Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-08-02

Efh@ ta8W 91 ,#93 f8Gj asQL Z
Itant point, however, your bitterness as
partisan has impelled you to ignore
and come short of your duties as a
citizen and a professed upholder Of
Government by the PEOPLE, aud for
this dereliction 1 here arraign you. L
allude 10 the preservation of the puri-
ty of the baIlot-box. noh ai aadA
!. can imagine how a man may shut
his eyes TO many things which he
deems it convenient not to know; but /
must speak OF what you must know,
EoWever you smayiwish or seek to be
Ignorant Of it The matter to which
call your attention is vital to the
very existence Of Tree, popular govern
ment. Whenever it: shall be general
ly understood that the results of eisc-
tlons are not determined BY the. ballots
OF legal voters but by frauds in voting
or frauds in counting, then the event
}aof avoved,i unequivocal -despotism
mustlbe near at hand. Between the
rule of an Emperor and the rule of
clique of balnt-box suffers, every In
tell'gent man must prefer the former
as less rapacious and more responsible
w hen honest citizens shall avoid the
polls, asking, What is the use Of
voting? the result is already fixed"
the days Of the Republic will be nun
bered. Between a ruler who prohibits
voting altogether and gang who make
1T a sham by filing the ballot-boxes
will Illegal votes, or miscounting those
actually cast. the sway of the former
IS every way preferable. 1ao 815s
You hold a most responsible and in
tiuential position in the co,.nsels of a
great party. You could make that
party content itself with polling legal
votes II you only would In, our late
Constitutional Convention I tried to
erect some fresh barriers against elec-
tlon, frauds Did you? The very lit
tie tbatL was enabled to effect ia this
direction | shall try TO have ratified BY
the people at our ensuing election.
Will you? Mr.. Tiiden, you cannot
escape responsibility by saying, with
the guilty Macbetb; J. % p til25foj /
| Thou canst not say ]. I'd it; never shake
Those CORY locks at me-"
for you were at least a passive ccom-
plice in the giant frauds Of last No
venber. sI5H amooI sd5 IS ueos s8
|
Your name was used, without public
protest on your part, in circulrrs sow
ed broadcast ovet the. state, whereof
the manifest intent was to make as
surance doubly sure that the frauds
here perpetrated should not be over
borne by the honest vote of the rural
districts. And you, not merely by
silence, but by positive assum ption,
have covered those frauds with the
mantle of your responsibility.
On the principle that 'the receiver
is as bad as the thief, you are as
deeply implicated in them to-day as
thou your name was Tweed, O'Brien
or Oakley Hail. = ~ 4 .3
Mr. Tilden, you and I were ardent
participants in the struggle of 1910,
! wherein Martin Van 5Buren was ousted
| from the Presidency by General Har-
rison. You know how thoroughly our
city was absorbed In that contest.
wherein every man, woman and child
took deep an livelv interest Our
elections were then held throughout
three days. There was registration,
freshly enacted which, blacklegs had
not yet learned to circumyent, the
right Of suffrage was as widely diffused
as it now is and no one ever com plain
ed that a single legal voter was unable
theI to poll his vote. And though
our city has since largely increased its
population, the lower wards were quite
as populous then as they are to-day
several Of them more So. They were
! full of boarding-houses crowded with
/ clerks and mechanic; many of these
covered sites since given up to great
ware houses and manufactures; their
| denizens have since moved up town,
over to Brooklyn. or out on some of
the railroads that lead into the open
country. Practically the lower wards
are being given up to commence, and
no longer shelter by night the multi
tudes who thronged their streets by
day. ,.n5 s9s ~ s,it
Now look at the vote of four Of these
wards in 1910 and 1868 respectively:
President, 1910. = Governor 1868.
Harrispn. Van Buren. ''Grisworld. Hoffman.
VILLAS l,l77 4sO $3.50
VI =. sos 1928 500 5,o32
VII. l,707 1,728 I 1895. 6,895
1,l42 =: 1898 Ilgl 726 1926
4,7e3 5,52l 81 2,s4o 2e,2s3
Van Buren's majority 726. 3
II A n