The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1880-07-17
INTIMIDATION.

thing of the kind would be tolerated in
the North Now comes the Philadel-
phia Times, published in the great city
OF Brotherly Love, in the State of Penn
sylvania, with the particulars of an in
cidcnt which, if it had transpired South
Of Mason and Dixon's line, would be
stigmatized an Outrage" but as it &C.
Cured in the North, the Associated
Press and the patriotic" speakers and
papers let it pass unnoticed. The Times
says some of the young women en-
ployed in the Pennsylvania Salt Works
at Southwark, chalked ON a large tank,
near the works, these words:
ssOnr Choice for President,
GENERAL WINFIELD S. HANCOCK -
The circumstance was reported to
the Superintendent of the works, who
Immediately ordered that the girls who
had thus expressed their political pre-
ference should erase the name at once.
None of the dozen female employees,
however, would give the name of the
offender, and the Superintendent final
ly decreed that they must wipe out the
offensive words or walk off themselves.
they all declared they would leave
rather than obey such. a command,
shcreupon they were ordered to go.
This they did, and as they marched
away waved their handkerchiefs and
gave three rousing cheers for General
Hancock.
The Pennsylvania Salt works are
owned by rich corporation, which
employs many persons. Ii any OF
those employees dares to express pre-
ference for Hancock, he is, like the
girls, dismissed at once. No violence
is attempted, as is said to be the GUS
tom in many places in the South, but
it matters little to a poor man whether
he is kept away from the polls by
threats, or compelled to vote against
the candidates of his choice, for the
privilege Of an opportunity to. earn his
daily bread. Thousands of men in the
North who have to work for corpora
tions are obliged to vote as their en-
ployers dictate, or be discharged for
disobeying instructions. Last Winter
case occurred in Illinois at munich
pal election, when the officers of cor.
poration directed the employees who to
vote for. Some Of the men, who did not
think they were slaves, disobeyed the
order and voted as they pleased. As
the tickets furnished them by the cor
poration were numbered, they were de-
tected and discharged. They brought
suit in, the u. S. Circuit Court, I'M
dor the provisions of the Fourteenth
amendment, which guarantees citizens
liberty to vote as they please, but the
Court decided that the Amendment re-
ferred to colored men only. Then they
petitioned Congress to have the rights
guaranteed to colored citizens extended
20 white citizens, but Congress took no
action on the matter except to make a
few buncombe speeches.
Ben Butler says intimidation of vot-
CTS by corporations is practiced to
great extent in Massachusetts,, and
every resident of this coast knows that
the men in the employ of the Govern
anent at the Vallejo Vavy Yard, were,
a few years ago, handed pasteboard
ticket with the names of the Republi-
.,an candidates printed on it in fine
type, so that it was impossible to erase
a candidates name and substitute an
other therefor, and ordered to keep it
in sigh. of the officials, between whom
they were marched to the polls, until
they handed it to the inspectors at the
ballot box. Thanks to the Sacramento
Union, this burlesque on the elective
franchise by Government officials was
exposed, and the day of ''tapeworm"
tickets ended in California, by the pas
sage of an Act making ballots of uni
form size and color.
These facts show that the intimida-
tion of voters is not limited to
any particular locality, and that Fed