12 NOVEMBER 1, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
A century old, yet still meaningful today
When the Ridgewood Times
published its Election Day
issue on Oct. 30, 1919, it acknowledged
that the races contested
on the first Tuesday of November
weren’t as exciting as in previous
years.
That year, voters in the Greater
Ridgewood area were asked to elect a
Municipal Court justice, an alderman
(a forerunner to today’s City Council
member) and an Assembly member. It
was an off -year election, and it fi gured
to lack the drama and the turnout normally
seen during a presidential or a
midterm Congressional election (in case
you haven’t heard, there’s a midterm
election happening this year, on Nov. 6).
But on the front page of that
supplement from 99 years ago, the
Ridgewood Times ran a stirring
editorial that reminded voters of the
importance of that election, and all
other elections in this country. The
stark thing about this editorial, when
reading it in today’s political climate,
is how many of its tones still ring true
all these years later.
The editorial’s headline blared at
the top of the page, “Who are the men
who come to you for your vote?” Men
made up the vast majority of elected
offi cials in New York and the United
States in 1919, even though New York
women had the right to vote. Women’s
suff rage wouldn’t be extended
nationwide until the following year,
when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution
was fi nally ratifi ed. Today, a
record number of women across the
country are seeking elected offi ce in
this year’s midterms.
Clearly, the Ridgewood Times
sought to remind all voters of their
duties as American citizens to participate
in the election — and the power
each of them have to chart the future
of their government.
Here are some excerpts from the
Ridgewood Times editorial of Oct. 30,
1919. We hope you enjoy it, and we hope
that you head to the polls and vote in
the Nov. 6 general election:
Tuesday will be Election Day! It is
the one paramountly important day for
the average citizenship of our country
to express itself fully and freely regarding
the kind of government it wants.
Election Day is your day. It is your
privilege to place your hands directly
upon the affairs of government, and
say the way in which you think government
ought to be run. It is the day
when you select from a given number
of candidates certain representatives
to whom you plan to delegate your power,
and who you expect to represent you
in your government. ...
There should not be a single office
within the gift of the people which
could be called unimportant. You want
in every office, from the smallest to the
biggest, the BEST MAN OR WOMAN
possible as your representative. Moreso
now than ever before in the history
of our country.
These are momentous days! They are
fi lled with momentous problems — social,
political, economic — which must
be solved in the right way. In many quarters,
destructive elements have been let
loose, types of minds who know how to
tear down; who are the opposite of the
constructive types of mind which build
governments and nations. ...
Let your CONSCIENCE rather than
your PARTY dictate in every instance
where the candidate does not answer
the requirements which you demand
in your officials.
Remember that you are an American
citizen first, and only secondly are
you expected to be governed by your
organization.
We need political organizations.
They are the concrete expressions of
bodies of people who stand for certain
principles which they believe will
either protect our government, advance
its interests or correct abuses
which may have crept into it.
But organizations, like government,
need correction, advancement and
protection in the work which they
perform, and whenever they fail to
live up to the guiding principles which
brought them into existence, then it is
no party disloyalty on your part to
check up and correct them.
This is best done by repudiating any
candidate of any organization who
does not measure up to the type of representative
which your organization
should off er to the voters. … In doing
this, you discharge your high responsibility,
both as a party organization
man, and as a citizen of a country
whose good government depends ENTIRELY
upon the men to whom you
delegate the power to administer your
government.
More than this no man can do for his
country. Instead of dying for it, you live
for it, you protect its institutions, its
form of government, and help in the
magnificent work of making it serve
in bringing about better conditions for
all of us.
Remember that our government will
always only be what the majority of its
men and women citizens make of it. Do
your share.
EDITORIAL
ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ROBERT POZARYCKI
Classifi ed Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classifi ed Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
EMILY DAVENPORT
MARK HALLUM
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
ALEJANDRA O'CONNELL-DOMENECH
© 2018 SCHNEPS NY MEDIA, LLC.
General Publication Offi ce: 38-15 Bell Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361
TELEPHONE: 1-718-821-7500/7501/7502/7503
FAX: 1-718-224-5441
E-MAIL: editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com
WEB SITE: www.qns.com
ON TWITTER @ridgewoodtimes
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
FOR 109 YEARS
COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving
ads over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This newspaper
is responsible for only one incorrect insertion and
only for that portion of the ad in which the error appears.
It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure copy
does not contravene the Consumer Protection Law or any
other requirement.TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is Listed With
The Standard Rate & Data And Is A Member Of The New
York Press Association
Ridgewood Times archives
An excerpt from the front page of the Oct. 30, 1919 Ridgewood Times
link
/www.qns.com
