The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-11-15
Those Spurious Tickets.

tnOSe spurious 'cKetS.
We dislike to give offence to
any body, but in regard to what we
said about the spurious tickets, two
weeks ago, we have not a word to
take back. True, every voter ought
to know how to read English and
ought to read his ticket all through.
But it is equally true that all do not
know and do this. Many are liable
to be imposed upon by such tickets;
and whatever is calculated to de-
ceive people and lead them to do
what they do not intend, is an i'm
position upon them Is, il, plan
language, fraud. And where no
other purpose than such imposition
can be subserved by such act, then
the fraud becomes intentional and
a moral crime. In this case of the
tickets, no other purpose than the
deception of the voter could be eff
tected, which could not have been
as easily accomplished without re-
sort to this fraud.
A ticket headed "Split Ticket"
"Wilder Ticket" or "Anti-Strait
Ticket" would have answered Just
as well for every honest purpose,
and have deceived nobody. Hence,
to head the ticket Republican Tick
ct" was palpable evidence Of an in
tention to deceive the voter and
fraudulently obtain his vote for
candidate whose name ought not to
have been upon that ticket. Such
as have impaired eye-sight, or are
not wellposted as to who are the
party candidates, or cannot readily
read English, are very liable to be
imposed upon by frauds Of this
character, and the printing and is
suing Of such tickets ought to be
made a criminal offence. 1t might
as we'll be insisted upon that every
body ought to be able to detect
counterfeit bank-note, or currency
scrip, as that everybody should be
able and ready to detect spurious
election ticket. And the preva
lence of such frauds cannot be plead
as an excuse for them. No right
minded man will find fault with us
for exposing and denouncing this
fraud, for had we neglected doing
SO we should have failed slgnally in
performing our duty to the public.
All we regret is that it was perpe-
trated in Judge Wilder's interest,
for, though convinced in our own
mind that he never would sanction
it, we cannot overlook the fact that
there are those who will seek to
make it appear that he is re.
sponsible for its commission.
We understand that those who |
got up these tickets claim that no
fraud was intended. They MAN.
tain that it was done for the conve-
nience of republican voters who
preferred Judge Wilder to Major
Strait, and deny that they ordered
the tickets to be exact limitations of
the republican ticket. We have al
ready shown how their object of
Communicating voters could have
been attained honestly and legiti-
mately; and, as for the exactness of
the imitation, that is not material,
for if a voter had not a genuine
ticket to compare the spurious one
with, slight difference in the type
would amount to nothing. We
do not suppose that those who got
up these tickets in this particular in
stance intended to defraud anybody,
or that they really thought seriously
about the matter. They simply fol-
lowed a custom, without taking time
to reflect upon its moral status, but
this custom must certainly have
originated in an intention to perpe-
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