The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-21


of 1900, ,o00-to depend on the manufactured
returns Of lawless communities. Two points
in the discussion may therefore be considered
as settled the present system stands con-
demned, and demands instant reform; and,
secondly, the system of general, direct cleo
tion would prove no satisfactory substitute
for it. What other solution of the problem
can be suggestedp
While few deny the importance Of this
question, no one seems resolved to insist on
its consideration and settlement. The les
sons of the past are thus forgotten before
they are thoroughly learned. One year has
now passed since the election of 1868 took
place. During that time associations of in
dividuals, courts of law, and committees of
Congress have been busily engaged ininvesti-
eating the violations of the ballot then
alleged to have taken place. The perpetra-
ton of frauds in that election-frauds unpre-
cedented, systematic, appalling-frauds OF
which the recognized leaders of both parties,
the judges of courts of law, and the inspect
ors of elections must have have been cogni-
Zant, and in which they were sometimes
proved to have participated-all these have
ceased to be subjects of mere partisan clamor,
and are established as matters of record.
Courts have passed upon them, and have
declared certified results vitiated by fraud.
Committees have investigated them, and pre-
b6nIeu inc IrultS Oh bQelT laDOrb III buS lOIm
of ponderous reports. In what has it all
resulted2 Any one who chooses may
now satisfy himself that in Philadelphia four
imported rufians threw sixty votes in one
day, as part of a regular system of repeat
ing" 1t is matter of record that one single
Judge, between October s and October %;
1868, ordered to be issued daily average of
over 71S certificates of citizenship. Honest
and experienced magistrates, who have for
years been engaged in executing the naturali-
zation laws, have testified that not more than
a single set of papers could be properly passed
in five minutes; whence it follows that,
allowing the energetic magistrate in ques-
ton to have worked night and day,
without one moment of intermission,
between the Sth and 23d of October,
he could not have properly accom-
plished more than one-half part of what he
did accomplish in fact. Before another
judge, engaged in the performance of SINH
lar farce, the same man appeared as wit
ness under oath, twenty-five times, under diff
ferent names, in a single evening. 1t is not
disputed that in one case thirty-ive persons
were registered, and twenty-three actually
voted, from the house of member of the
general committee of party, in which only
one voter actually resided; in another case,
thirty persons were registered, and twenty
two voted, from the house of q State Sena-
tor, in which only three voters resided; in
yet two other cases, forty-fve persons were
registered, and thirty-six voted, from the
houses of two aldermen, whence four votes
only could legally have come; from yet
another house. one hundred and fifty-two
names were registered, representing, if
legal, population of seven hundred
souls under a single roof. Under
these circumstances, it not unnaturally fol-
lowed that the actual vote polled in the city
where these events took place was 108 per
cent. of its legal voters, as indicated by the
census returns Finally, right or wrong, the
country has settled down into conviction,
which, in truth, is not unsustained by evil
dence, that many thousand illegal votes were
cast at the last Presidential election within
the limits of a single State. All this, be it
remembered, was done, simply because our
system made each illegal ballot bear not upon
one or upon three electoral votes, but upon
those of whole college. In each particular
locality where these frauds were perpetrated,
the election was wholly uncontested; had the
influence of these manufactured voters been
confined within narrow limits, no inducement
to fraud would have existed because fraud
would have been unavailing. The system
made the opportunity, and it did not pass
unimproved.
We cannot go on indefinitely in this way
We escaped a contested election during the
war of the Rebellion only, as it were, by O
miracle. The last election was accompanied
with loud threats of violence and resistance
in case shadow of doubt rested on its valid
ity, and yet, with that optimism which is so
marked a characteristic of the American
people, the nation goes on its
course, apparently neither learning from
the past nor fearing for the future This
good fortune cannot last forever. Every one
now appreciates, and cannot but dread, the
terrific and ever-increasing strain which each
succeeding Presidential election imposes on
our Government. This periodical revolution,
for such it amounts to now, is at once the
safety-valve and the weakest point in our sys-
tenn. Its regular recurrence does, indeed, re-
| heve us of all apprehension of any other or
more violent change of rulers; but, on the
other hand, the prize at stake is becoming SO
enormous, and political morality so loose,
that it is greatly to be feared lest the declared
result of the ballot will not much longer
command the public respect. Too much
attention, too much discussion, cannot be
| given to this subject. If the problem were
satisfactorily solved; if the ballot could be
guarded, and the possible effect of fraud re-
| duced to minimum; if the country could be
assured that by no possibility could
any man ever be cheated into the Execu-
tive chair, then, indeed, would the Presiden-
tial election be robbed of its dangers, and it
would remain as the feature in our system
which contributed most to its strength. ANY
| other form of revolution would then become
as improbable as it would be unnecessary.
How this can be effected is the question now
under discussion. How can the influence OF
the fraudulent ballot be restricted within the
narrowest possible limits?
If the existing system accomplishes resul