The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-28
She 9ailg Atsas,
nocKTsLAHD. ...........xLLrnorg
Butler Charges Tntimiaation-

us 0utier Charges Intimidation,
F 81 On. Y. World.l
lt was formerly the custom among or
republican friends, during the progress =
an election in the southern states N ac
cuse the white people of intimidation. q,
the ground that they threatened to dis
cnarge from their employment every Negro
Wno refused 70 vote the democratic ticket
Inns charge was made very effective. We
confess to little malicious satisfaction in
seeing something like it brought against the
respectable republicans of Massachusetts,
Aae state committee is accused of having
taken measures to induce merchants and
manufacturers to compel their workmen tc
vote the republican ticket under pain Of
dismissal. and the charge, although pre-
ferred by Gen. Butler, whose word was for.
merly considered good enough to condemn
any southern community, is promptly de-
IS false, our republican friends will be able
70 understand the readiness with which
butter brings slanderous charges; if the
accusation be true. they may acknowledge
the strength OF the temptation to foul play
Which beset southern communities, threat
ened with the perpetuation Of the rule Of
the Ignorant and vicious clements Of soci-
ciety. when they yield under the mere
dread of undergoing for year the au.
thorIty OF one Of their own statesmen Al
the head Of the virtuous and Intelligent
working classes of the state. If there
be any excuse for a resort to coercion
on their part in order to defeat a native
hero and patriot like Butler. how unit,st
were all former censures upon the
men OF the south who were accused of re-
sorting to like methods to defeat dishonest
carpet baggers. For our own part, we
shall always condemn the practice of
lntlmldatlng voters, whether thew be
Sixth Avenue Railroad conductors, South
carolina freedmen, or Massachusetts, me-
ehanics. 1t a man loses the privilege of
voting as he pleases, he should not have a
vote at all. Under a system of f}ictation
the American workman would he reduced
TO the condition of the Irish tenant before
the adoption of the secret ballot when
frequently he had to register the wish
of his landlord or run the risk of an
eviction. The republican committee Of
Massachusetts, 10 denying the eenuineness
OF certain circular letter which Butler
says they have distributed, make a state
ment declaring that they have taken no
means to coeree or intimidate voters: vet
they add: "They maintain their right.
however, and will maintain it, to call
meetings, public aud private, and to con-
suit either publicly or in private with
worklDgmen, manufacturers, capitalists
or any other class of men to de-
wise ways and means of saving the
people from disaster and the common
wealth from disgrace" As matter OF
fact they have no such right unless they
devise proper ways and means; since the
essential point in their conduct is not the
goodness OF their purposes but the honesty
and legality of the methods which thew
employ. To Gum the matter up: There
may be some intimidation of operatives
tried under the rose in Massachusetts. but
It will hardly do to acknowledge that
policy after the frank fashion of Toombs.
OF Georgia. The haste with which the
supposed case of intimidation at Marlbor.
ough has been explained away is an indi
cation that political managers have found
the public feelings sensitive on this sub
Ject. A shoe manufacturer Of that place
named Holmes, who was about to pay his
meD, said to some Of them who intended
TO spend the afternoon at Butler meet
a. - YOU go Will not let you nave q
cent. While | assume no right oyer
your franchise, yet would almost con-
slider it my religious duty 10 discharge
any man who voted for Butler, for | be-
iieve him to be thoroughly bad man,
and his election would be calamity to
the commonwealth. If you think any
thing of me and my business you wont
vote for Butler" This is the republican
version of the speech, and the excuse civ
en- is that it was all mere joke. The
manufacturer who delivered these very
grim and earnest sentences is described as
the perpetrator of an eephantine lest.
neither in earnest himself nor considered
in earnest by his men, If SO, he should
certainly avoid talking politics when in a
playful mood; and all other employers of
labor throughout the state would do well
to eschew such witty and jovial directions
to their workmen about casting their bal
lots. If the Massachusetts public should,
somehow or other, fail to appreciate the
tull beauty of the joke, there might be an
ugly majority rolled up for Butler, which
Is not contamination to be very devoutly
wished.