Wyoming democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Wyoming Co., Pa.) 1867-1940, 1869-02-03
The Registry Law.

The Harrisburg Patriot says the new
Registry bill introduced i'll the State Senate
by Mr.. Taylor is rare curiosity. The
more it is examined the ingenuity and
beauty of its contrivances become the more
manifest. 1t is as full of shelves and traps
to deceive the honest citizen as q coniurer's
box. On its face it is a general act, but ii
is so framed that it may be made TO apply
to any county, orto any district in acounty.
1t is general and absolute for Philadelphia,
| and special and conditional for the rest OF
the State: 1t shows what radicals can do
to evade the Constitution and Cypress the
citizen. The first section provides that it
shall be applied to any county on the rec
ommendation of one hundred citizens, and
to any election district Oh petition of the
grand jury, or the petition of twenty-five
citizens Those counties and districts
which do not apply through the grand jury
or through handful of citizens, are to be
deprived of the benefits and blessings of
the registry law which the radicals propose
The object of this cunning contrivance,
SO worthy of the radical mind, is very
plain. They have made the bill as irk-
| some, rs odious and oppressive as their tv-
rannical natures could devise. They intend
to apply it lnexhorably in Philadelphia, and
IN some of the larger democratic counties
But III other counties where they fear its
effect would be damaging TO the party, they
propose that it shall not be applied, i'm
| aglnlng that it will be SO utterly detested
by every democrat, and every liberal man
who is not a democrat, that no one will De-
tltlon for 1t. They propose to get up radi-
cal petitions for the introduction of their
law when they wish to annoy and oppress,
and take it for granted that no democrats
VIII ask for Its application In this city
! they will find themselves grieveously mis-
! taken 1t is not difficult to find one hun
/ drcd men i'll every county of the Common
wealth to petition for the application of the
very worst law that was ever put On the
statute book. If it shall pass, the Demo
Gratis who are friends of general legislation,
and are opposed to special privileges, Will
labor to make it universal throughout the
State. If the radicals apply it in Luzeme
or Northampton, it shall be inexorably APP
Piled (if indeed it be capable of applica-
tom to Bradford and Lebanon. This act
will compel the attendance OF the citizen at
the place OF election two days in each year
1t Is contrived by aristocrats to make the
exercise of the suffrage expensive and irk-
some to the poor, who belong in the main
! Tor should, if they don't, to the democrat
lc party. They expect that it can be made
to work III heavy democratic counties with
out exciting the hostility of their own par
tlsans. 1t shall be made equally irksome
III radical counties. Ii the radicals seek
through this bill to annoy the plain far
mers Of Pennsylvania in the bright days
OF the Fall, by compelling them to leave
their plow or their buckwheat, and look up
a registration officer, they shall feel the
effects of it. Let them try on this expert
ment, and it will be their last The demo-
Gratis will all register. Indignation at this
outrage will bring out the hast man. The
radical masses will register and then-vote
the democratic ticket. If we sought par
tisan triumph, We should urge them for
ward to this gross violation of the Consti-
tuition and the rights of the citizen.