The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-01-07

in the north. For these men now hardly
make the pretense Of considering the votes
actually cast and counted as Indicating in
any way the result. At other times and
elsewhere there have been complaints-too
often well grounded-of frauds in elections
perpetrated in variety of ways and by
various cheating methods. But we have
never known case before where the re-
turns CT whole precincts were deliberately
thrown aside by the dozen and by the
score, voters disfranchised and cheated of
their rights by the hundred and the thous-
and, upon the most frivolous pretexts, for
the obvious and unmistakable purpose of
defeating the expressed will of the voters.
In all the history-bad as it is aud we
mnst confess it to be-of election frauds in
this country, we have never had anything
which in shameless effrontery, brazen au-
dacity, and reckless disregard of even the
forms of law and the appearance Of fair
ness, can approach the contemplated out
rage upon Louisiana. Under the rulings
of this board there might as well have
been no voting done. For no matter how
many votes were cast against the candida
ties of the Kellogg ring, the members OF
this board had only to bring forward some
| trumped up alphabetically enough OBJ
tanned from any OF their creatures-charg-
| ing intimidation or undue influencing of
voters, and the whole Of them were thrown
out and minority candidates declared elect
ed. 1t was not in any sense, under the
rulings of the board, a popular election.
1t seems almost incredible that such vii
lainy should be allowed to go on to success,
aud that the Republican party in Congress
should be bullied by the Administration
and its leaders into giving countenance and
support to so plain and so wicked a cheat.
But that does seem to be the purpose of
the party managers. What excuse can
there be for it? None whatever, except
that the administration must be sustained.
But if this sort of thing is done in Louisi-
ana in the interest of the administration,
why not in other states? Why not, es-
pecially in the states of the South, where,
upon the pretext of preserving order and
supervising bloody outrages, the army
may be used to back up the iniquities of a
dishonest registry and corrupt returning
board? 1t is very well to say that this is
only an isolated case, or to dismiss it be-
cause, as President Grant said at Long
Branch last. summer, we don't want to be
bothered with it !" but there is more dan
ger in every step of this business than In
anything the American people have had to
deal with in the past fifteen years, or per-
haps ever before. A party that has be-
come reckless and giddy with long contin-
ued power is on the brink of defeat, and it
knows it. For no purpose except to retain
its hold, it consents to great wrong and
outrage, and undertakes to annul the ac-
ton of popular majority. 1t has the
look of desperation. 1t will bear the in
terpretation OF purpose to perpetuate its
power at any hazard.
Of course there is no danger. There
never is. There was none the last time a
great party went out of power No dan
ger. Everybody said So But between
1861 and 1865 the country learned to its
sorrow that though the individual men who
compose great parties, and the leading
statesmen who manage them, are patriotic
and we'll meaning persons, who would not
for the world do harm to anybody, yet
there is in the conglomerate of party a
spirit of desperation, which can work won
drous havoc when it is thwarted. The
Democratic party did not go out of power
o,;atl,, Tta anecessor will not go out at
ali Il Il can only fortify itself with prece-
dents, and have on hand sufficient mum.
Der of returning boards.-N. Y. Tribune.