90 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



financial depression, the result of causes it 

 cannot or is not permitted to understand, 

 pins its faith. That the serious-minded men 

 of the Far East anticipated with perhaps un- 

 necessary anxiety a Western victory at the 

 last Presidential election was scarcely sur- 

 prising. It is also not surprising that in 

 these years of perplexity, when the wisest 

 go astray, seeking in vain for the right path, 

 the question of Universal Suffrage, disposed 

 of generations since as a qiiestion, and set 

 away on a pedestal beyond the meddling 

 fingers of irreverent sceptics, should be taken, 

 down once more, handled and turned over 

 even by some of its most ardent devotees. 

 Now, with a matter to decide which calls 

 not only for a liberal and cultivated intelli- 

 gence Weltbildimg, in short, in its most 

 comprehensive sense but also for intimate 

 knowledge of finance, the multitude is never- 

 theless legally permitted to render a decision. 

 Reductio ad absurdum indeed ! 



On the other hand, there is a strong and 

 growing feeling that the complications of 

 electoral machinery in this country prevent 

 the true expression of the opinion of the 



