EVENING SPIDERS
An experiment

Amsterdam, February 11. The Dutch Government has tabled a bill tending to the abolition of compulsory voting.
It seems, in fact, that the Dutch are liable to a fine when they have failed to fulfill their electoral duty. Unfortunately, the number of infractions is so high that the Government, unable to punish all offenders, considers it simpler to eliminate the offense itself.
So, here is heard the cause of compulsory voting, which some wanted, not long ago, to institute in France. The Dutch experience seems to prove it, it is almost impossible to force people to run to the polls on a fixed date, the bad citizen being able to always object in his defense that, on that day, he had hay to bring in, wine to bottle or an uncle to bury and that, moreover, "he is not paid for that". Such is, alas! the inconstancy of the human spirit: the people, who have made several revolutions to obtain universal suffrage, lose interest in their conquest as soon as it ceases to be disputed.
However, there is a category of citizens for whom voting could be made obligatory, compulsory and personal, these are the honorable members of Parliament. They really cannot claim that they are not paid for it.

Bernard GERVAISE.