Economic Interest of Electors
| Published date | 01 December 1923 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1923.tb02149.x |
| Date | 01 December 1923 |
| Author | H. J. Laski |
Economic
Interest
of
Electors
Economic
Interest
of
Electors
In
Services
Provided by
a
Public
Authority
By
H.
J.
LASKI,
M.A.
(Readev in Polrlical Science, University
of
London)
[Being
a
paper discussed at the
Summer
Confevence of the Znstttute
of
Public
,-I
dministralron at Cambridge,
30th
July,
1923.1
HE
character of the modem state is qualitatively different from
T
that envisaged in the classical discussion of its nature during the last
generation. It has become a positive state
;
and it is not too much to
say that the main burden
of
its effort is
to
relieve the inequalities which
result from the existing economic
rkgime.
This change
is
the inevitable
result of the transference of electoral power from
a
relatively small body
of property owners to the adult population of the country. The
wills
and aspirations which have now to be satisfied by legislation are pre-
dominantly those
of
a body of men and women who do not possess any
capital save their power to labour
;
and it is not unreasonable that they
should seek from the state they increasingly control the protection of
an
interest which, historically, has been largely neglected during the
past. Anyone who compares the substance of legislation after the
Reform Bill
of
la32
yith the substance of legislation after the Reform
Bill
of
1918
will see the way in which the programmes of parties have
altered to attract to themselves the support of
this
very different
electorate.
It
is important, moreover, to note that the franchise has now
a
different philosophic basis than that which underlay the system before
the Act of
1915.
Previously to that Act the franchise was essentially
a
qualification built upon
a
basis which, while constantly widening
since
1832,
was still a property basis.
It
is impossible to interpret the
present system otherwise than by saying that it admits the right to
representation
not
in terms of property but in terms of personality.
The attainment
of
a certain age carries
with
it
the full powers of citizen-
ship without serious limitation of any kind. The elector may be indiffer-
ent or lazy or illiterate.
He
may be totally incapable of judging
the
issues before the public. But
so
long
as
he
is
outside a narrow boundary
of
disqualification his share of political power
can
not be withheld from
him. This can only mean,
as
a matter of numerical
logic,
that
the
ethos of the State will assume more and more the character which expresses
the
wills
and desires of its poorer members.
It
will
mean, to take
an
obvious example, that exactly
as
the squirearchy used Parliament before
32
I
To continue reading
Request your trial