The Portland daily press., 1876-10-31
Our New York Letter.
Hne new York Election Enormous Reg
istraiion Frauds-The Local Ticket-
Dangers from the solid South.

genuineness is very severely questioned by peo-
pie who mean what they say and do not impute
fraud for political effect. The population of
the city in the natural course of things ought
to be smaller than it was four years ago. There
has been falling off in the sources of all
kinds of emolument from labor since the panic,
less employment of mechanics, less building of
houses, loading and unloading of ships, less
business of every name and description 1t is
amazing that with these obstacles in the way
OF growth there should have been an apparent
ADDITION OF twenty-three per cent to the inhab-
itants The thing is hardly possible. A part
OF the augmented registration of course may be
falriy attributed to the extraordinary interest
felt in this Presidential election But the city
Is not any more excited if so much, as it was in
1871, when the ring thieves were hunted down.
And yet in that year the registration only
reached l59,592, twenty per cent. less than now
Fortunately there are seven days left to scru-
tinize the lists, and tine right man to see that it
Is attended to. The services of Mr. John L.
Davenport in this behalf are of inestimable val
ue. Everybody remembers the hue and cry
that was raised by the confederate House last
winter, on the discovery that the President had
ordered some $50. 900 of the secret service fund
to be applied to the support of this bureau. 1t
would be impossible to conceive of a worthier
use of the public money. The protection of the
integrity of the ballot is som ething which ev-
cry respectable citizen of the Republic must
desire. President Grant is an exceedingly
practical and sensible statesman and acted in
that matter, as he does in all others, wisely and
well. 1t has always been matter of near con-
Germ with him to protect the people in their
right of suffrage, irrespective OF locality, race
or party predictions. He is considerate alike
OF the sufferers who are in danger ef being
overborne by cheating in New York and by
ruf1anism in the South. The encouragement
and support he has given to Mr.. Davenports
project have insured its continuance, and we
should be in sorry plight if it were abandoned
1t seems like hard charge to accuse the
Democratic party OF standing as the apologist
and defender of illegal voting Nevertheless
the course pursued by the President in the
Davenport matter brought upon him the vehe-
ment denu unciations of Democratic Congressman
and editors. For several days there was a per-
feet farrago OF furious nonsense spouted from
the lips and pens of these doughty apostles of
reform" They even went SO far as to drivel
about impea chment, a suggestion, the impu-
dence and impotence Of which vie with each
other for precedence. Making all reasonable
excuses for the blind reckessness of partisan
ship, the fact still remains that the Democrats
have always resisted every kind of statutory
regulation designed to prevent dishonest tam
pering with the ballot. We have never had a
registry law that Republican Legislature did
not enact. and Democratic Legislature en-
deavor to repeal, or failing in that to emascu
late. And yet without one voting here would
be as empty form and as broad farce as it is
in Georgia or Alabama
Mr.. Davenports records are models of order,
system and completeness. He can turn to his
books and give the name of every householder
on this Island, his occupation, the number OF
persons living in the family, and all other par
ticulars necessary to show how many of the
household are entitled to vote. Of course it
requires great quantity of volumes and
large corps of clerks for this enrolment. The
expense of it is heavy. The means for its
maintenance ought to be much more literally
supplied than they are. No better use can be
poses The diversion to it OF q small portion of
the Secret Service money was a highly credit
able act of thoroughly able and conscientious
Executive. The fact is that wien one sets
about reviewing the good things promoted and
accomplished by this administration, there can
be no other sentiment entertained than wonder
that such flood of libel and calumny should
have been let loose upon it. 1t has done so
much that is commendable and so little that is
censurable that no man ever has attacked it, or
ever. can, except by lying outright, or by SO
perverting the truth ss to make falsehood of
it. In its diplomacy, its economics, its adjust
ment of ways and means to each other, there
are evidences of superior wisdom, foretheught
and integrity The men who abuse it because
they know no better are to be pitied for their
ignorance; the far greater number who defame
it with the more ignoble motive of profitng by
its overthrow deserve to have their tongues
bstered.
However, coming back to our registry and its
premonitou of 165,OOO votes; in that pebald
multitude lies the only danger of the surrender
of the Unisn to the Southern oligarchy that
conspired to destroy it, The city antagonizes
the country. If the voters of the respective
parties could be grouped in parallel lines and
exhibited before the whole country one sight
of them would make an end of Democratic
chances of ascendency. The city contains ten
thousand rum shops. Ninety-nine in hun
dred of them are kept by and frequented by
Democrats. The vicious classes are unit for
Democracy. IL every quarter where there is
squalor and misery, in the slums of the Five
Points, among the dens and dance houses of
the Fourth and Seventh Wards, and the rowdy-
ism of Mackerelville the vote is almost solid
for "Tilder and Reform" On the other hand
in the cleaner and better neighborhoods and
especially upon the streets and avenues which
are ornamental with churches and comely
dwellings, the Republicans largely p,edomin
ate. Of the foreign vote, which is at least
half of the whole, the Irish is very much the
largest. and that goes almost exclusively Dem
ocratic "without why or wherefore" The
German vote is not so certainly nor so univer-'
sally Democratic, but it is apt to take that
direction unless captured by extra inducements
There are probably not over ten thousand nat
uralized citizens Of all nationalities among us
who habitually vote the Republican ticket
All the rest of the votes we get-and we are
looking for 10000 and hoping for 65, 900 this
time-will be thrown by native born Americans
who understand what they are about and look
to the sturdy yeomanry of the interior to helr
stem tbe tide Of igpor ance and vice which
would otherwise submerge and iDundate them
here.
No class of men knows so well what "sold
South" means, nor have so great horror of its
domination as those who were familiar with
metropolitan politics from 1S48 to 1860 The
doughface was indigenous to this miasmatiC
soil. He began to crawl into notice about The
| time the fugitive slave law was enacted. He
kept shop. He sold goods to southern Gus
toners. A more crouching, cringing, servile
abject and despicable creature never showed
| the form of humanity. There was nothing in
the way of meanress and serviiity which he
would not practice with apparent alacrity to
win the favor of any lord of the lash who
would buy goods of him. He got up mass
| meetings 10 which he bowed himself in the
very dust before the Mooch of slavery and
promised the most unquestoning obedience tt
his Southern masters whether they demanded
the surrender of the territories or the pursuit anG