popular form of government workable. Straw polls have been taken in the United States for at least forty years but it is only in the last five that the technique of the public opinion survey has developed very rapidly. The colossal fiasco of the Literary Digest post card poll of I936 has focused attention upon the method of the small representative sample as developed by Gallup, Crossley, Roper and others. These investigators use the interview method and select a sample that runs to only four or five figures but which is as near as possible a cross section of the entire population. Where necessary the sample is weighted to conform to the estimated strength of given groups in the universe sampled. While the method is still in the experimental stage, presenting many unsolved problems and lacking in prestige, no one can deny that it is gaining headway and must be counted among the mechanisms of modern democracy. It is the relation of this method to such older devices as the initiative, referendum, recall, advisory council

Does Campaigning Make a Difference

RECENT findings of social scientists to the campaign, but his opponent must still do so effect that political campaigning affects only if he is to make a respectable showing and a limited number of votes have sometimes remain in politics. In many close elections vigbeen interpreted to mean that campaining is orous campaigning may be the decisive factor. unnecessary. Examination of the ten elections The author, well known for his Getting out in which Franklin D. Roosevelt was a canthe Vote and other works, is Adjunct Professor didate, however, throws considerable doubt of Political Science at The American Univeron this thesis. It is true that in some cases the sity, Washington, D.C. candidate who is sure of victory need not

Popular Participation in Swiss National Council Elections

It is difficult to compare popular participation in Swiss elections with that of any other democratic country in Europe. The smallness of the country, the rugged nature of the land, the diversity of languages, the strength of the traditions of local self-government, the variety of political institutions, and the multiplicity of elections make Switzerland a unique place for political experiments. The composition of the Swiss electorate is very similar to that of the French. Every Swiss male citizen, twenty-one years of age or over, is allowed to vote, unless excluded by the laws of the canton in which he resides. However, the duties of the French and Swiss electors are far from being alike. In France the electors vote every four years for the deputies, while in Switzerland there are elections on federal questions every year, to say nothing of the cantonal and municipal elections. The elections to the lower house of the Swiss national legislature, the National Council, are held every three years. These elections do not have the same importance as English or French legislative elections, because the Swiss constitution limits the powers of the national legislators. Furthermore, the Swiss plural executive system detracts from the dramatic quality of the National Council elections. The executive is not responsible to the lower house as in countries having the parliamentary form of government. Making allowance for the fact that some of the cantons have compulsory voting, one might expect to find a lower record for participation in elections to the Swiss National Council than in elections to the French Chamber of Deputies, the latter body having undivided national power and, in addition, control over the executive.

Some Practical Applications of Psychology in Government

Psychological tests and methods have proved useful in solving some concrete problems arising in the courts, in the state institutions, in the army, in the civil service, and in the schools. These governmental agencies can use to good effect the general intelligence tests in classifying persons brought to them, and they can use some of the specialized tests that have been worked out for particular purposes. The perfection of tests of emotional, volitional, and moral traits would be a great aid to public administration. Psychology might also be applied to the analysis of the election process and to the development of qualification tests for electiors. Students of government should therefore endeavor to co-operate with the psychologists, the educators, the psychiatrists, and the personnel experts.

The Political Party versus the Political Machine

of the forty million voters in the United States at the many elections in which they participate involves careful organization and planning. Political parties are needed to educate the voters regarding the issues and the candidates and to induce them to perform their duties as citizens upon registration and election days. These parties must have a well-trained body of rank-and-file troops, persons who are willing to perform the routine tasks so necessary in politics such as canvassing, circulating petitions, opening their homes for small meetings, addressing envelopes, distributing literature, making public speeches, and looking after the technical details of the election process. There must also be party leaders who know how to conduct campaigns, arrange for meetings, direct publicity, and meet the tactics of the opposition. In addition, the party must have access to means of mass impression. Somewhere it must find crowds for its

Characteristics of the Non-Naturalized

More than 7,000,000 of the foreign-born in 1920 were unnaturalized. The preponderance of aliens from southeastern Europe still unnaturalized is explained by their more recent arrival. In Chicago the great bulk of the non-declarants are women. Another factor affecting naturalization is occupational status, the skilled and professional calss being more interested in citizenship. Marital status is also important. The immigrant feels himself a part of the life of the country when he starts to raise a family here. Moreover, it is easier to be married if the is naturalized. Since it usually takes several years before the process of naturalization begins to operate, the non-declarants are uniformly younger than the declarants. Another factor is education, immigrants having no schooling are much less likely to take an active interest in naturalization than are the educated. This study has also shown that the non-declarants are, as would be expected, much less informed about the political institutions of America.

An Irish Free State Senate Election

In the fall of 1925 a unique electoral experiment was carried out in the Irish Free State. Nineteen senators were elected according to a system which presents a peculiar combination of electoral features. The aim of the framers of the Free State constitution was to provide a second chamber composed of men of experience and recognized ability. To this end they devised the following system: (1) the entire nation was to serve as a single electoral constituency; (2) the nomination of the candidates was left to Parliament; (3) the franchise was limited to citizens over thirty years of age; (4) the Hare system (single transferable vote) of proportional representation was to be used for the marking and counting of the ballots; (5) the senators were to be elected for twelve-year terms; and (6) onefourth of the senators were to be elected at each triennial election.

Participation in the Forthcoming Election

R ECENT surveys show that the highest participation in voting is to be found among the well-to-do, the business executives, the best educated, the professional people, men; the low-est participation is to be found among the women, the young people, laboring people, people with only grade education, Negroes, and those in the lowest economic levels.1 In the last thirty years the general pattern of electoral participation has not changed much.2 There has been a gradual trend toward higher participation among women, laboring people, and Negroes, but these groups still have considerable indifference and apathy to be overcome. It may be expected that the proportion of adult citizens who will vote in Novem-

An Interpretation of the Philippine Election of 1953.

Conditions for the successful operation of the democratic form of government have not been present in the Orient. Democracy requires a people who have confidence in themselves, in their leaders, and in the democratic processes, and who have the means for operating democratic institutions. Included in the tools that make democracy work are literacy, a willingness to abide by the rules of the game, and a rapid means of communication and transportation. In the Orient a fatalistic view regarding government is widespread. People in the lower income groups feel that government is an institution of the few, by the few, and for the few. Vote buying, spoils politics, favoritism, nepotism, grafting, the squeeze, the hold up, the percentage are all taken for granted. As one Filipino senator put it, “Graft and corruption are inherent in human nature.” The Orient also suffers from the primitive character of means of transportation and communications. Roads are bad, newspapers have limited circulations, telephones and telegraph stations are few, radios are scarce, and travel is often complicated by hazards of water, mountainous terrain, bandits, and wild animals. The Philippine elections of November 10, 1953 show that the difficulties that have hindered the growth of democracy in the Orient can be overcome. Before the elections apprehension was widespread that extensive use might be made of fraud and terror to defeat the free expression of the popular will.