St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-03-24

o'r''ic lilchd. Different men have diff
itlcht prices. Some can he got for SIT
OF : 10. and some cost us $50
Il heard i'll Concord that the Repub-
ilcans were paying aS high as So
81 know of men that cost them : 100
They have to pay higher prices than
we do. because LacOnia is naturally Il
Democratic town, by about 80 majority
ana to carry ii they must buy our men. -
he'll am to understand that il
costs You less To bribe You men To le-
MAIN faithful than it does the Republ
cans t" coax them away from YOU ?''
"lhat's it, replied the committees
man.
asked him how much money would
be spent in the town. Eight or ten
thousand dollars. he thought. He ap-
prared unwilling to say how much his
committee would pay ont. but finally
said IT would he about S3.5OU.
Laconia contains Il large village of
that name and half of another called
Lake Port. In both places there are
numerous factories for the manufacture
of stockings, and it is the hands in these
concerns who furnish the bulk of the
hoatwoOd vote. At the hotel two ac-
tive Republican workers sat near me
at the dinner table. One was on the
Town Committee, and appeared to be
an expert in the trade of colruptinp
voters. He was IL nervous. active, fast
talking man, with keen gray ewes.
smooth -Shavcn cheeks. and a beard up-
on his chin. and he looked IL good deal
like the carlcaturcs intended to repre-
sent Uncle Sam. He spoke of the
bribery business, Introducing the un-
Sav"ry topic himself. as, indeed. does
almost every politician of either party
| meet
II tell you. we play ii fine here" he
said. There are abont 400 good Re
pnblIcans and aS many Trustworthy Dem
"cratS. and we have about 40 men who
have to be paid before they will vote.
IL Is getting worse every year. For
merIN We were rather cautious and
Sheepi>h about approaching men with
money. hut now we make no more of
asking Il man how much he will take
Tor his vote than we would of imuuiiinr
the price of his horse.
'liow do you make sure that Il man
Will vote your ticket after YOU have
bought him ?" | inquired. wishing 10
get III the details of the nefariou> traffic.
'One of our trnsty mcu takes him to
the polls. gives him his ticket. and see>
1t Z" in. There's no trouble about
that"
And then you pay the price agreed
upon -
Yes. usually upon election dav.
Last wear paid six of my men right IN
the town house. There WAS talk of ar
resting me, hut laughed at the idea.
As If coHldn't pay my honest debts.
ha ha :"
y gentleman sitting npp"stc. who
proved Ia lee a committeeman. said he
usually paid tor the votes he bought
through Il third paItN. If no safer. il
was more agreeable to him. He la
inrnted the existence of the purchase
y stem. but neither party could abum
don II without Suffering sure defeat.
asked how long the wholesale. corriIp-
tion of the ballot had been going on.
lie replied that it began 20 Years ago.
but soon ceased. and that its present
existence dated back onlv Il few NcaI>.
He explained how the agents of one
party, when they fail to buy u man
from the other side. encourage him to
=" and demand money from his own
party managers. telling him it is being
gwen To worse men than he. and that
hc ought I" have his share This i Il
rick to dcplctr the funds of the enemy
'hrrak THEN hanh" i th, tci m used
II one party> money gives out. and
here still remain Il few votes not con
iIIctcd fnr. the other side if still in
funds easily bags them
''LcaNing ont of the question the
immortality nt the SYSTEM" |
said. ''praN tell me how does it pay to
spend S5.tWO or S6.OOO to elect three
of the Legislature, VII" get
only S3a day tur about five weeks in
fhc wear -
1T doesn't pay. but the contest i
like Il battle when we're III il we are
mad and determined to win at ANY cost.
have known men /" mortgage their
farms to get themselves elected select
men of the town an office that pays
almost nothing"
LaCouIa l. no worse than dozens oi
other towns in the State. only the >\>
tenn Is carried IL little further here
Profanity more money is spent in pro-
portion t" the voting p"pnlati"n than
in any other locality. There is Il ward
IN Concord, however. where. according
fo Republican accounts. their party
bought 100 votes last year out of the
800 p"lled. but the price WAS only about
s2O vote. In writing of the frighttul
corruption that permeateS all the chan
nels of New Hampshire politics. have
u" intention of condemning one party
any more than the other. Both are
arrcd with the same stick. and it would
ne impossible to say which is the worse
lctiled.
The fact that in the election last
week the democrats had over 100 ma
ority, rather looks as though one par
y got ''tarred" Il little worse than the
,ther, Notwithstanding the above as
from the Tribune.