Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1871-03-23
NUMBER II.
The Purity OF the Ballot.


Only by preventing fraudulent voting or
reducing such fraud to its lowest measure
is Il government by the people possible.
Whenever the ballot box shall be .ome so
degraded that voters shall not be certain of
| finding in the result Of the count an ex-
| preston of their will, the Republic will
| be already death Strack. For despotism
| presided over by one honest man would be
felt to be infinitely preferable to an auto
cracy of fraud New York city, for in
stance, has not been under Democratic
form Of municipal government for many
years ii has been ruled hya mob an aris.
tocracy of ballot box suffers, Let the
whole nation slide irremodiably into the
condition Of New York city and the very
| best thing we could do would be to place
ourselves under a good strong master
| good, II might be--strong Mt any rate,
| That city IN ms vile ~ Sotsaln and as mis-
| governed ms Babylon, aud nothing prevents
the government from being subverted
nominally, as il already has been practical
| ly, except the average virtue of the States
outside
We are led to this PREDATORY remark by
| the excellent law that last week passed
| Congress "to enforce the rights of CHI
zens of the United States 20 vote in the
several States of this Union" This law
provides;
l. Certain appropriate penalties for
| frauds in registration.
! 3 The appointment, by u Circuit Judge,
OF two Supervisors of Election for each
| precinct in every city Of upward of 20000
inhabitants, upon the application of any
| two citizens.
8 The appointment of special Deputy
Marshals to aid the Supervisors.
4, The supervisors shall attend all regis
| trations; select names To he challenged
copy the poll lists; serutinze the registry
| lists attend each election; challenge any
vote aud personally scrutinze count and
canvass each and every ballot on which
Is II vote for member of Congress, They
shall then forward the result to the Chief
Inspector, accompanied by comments on
the conduct of the election,
y. The Deputy Marshals shall have
power " to arrest and take into custody,
with or without process, any person who,
in their Judgment, may commit, or NJ.
tempt, fraudulent registration, or voting,
or for fraudulent conduct, may arrest an
officer Of the election,
q Resistance to the Supervisors or Dep.
utics shall be punished by imprisonment
In the Penitentiary for two years.
and declares that IL rests upon the as.
sumption that Congress, and the United
States Mafshals, and their deputies, arc
more competent TO protect the political
liberties OF the people than the people
themselves On the contrary, we say II
obviously rests on the fact that the laws
} can be enforced and order maintained only
by officers 20 thwaFt and arrest law break
ers In the name Of the people. IL is
founded too, on the notion that has gained
wide prevalence that it ought to be the
peculiar business OF Congress 10 guarantee
fair play In the election of its own mem.
bers
The law is arbitrary, certainly. II con
tains provisions which nothing but tho
presence Of grave public peril could jus,
iify; but the peril az it now exists In New
York city Is sufficient 10 justify any ex-
tremes short Of absolute despolism. II
Is not only that city that is affected, unfor-
tunately, not only that county and Kings
County with their vast interests; not only
the State whose destinics their fraud de-
cides; but the whole nation for whose
President these degraded repeatcrs are To
vote, and 10 whose Congress they send
their representatives Aud this nation is
more in danger to-day from II corrupted
If the majority In an electoral college
should once be decided by the fraudulent
votes Of repeatcra, or by the stuiiihg OF
ballot boxes, a rebclliSn would be llani-
nent, and our form Of government would
he In greater peril than it has ever before
been except when South Carolina seeded
from The Union. That danger must be
averted, and il can be averted only by re-
moving its cause.
The 1ftbuns says
1T ig " .erstood that this law, az well
as the one of which il Ia ameDdatory, Is
designed particularly for New York city,
and 10 secure that State for the Republican
party, II IL nndeniable that the elections
In New York city have been for many
years fraudulent, aud that the persons In
power have been able to perpetuate their
ascendancy by fraud at the elections. But
was not the execution Of this law last
November, In New York city, proof OF its
utter futiity and iollyY'
No, it was proof Of exactly the fe.
verse. The execution Of the law In New
York city last November was So far from
being failure, that II cut off 10000 bogus
Democratic votes, and brought the honest
voters that much nearer TO victory. The
reason why IL did not prevent fraudulent
voting absolutely was for the need Of just
the provisions which this new bill con
tains.
We approve Of the law cordially
l. Because ii cannot possibly do any
harm.
Q. Because heroic prescriptions are
necessity " cure the disease Of electoral
dishoneNty' which is mortal In its nature
II IL be not speedily mastered.
3. Because we cannot see why any man
should oppose IL, except those whose
crimes 1t Will prevent--Tweed, Sweeney,
Fisk, Fernando Wood, Cox, Morrisey, and
their wre,ched pimps and slaves. - Chicago
PoSt, Morch /.