25 NOVEMBER 1916, Page 3

As to the question of Manhood Suffrage, we have always

been in its favour, provided of course it was accompanied by an equal distribution of electoral power. Our argument here has been that we accept democracy as the best and surest basis for govern- ment, and that democracy involves Manhood Suffrage and cannot properly be maintained on a modified household qualification. That is too unscientific even for the British Constitution. Besides, its practical effect is to make the uneducated voter obtain his vote more easily and quickly than the educated. The young men of the labouring class marry earlier than the young men of the middle and upper classes, and the only people who can get a vote, except by a side-wind, are householders.