Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-09-21
ELECTloN CORRUPTION.

VAo III " Bo91CitpefVaS "a
payment to him.
ELECTION CORRUPTION.
The Bulletin speaking of the great
number Of organizations and conven
lions which figured in the recent cleo
ton in San Francisco, has the follow
ing:
The individual members had first to
b placated, and then the convention
as Q whole. The line which divides
this sort of thing from Matchmaking of
the most AudaciOus character is 40 thin
xs to be scarcely discernible. The local
offices, as q matter Of fact, were sold
out in advance for q sum ranging be-
tween $3.50, 900 and $500, 900, against q
half million asked. II they were put
I'D ut public auction there would have
been Q difference in the directness OF
the operation, but nothing more Nor,
having gone through the regular and
"piece' Inventions, were the candi-
dates allowed to rest. The club form
Of discriminating had next 10 be con.
frOnted. Some of these made q pre-
tence of being benevolent. But the
great majority wanted coin directly for
their votes. There vas 10 disguise OF
the fact that they Q organized merely
for election purposes.
There can be n question that the
people, year after year, are becoming
more corrupt. Money in politics is in
dispensable to success all over this
Coast. As q rule 1t Is unnatural to ex-
pect officers to be better than the source
from whence they obtain power.
There are, Of course, honorable excep-
tons to the rule. 1t often happens
that honest men, becoming ambitious
to succeed will spend five times the
value of the Office to which they aspire,
rather than suffer defeat. This Is where
the mans pride enters into the race.
But take the State OF Nevada as u whole
for the application Of the Bulletins
doctrine. Political parties are close
1t il fair to say that 200 votes will
change the result in any county in the
State, and in many Of them a much
less number Is sufficient. Now we
undertake to say that there is abund-
Int purchassble material In every
county to give the election to either
party supplying the largest sum of
money. W. never witnessed an cleo
ton in Eureka county, for instance, at
which from 200 to 800 votes were not Of.
fsrsd, openly and shamelessly, for sale
on the streets. What is true of this
county is equally true of all others in
the State. There are no politics wor-
thy Of the name ia Nevada. The whole
people are at the mercy Of this pur.
chasable element. The political com
plexion Of the Legislature is determin-
ed by it.snd no man al go to the United
States Senate from this State who does
not hrst purchase his seat, not from
the Legislature, but from the people
at the polls. Such has been the rule
since the days of Jim Nye and Bill
Stewart, and such 1t will continue to
be for all time, unless there be a pow
erful awakening Of honest men, or a
material restriction Of the elective fran
chise. We have to-day on our statute
books . law making it a felony to buy
or sell votes. 1t Is a dead letter, simply
because all parties and classes year
after year shut their eyes to every
species of fraud and corruption. To our
mind this question Is the most serious
one with which the lovers of free gov
eminent in this country have to day
tn deal. 1t Is the one above all others
which Is gnawing at the very vitals OF
the Republic and threatening its per.
petuity. II we would profit by the
worlds history. this overshadowing
evil must b. corrected or else our lib
eral system fails. But how TO correct
1t u the question. The remedy rests
chiefly with that class Of citizens who
prefar good government to partisan
success ut any price; to men who will
not countenance . wrong or . fraud
1t the polls, or elsewhere, even though
whole administration, from Presi
dent down, Is involved in its accom-
plishment.