New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-22

England Outrages reached Washington, COM
mittee was ordered Immediately to work the
case up. Naturally the post Of chairman was
committed to COffee-POt Wallace. What ne
does not know about interference with cleo
tons is not worth knowing, and IL he enter
tanned and instructed his colleagues with reml-
niscences Of the Pennsylvania election OF 1851
the importation and colonization OF voters con-
tracts for maiOrties at 80 much hundred
Operations of railroad companies, and the
preparation of bales Of naturalization papers,
stained with the juice Of the fragrant berry
that they might bear the appearance OF age, he
must have impaired great deal of curious in
formation likely to be of use in directing the
course of the investigation.
Senator Wallace has made report OF his
discoveries. He learns that during the cam
paign some of the mill owners and other en-
ployers of labor held meetings-Or at least one
'meeting-and addressed the hands on the sub
iect of politics, assuring the men that it was OF
vital Importance to all industrial interests to
defeat Butlerism, and send to Congress repre-
sentatives who were sound on financial ques-
tons. One speaker even said: If Butler is
Selected, OF the policy he advocates prevails, it
"will be necessary to close our workshops aud
"stop our business" This speech, according
to one of the witnesses discouraged" the
Democratic wOrkingmen; they lost interest in
the campaign; some Of them voted the Repub-
lican ticket and some did not vote at all. If
the mill owners had said nothing about the
effect of the election upon business it is be-
lieved that the Democracy would have Jared
much better. And this sort of interference
is denounced by the Democrats as a sort OF
"civilized bulldozng," just as bad as the shoot
ing of Radical niggers at the South. 1t does not
appear that the employers threatened or in
tended to discharge any man for his politics;
on the contrary, the testimony is clear that they
were careful to avoid the exercise of illegal or
improper pressure. They used the same argu-
ments which are used every day by the news
papers, used the same arguments which are used
by stump speakers, and used them in exactly
the same way. Free speech is supposed to be
the privilege of Americans, whether they hap
pen to be laborers or employers OF labor, and to
"inhuencen voters is considered one of the
principal objects of all political organizations
The efforts of the business men of Massachu-
sets and Rhode Island to demonstrate the mis-
chievOus purposes Of the Greenback and Demo-
cratic candidates, and to convince their fellow
citizens that it would be for the interest of oil
classes to elect the Republican ticket, were
most commendable; but Coffee Pot Wallace is
shocked because the result was falling of in
the Democratic vote.
Mr.. Wallace, moreover, reports that In some
cases the Republican ballots were printed on
tinted paper, so that anybody could tell who
voted them. Whether they were tinted with
coffee or some other dye he does not explain
The charge implied in his statement is that the
use of particular kind of paper was device
of the Radical manufacturers to intmidatc their
WOIkmen. 1t is O poor compliment 10 the
Democratic freemen of New England to assume
that they have not the courage to vote openly
according to their preference. In point of fact,
nobody In this country dreams of making a
secret of his politics, or cares rush about con-
ceaIing his ballot. Senators who imagine that
the mill owners in New England manufactur-
ing towns are able to "intimidate their opera
tives, as the Southern planter controls Ills
field-hands, know very little about the North
ern workngman; and we do not believe the
suppressed voters to whom Mr.. Wallace refers
will thank him for his egregiOusly false estimate
of their manliness and independence. IL q
Republican capitalist should try to control the
votes of this class, we fancy that they woulG
soon make the town too hot for him to live in.