The voting for a large number of the most important offices in the state and municipal government is done during a few hours on election day. In these few hours great masses of voters come face to face with such a ballot as appears opposite p. 29. They have no opinion as to any of the candidates except a very few, for the most part at the head of the ticket. They do not, however, because of their ignorance refrain from voting. Neither do they pitch a coin to decide for whom they shall vote. They insist on voting, and they take their voting seriously. It follows that when they are politically ignorant they vote the way they are told to vote by somebody. The important questions are: Who tells them how to vote? and By what means are they told? The small minority, including many of the most intelligent, vote the way they are directed by some newspaper. At one time a prominent newspaper in Chicago was credited with the ability to direct about one-tenth of the voters in a county or city election how to cast their ballots. But this was possible only when the newspaper concentrated its entire influence on the filling of one or two offices. The newspaper gives very little advice to the voter with respect to the filling of a considerable majority of offices for which elections are held. Even as to the few offices with regard to the candidates for which the newspaper makes a great effort to advise voters, its influence is limited. A large proportion of the electorate vote the party circle. Some are moved by sentiment or strong prejudices; others by the fact that men of whom they know something personally are responsible for the nominations or appear as candidates in a prominent place on a particular ticket. In every case a vote in the party circle, which is a blanket vote for a great number of party candidates of whom the voter has no knowledge, is a vote according to the direction of those who promoted or directed the nomination of the men who appear as candidates in that party column. It is believed, however, that a very large body of voters--especially in districts where large numbers are generally ignorant or illiterate--need, and indeed must have, advice as to how to vote from some individual whom they either look up to and trust, or fear. These voters do not ask for political leadership. They do not desire information upon which to found political opinions. All they ask for is advice as to how to mark their ballots. In congested centers of population this advice is sought within a few hours in a single day by tens and even hundreds of thousands of voters. The voter wants information as he approaches the booth. Even those who allow a newspaper to direct them how to vote need advice in voting for offices which the newspaper ignores. So the practice of independent voting and splitting tickets causes the voter to seek advice from those who make it their business to know something about the candidates. If these