The Press Wednesday, September 21, 1927. The Free State Elections.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19111, 21 September 1927, Page 8

The Press Wednesday, September 21, 1927. The Free State Elections.

The :most extraordinary of the cabled comments on the Free State elections is the remark of The Times that "it is " clearly shown that the Free State has " not yet reached the stage of political "responsibility necessary for Propor- " tional Representation and the exer- " cise of adult suffrage.'' As no State in the world is finding P-R. satisfactory, not even Northern Ireland, it would be interesting to know what stage of political responsibility is necessary before the virtues of P.R. come to light. But in the meantime we have this interesting position, that the Government went to the country again because it had too small a majority to carry on, and now will have to caiiy on without a substantially bigger majority because none of the Parties has the money for a further struggle. The election has been a waste of money, of timflj and of men, because P.R. has prevented whatever change there may have been in public opinion from taking its normal and wholesome effect. It may of course have done some good indirectly, first by letting off a little more political steam, and in the . second place by finally convincing the more intelligent electors that it is foolish to go on butting their heads against stone walls. But it has done little or no good directly, and economically at least has done a great deal of harm. It has kept the country in a turmoil foranother month, which, if we remember that the last poll was taken early in June, means that there has been no steady work and no opportunity for settling down for something like four months. With a few picturesque but not important exceptions, all the leaders'of all the Parties seem to be back, with something like the same power to thwart or assist one another. Indeed it must be so unless the change which has come over public opinion in the meantime has been pronounced enough to shake off the dead hand of P.R. For if the effect of P.R. is to give every Party whatever degree of support there is for it in the country, the effect on all' Parties is to keep them indefinitely "as they were." To have obtained a substantial advantage from a second election Mr Cosgrave would have had to turn the votes of anything up to fifty per cent, of the electors, which of course was impossible. For the average man, even when he is dissatisfied or annoyed by his Party, votes for it on a trial of strength, and it is a comparatively small section of the electors who bring about changes of Government; But under P.R. this small section can have very little effect —indeed no effect worth considering unless all its dissatisfaction is expressed in a way that it is the object of P.R. to rule out of court. It is broken up, diverted and diffused, at a cost which is hopelessly out of proportion to the political results. 'ln the case of the Free State the cost has been announced in the cables as £130,000, which, because it' is only about ninety pounds for each member elected, and perhaps thirty or forty pounds for each candidate who stood, is probably far too low. Besides, even if it were a correct estimate, it does not include the, indirect costs, which in four months must have been almost as high as the cost of a famine.