NOTES 303 



reason, science, learning, travel . . . obtain but few additional 

 marks, if any, in comparison with party influence, local posi- 

 tion, savoir faire, and, of course, a capacity for ready speaking. 

 Lastly, as a general qualification required for all but a few, 

 candidates or their friends must possess enough money to pay 

 election expenses, say £500 for each election on a rough average. 



All that the eight million British electors can do is to 

 select in each constituency one of the two or three persons 

 allowed to compete by the caucuses. It is only very rarely 

 that " outsiders " have any chance at all — though there may 

 be in each constituency hundreds of men willing to stand for 

 Parliament and more fit for this important position than the 

 nominees of the political organisations. Thus it is not true 

 that the electors of Britain are free to be represented in Parlia- 

 ment by those whom they consider best. Evidently this is 

 not democracy. 



It will be said that the men do not matter, that one candi- 

 date is as fit as another to maintain a given policy, and that 

 the electors are really there in order to select policies and not 

 representatives. But as to the policy, who draws up the 

 various political programmes ? Who but these same caucuses 

 in consultation with their nominees, the candidates. Thus the 

 independent elector is again cheated of his free choice, first as 

 to his representative, and secondly as to the details of the 

 policy which he must favour. For he must take the pro- 

 gramme en bloc or not at all, and in order to support one detail 

 of which he approves he may have to support also another of 

 which he disapproves. If he persists in his objections he is 

 simply passed over, swamped by the hosts of complaisant 

 but probably thoughtless voters. Here again, then, the poli- 

 tical organisations not only appoint the fiddlers, but also call 

 the tunes. This again is not democracy. 



As to the elections themselves, bribery is not allowed, but 

 every other kind of influence is common — house-to-house can- 

 vassing or touting, flattery, cajolery, conveyance to polls in 

 motor cars, subscriptions to local charities and institutions, 

 support of private local enterprises, and probably much 

 surreptitious business also. Again, then, the strict voter may 

 be swamped by the good nature or the easier morality of the 

 mass ; and the actual merits of a candidate or of his programme 

 probably obtain less than half the total marks which go in 



