Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-08-25
8slluws falls Dimes,
BELLOWS FALLS, AUG. %, 1876.
Horace Greeley on widen in 1869.


To Samuel j. ITIden, Chairman Demo-
cratic State Committee
SIR: You and are growing old.
We came here young men from the
country, and have lived and struggled
side by side for nearly 40 years We
have participated ardently in many po-
litical struggles, always on differentsides.
You were the pupil and protege of Van
Buren, and Silas Wright; | disciple
and follower of Henry Clay. But this
/ will say for you, that am confident
you have never sought to enrich your
self by politics, or at the expense of the
public-that whatever of wealth you
may have acquired or enjoyed was
earned in your profession as law
yer and that your influences, partisan
ship apart, have generally been felt on
the side of economy in public expendi-
ture and uprightness in the conduct of
public affairs. Of my course in these
respects you are welcome to say what
ever you think true.
On one very important point, howev-
er, your bitterness as a partisan has i'm
PEELED you to ignore and come short of
your duty as citizen and a protested
upholder of government by the people
o,1 g. .l;c Jorol;ot;on Lo,o o,r,; 49,,
you. allude to the preservation Of the
purity of the ballot box.
You and grew up in the country and
are familiar with elections as there con-
Quoted We both know that, except in
few districts where the voters are all
on one side, it is morally impossible that
any considerable proportion of fraudu-
lent votes should there be polled For
those who attend poll are nearly all
we'll known to each other, and hardly
known, he is challenged and questioned
of course, and his answers will convict
him if bogus voter. j do not believe
that the illegal vote in the rural district;
was over one per cent of the whole mum
Der polled, even when there was no reg
istration of illegal voters.
How different is the case in cities, and
especially in this Babel, you very well
know. Long as you have lived on Gram.
Grey Park, and eminent in social position
and fortune as are the inhabitants Of
that favored locality, you could not tel
within twenty which of the residents in
sight Of your front door are and which
are not entitled to vote; you could not
make list of the legal voters residing
on that square which would even ap
proach accuracy. How it must be, then
with the nomadc denizens of our ." bach
slums and of our great tenement hous
es-how utterly impossible it is that any
one should know which among them ar,
and which are not legal voters, anc
whether the man who offers to vote a
ii A. NJ. at one poll has not already vot
ed several times at different polls, ant
whether he is or is not ON his way to vot,
still oftener at other polls, you canno
help knowing if you would. / can i'm
agine how man may shut his eyes t.
many things which he deems it conven
lent not to know, but l speak of wha
you must know, however you may wish
or seek to be ignorant of it.
The matter to which l call your at
tention is vital to the very existence o
free, popular government Whenever i
shall be generally understood that tn
results of the election are not determined
by the ballots of legal voters, but b,
frauds in voting or frauds in counting
then the advent Of avowed, unequivoca
despotism must be near at hand. BE
tween the rule of an emperor and th
rule of clique of ballot-box suffers
every intelligent man must prefer tn
W. hOi 40 iOsS lupuSlous anu uOTe It
sponsible. When honest citizens shall
avoid the polls, asking, "What is tn
use of voting? the result is alread
fixed" the days of the republic will b
numbered. Between a ruler who pre-
hibits voting altogether and the gan
who make it sham by filling the ballo
boxes with illegal votes, or miscountin
those actually cast, the sway of the fol
mer is every way preferable.
Mr.. Tlden, have been voting her
for 81 years, and an active politician 70
more than 30 of them, and | appeal t
God for my sincerity and to my publ
record for witness that in all thos
years | have earnestly sought and labor
ed TO have our elections decided by lega
votes and none other. Seeing how gres
are the temptations and the facilitie.
under a right of suffrage so general a
ours, to poll illegal votes. have opei
ly and actively favored every effort
shut them out and keep the suffrage put
and legal. That every legal voter shouI
have a fulf and fair oDnortunity 70 70