The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-27
Rirhulond Dispatfh..
n,,.,. APRIL q, 1872.
p;,os and Cliques.


,ys hear and read SO n''ch' OF .ne
:. c,ioues,' and "clubs, wh'ch are s''"
"' Govern this city, that we begin 10 'e''' 'l''''
w.. :" hotter class of voters will come 10 the
-. ,,,,s;o, 20 vote the Radical ticket NJ the
A., o,.c,,on rs a measure Of selt-protecsion.
pnblic meetings are easily controi!co !a'e"
ac,;ve wire-workerS. A club OF one nun.
draa and fifty men can controf an! warn
n,oo,;nc such a. those which are usual! as
somh,ed IN this city. Seventy'siS men csh,h
the same way control the club ana carr! '.S
whole strength In public meeting ior MS no'h''
,aes And a small ring within TINS ring
saw twenty to forty MEXICAN cohtso' 'he
nc,dod seyenty-six. We do not, however,
,,orceive anv necessity for dcnouncing thcse
climbs nor any reason for doubling that all
cheating and ,rickery may be circumrented,
and the voice of the people be heard. Upon
this point, the Enquirer yesterday said:
AT their meeting "Wednesday evening, We
are gratified TO learn, the committee very
properly decided to place the responsibility
for the Conservative municipal nominations
that are to he made for the May election
where il belongs--on the people themselves.
This will give chance, If there never was
one before, for full and free expression OF
popular preference; for, under the call of the
committee, the delegates to the convention
are not to be elected till the l4th Of May, the
convention to be held ON the 10Th, and the
wards to nominate candidates Tor councilllct'
and magistrates on the 10th.
&c fi,,ol1. nntira Of hat Ii t0 tp
done and how 1t is to be done, and il EsirneSs
control, it will be the peoples own fault if
they do not make proper choice Of delegates
and have fair and honest nomination OF
candidates. Preliminary meetings for con-
sultation may now be held in the wards, II
deemed necessary; and, at all events, there
il abundant opportunity for private inter
change Of views rs to the fitness Of men and
Us to the means for overcoming the cI!qlic>
and rings. The best means by which to ac-
complish the latter object is obviously for tie
people to turn ont in strength Oh the night
OF the 18th of May in ull the wards, and then
the cl;queS and rings will a>slrcdly he de-
feated, unless it happen that more people CO.
incide with the cliques and rings than oppose
them.
This is no new plan. 1t is exactly that
upon which the nominations for the two
Houses of the Legislature were made last
fall. 1t gives the cliques and rings the power
to control the ward meetings. Business men
do not meet together beforehand, and arrange
O "slate." They attend the meeting with
the intention to vote for the hest men nomi-
mated for delegates. But Il dozen or two OF
idlers have previously consulted together and
agreed upon ticket. They double their
number in the manner We have explained
above, or by personal solicitation. Then
they nominate Il great many candidates for
delegates and thus confuse and divide
the meeting. They split up the votes
Of the uninitiated, whilst they cast theirs
in body. As those persons having the
highest number OF votes are always de.
clared the delegates, Tor the candidates, rs
the cslse may bc,) it follows necessarily that |
the little ring is successful and the great mass
of the voters lose their votes by dividing |
them between too many candidates.. This
performance may he varied in many ways:
Us by limiting the number of candidates and |
then naming the ring men first, &c, &r. But |
all bring out the same results. We have |
assumed that 4 meeting Of three hundred |
voters can be thus controlled. But the fact |
is that the ward meetings usually Consist of |
from fifty to one hundred voters. How |
easy, then, is it for few active men to con-
troll them.
But us il is so very easy to put L stop to
trickery and fraud, if trckery and fraud
there be, in the nomination of candidates for
public office, we feel, we repeat, no sympa:
thy with the croakers. The primary election
makes the real voice of the people heard.
Instead Of each ward speaking by clique,
each will cast hundreds upon hundreds of
votes. We venture TO say that more people
would vote in Jefferson, or Monroe, or Madi-
son ward alone than would attend all the
meetings in,altthe wards Of the city. We
have never had real primary election here
The miserable compromise of two years
ago was burlesque upon that plan OF
polling the voters. The delegated con-
yentaen did all the mischief in arraying
class against class and nationality against M
tlonality. At real primary election every
body runs that desires to do so. 1t is free
fight; but it leaves no unpleasant results; or,
at the worst, not half so dangerous ones as
follow nominating conventions in which Il
thousand voters in one ward have Us much
weight as two thousand in another, and to
which the delegates arc chosen in the manner
we have described.
In the name Of common sense, why does
not the Central Committee provide for a pri-
mary election! No candidate who is strong
with the people will object.
The DlsQUALIEIED.-The World has never
had the candnr to acknowledge that il Was