, 1880-11-06
Doubt tint tho prosecutions commenced nVnsnst
tho tendcrn hare given II considerable tn-


pCttts-
.ees<==@
=. END Or THE FRAUD IssuE
There Is mn issun thnt will i,cyer again he
hear'l Of In American pnlitics-yiz; "Tlm
rrnutt issue" 1t ngrs were piled upoM II,
TINT iSse eco,'l'l not be ,noru cfTcct,alty buried
than II II nnw. 1t WIS the n1,e thing upOn
which tho Democrats four yca,s ngo i',llt
their !.0m IT riding into Tower ut the ell,l Ut
President llMycs' Administration. hut 1t rS.
erlc,t M perccpttbs Influence III tho Into
campaign. Tie effort to keep II nlIyc wits
NIT vnrrtcsl lNyn,,., thu first few says Ut tho
struggle. Il fn,snh 10 RESPONSE from tho
l,ent,lc, IL was universally felt to he Inlral-
lw.blu md inslncrre. Whcnit was summarized
ut, for partisan service IL excited III iNttgnn-
tim, bcca,1su tic peop!a Looked through 1t
mil lpyond It, nut discovered TINT the fraud
originated with thu Democrats. Win son!tt
to turn 1t to their advantage. The utter full
ilra Of the frnittl issue, rs tlcilMcl By tho
Democrats, was tl,ic ,it't to my Indifference
III tile para of tic pHntslU to electoral purity
n;ul puhlIt honesty, bnt II tho l,upulur con-
ytetion TINT, It frautl there WHY, tho Demo.
Gratis were primarily responsible niut Ind no
elaim to benefit thereby.
It Is Interesting to ulrtyxe the casses Tint
led to tic cnlnbLctg elimination vt tho su-
cnllctt fraud tssHc; for When II WIS i!rst
n,loptcs By tho Democratic ,hul,agprs rs the
rull,ing try for Tic Presidential cn,,pni4l Ut
1850 It was supposed, gyrn l,y thA,,y Replll,
licans. that It would pr0sa eifcctIyo md haz-
nr,lous.
Tile first and principal reason why the
frals isSne failed WAS hecn,lau tho people
understood that tho nct,on hf the Returning
1lnarts III Sonth carollna, .J.nuisiana, aitt
FEuritln, llowrver incompatible" viii, Nortl-
ern lttens Of counting n lnl'nlnr vote. was lit
strict accordance with thu laws of these
States. aIul wns tic unly available nlenns for
overcoming tho lraudn!cnt measures whereby
tho popular vote lint been intt'nttlated, sup
pressed, aud c|!aatett. Popular intelligence
went hack Of tlla Returning lizards, md tools
account Of the yillalny Tint had atl,ltsfrancllfscA
legal voters by the thousands MD stuffed bal
lot-b0xes with sllnMefcsMcss previously I'LL
known. When lllcn Ind bccl driven FROM the
polls, wilen thousands Of 1scpub'icnn votes
hatl boon sponged out III singlu counties,
wliel voting hui been made ltfo perll. anil
wlien tissNe~paper hallots Ind been used to
stll1e honcst n'ator1tics, fait-iuindesl people
bcgali 10 think tllat tt WAS II fortunate hul
proper thing tt neutrallzo sslell mothot!s byn
SYSTEM Of correction sncll rs tho Returning
l'onr.ls, BY virtue of existing laws, were nb1u
to adopt and did nctlally nse. The Ameri-
cnn people, ash whole, weru really to well
Come nl,y expetlicht whereby tho tnl,umantty
nNnl ylllnlny Ut tho Southern blsllduxcrs
could be tlcfcatesl.
4 second element Of weakness In tllp
Democratic cry of" "Frnud" was found In
tho circumstance TINT the tinal solution ofthc
controversy was suggested by the Democratic
leaders anl adopted BY Democratic Coll-
gress. Tlo suggestion Of an Electoral
Commission originated In belief ell
tertatned by tho Democratic managers
Tint they would be able to control
tho personnel nnd tle lennEngs OF
TINT Commission. 1t was mere accident tint
deprived tl,eln ot representation iii the per-
so', OF ono OF the Judges Of tho Supreme
Bench upon whose vote they depended. They
hntl set UP Il trap, anil they were caught III
It, They could no lHnre cxpect tho Cot'ltl,Is.
Grafton OF tho American people tliah tlllof
Bhuufd expect mercy bcen,tse lc has been a1'
prcilelulcd by tleyiee Of Ills own Invention.
I'l'fs was one view OF the case. Another
view was that Tho dispute ]ial been submit
led 10 arbitration. md falr-play demanded
Finally, tho Democrats themselves nban-
luncd tl'e issue by refusing 10 renointnata tho
two 'nen who mud bcon tho cltef sufferers II
my fraud aiatl Icen committed. Both Tiltlen
and Hendricks wcro available cnndi-
dates, md both desired the nomitln-
t!on. When tho Cincinnati Conycts-