The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1869-07-16
The Registry Law.

The Registry Law.
The decision of the Supreme Court yester-
day, affirming the constitutionality of the
Registry law, secures important new safe
guards to the legal voters of this city. 1t
requires no argument to prove that the ex-
isting system has afforded so many dangerous
opportunities for fraud that general elections
were rapidly becoming rather a test of the
ingenuity and desperation of unscrupulous
partizans than a reliable method of obtain
ing the wishes of q majority Of BONO F1DE cit
izens. For years past every exciting cleo
tion has been succeeded by series of con-
tests before the courts, the Legislature, or
Congress, in which many frauds and irregu-
larities have been proven; and after the re-
turn from the Fourth ward, last November
of between three and four thousand for Sey-
mour and Blair no man can tell what major
tiles can be manufactured out of raw materi-
al, or how many men in buckram may be
made to do double Democratic duty.
AS the Government is based on the idea
that the majority shall govern, it is vitally
necessary to prevent minerties from usurp-
ing power by fraud; and the growth of crime
and population in the great cities accomp-
MED by the Development of special talent
for cheating at elections, has rendered the
regulations which preserve the purity of the
ballot-box in the rural districts, where every
man knows his neghbors and fellow.votors,
are totally inefficient in the swarming hives
of humanity. Every good citizen feels the
necessity of establishment of additional bar
riers against the incursions of the "vicous
vagrants," the wandering mobs," the "Ter-
ter hordes" who ore ready, on occasion, to
claim citizenship in New York, Baltimore or
Philadelphia, and ''vote early and often" at
every precinct where election officers can be
induced to tolerate them.
Whatever may be the merits or dement's of
the new Registry law, it undoubtedly fur
nishes superior facilities for excluding from
the polls, men who have no legal right to ap-
pear there; and every year supplies so many
new illustrations of the imperfections of the
present system, that its improvement has be-
come vitality necessary. Mr.. Meridith we'll
said, at the close of his argument before the
Supreme Court, that 1--WE are gradually but
rapidly losing the right of selEgovernment,
and we are losing it by the Interference in our
elections of persons, who have no interest in
our public welfare no homes among US, no
right to meddle in our affairs"
The Democratic party, through their
ablest lawyers and judges, have made q Wig
orous and ingenious opposition to this law
on the ground that it is unconstitutional.
Judge Sharswood summed up the argument
on their side of the question, with his usual
ability, in the opinion he delivered q few
weeks ago. embodying his reasons for grant
ing an Injunction against the furthe proceed
ings of the Board of Aldermen. The subse-
quent discussion, however, has shown that
he gave to the clause in the Constitution,
which requires that elections throughout the
Commonwealth shall be free and equal, a
false and forced meaning, and the demon
stration of this fact sweeps all of his reason
ing away If the Constitution had required
that the mode ofconducting elections should
invariably be uniform in every district in
the State, his opinion would have been cor
rect, but he erred in assuming that equality
meant uniformity; and the web Of the Demo-
cratic argument is woven, principally, on the
woof of this error The Constitutional Con-
vention of 1878 defeated, by vote of 60
to 40, proposition to make election laws
uniform; and it has been the constant prac-
tice of the Legislature to vary the details of
the mode of holding elections by special reg
ulations applicable to special districts. The
word ''equal, as applied to elections, has a
meaning entirely different TO that impaired
to it by Judge Sharswood, for it was evil
uSHllJ ucolSuCu " COSulO " ittii hppoi oioh-
ment representation; instead Of the lesser
object of uniformity in election regulations,
which has never existed in this State never
been desired, and which, in reality, is ncom-
patible with equality, even if the word is
used in the sense ascribed to it by Judge
Sharswood, on account of the diversified
social and industrial conditions of the citi-
zens of various portions of the Common
wealth.
The legal battle over the Registry law has
been we'll fought on both sides, but the ar
guments ofits champion combined with Judge
Agnew's opinion, prove that the victory has
been Justly won, and there are no sufficient
reasons for pronouncing it unconstitutional.
The next step will be to set the new machin-
cry in motion. In doing this, we hope that
| the Board of Aldermen will discharge their
important duties honestly and faithfully. The
great end to be gained is fair election, We
want no cheating on either side, and no par
tizan victories acquired by disgraceful and
| illegal expedents. Let every BONA FIDE cit
izen be enrolled, every honest voter afforded
a convenient opportunity to exercise his po-
litical privileges, and let the purity of the
ballot-box be sacredly maintained. Gene
raj elections only possess their true meaning
when every man who has the right of suf-
frage is allowed to vote, and every illegal
claimant of a freeman's privilege is prevent
ed from falsifying the official record of pub