Letters to the Editor
MODERN ELECTION ABUSES AND THEIR REMEDY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I understand that the Government proposes to intro- duce 'a measure to restore the freedom of speech and of meetings for election purposes which has practically disappeared from several constituencies and is being increasingly endangered in others. And it is certainly time that something was done, seeing that during the last few years candidates have been forced to abandon their campaigns through inability to obtain a hearing by reason of every meeting being upset by organized gangs and by the intimidation by the gangsters of the un- organized and therefore unmilitant supporters of the can- didates.
To pile on penalties is useless. Most of these hooligans " can do a few months on their 'cads," if need be, and have no shame in the matter, being rather regarded as heroes or as political martyrs, and they look forward to emerging from prison with éclat and a brass band. And as for fines, these are usually paid for them by the bodies that send them forth. The only effective method with which to deal with this menace to our electoral system would be to treat it as we did bribery, by making it not worth while ! And to this purpose I would suggest the following items as not only necessary but possibly sufficient of themselves.
(I) An elected Member of Parliament may be unseated if it can be proved that his opponent at the election was denied a fair hearing, especially at meetings arranged for the latter's own supporters.
(2) If a constituency persists in methods of intimidation it should be liable to disenfranchisement for five years or until after the next General Election, provision being made that such a penalty does not release the people from the obligations of taxation, &c.
(3) A more difficult problem is what we may call the Red Expeditionary Forces. These are gangs from Red areas who are sent by train or charabanc to break up meetings in other constituencies. This is done to give a false appearance of numerical strength to the local Reds, or it is aimed at some particular public speaker who is followed about from meeting to meeting by the gangs. Hence one may often see the same faces leadifig the disturbances in widely separated places, and particularly where there is a close contest between Reds and anti-Reds. But, of course, the local Reds may disclaim all responsibility for the activities of these outsiders.
To meet this case I would suggest that all persons who take any part in disturbances at meetings outside their own con- stituences may be kept in custody until after the election, thus keeping them from attending and disturbing any other meetings, and depriving their party in their own areas of their votes. Even heckling, the privilege of the local elector, should be denied to outsiders. In short, a visitor from away should be deemed as having no right to attend a local meeting, but may be tolerated so long as he remains quiet and well- behaved. As a result, these travelling gangs would leave so many of their most active members under lock and key in various places that their powers would progressively diminish, until those who finance them will find them not worth their
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