The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-01-22
THE PHILOSOPHY OF IT.
From the Chicago Tribune

lsiana, or South Carolina AS matter
OF fact, the plan of robbing citizens OF
| their sutfrages did not originate at the
South. In the rush OF events we are
prone to forget great political crimes.
Ihe first great political theft which was
perpetrated in the United States oc-
Cured in the Empire State. The Demo
cratic party of New York stole the cleo
toral vote of that State in 1868. Horace
Greeley charged the chief guilt of the
crime upon Samuel j. Tilden, and Til
den never denied the charge. The in
fanny of that crime against the rights of
she people of New York has never been
excelled in any one of the bulldozed
Southern States. The majority of the
legal voters of New York on that occa-
sion voted for the Grant electors. Til
den, having foreseen that such would
| be the case, sent circular letter to the
Democratic managers at every voting
precinct in the State, requiring a
telegraphie report to headquarters
in New York city of estimated
maiorities Immediately upon the closing
of the polls, declaring that thereby an
important object was to be attained.
Upon the receipt of those reports Til
den, it was alleged, instructed Tweed,
his then henchman, to stuff the bollot-
boxes of that city with sufficient
number of Democratic votes to over
come the estimated Republican major
ity in the interior of the State. The
tissue ballot frauds of the South Caro-
linas democrats in 1878 were no more
criminal, no more heinous, than the
New York Tilden-Tweed frauds of
1868. Remove from the Democratic
bulldozing frauds which have distin-
guished the elections in Mississippi and
Louisiana for several years the feature
of assassination, and they are no worse
than those of Tilden and Tweed, And
the Garcelon Pillsbury crime in Maine
is no whit more atrocious than that of
South Carolina or that of New York.
The country is more shocked because
in the present instance the fraud is
perpetrated in an old State, and, SO far,
the criminals have benefited by their
fraud. In New York the fraud did not
affect the result of the Presidential
election, and the people seemed to lose
sight of the smaller fact that the Gov
eminent of the largest State in the
Union had been seized possession of by
fraud!
1t is hoped and believed that the
Democratic crime in Maine will yet be
defeated and the peoples representa-
tives secured in possession of the Gov
eminent But suppose it should not?
Suppose the conspirators should sue
| ceed IN retaining control of their stolen
power? What then? Is the case of
Maine in 1880 any worse than was that
of New York in 1868? And is the
stealing control of State Government
at the North more menacing to the
perpetuity of our free institutions than
the stealing of Southern State Gov
eminent? The public does not realize
it, but the fact is the most startling
feature of the general political situa-
ton is the circumstance that power has
been usurped by the minority, using
force, in several Southern States, and
the usurpation continued now for years.
And the Government of the nation
confesses itself powerless to prevent or
punish the crimes against the right of
franchise which these usurpations in
volve.
The South has been made solidly
Democratic by frauds upon the ballot
box, and these frauds have been rem
dered possible only through the capital
crime of murder. And yet the coun-
try has remained calm because, appar-
entity, the frauds and crimes were com
mitted in the extreme South. The
Northern people in a good-natured way
have said: "The South is solidly Demo
cratic by fraud; we will make the North
solidly Republican honestly" The
Northern people have thought-good
souls-to cure the evil of fraud in
elections at the South by honest cleo
tions at the North. They seem to have
forgotten that the first great Democratic
fraud was perpetrated at the North,
cAAaO {" NAOASAA OL1Lo S+OO OAAO A1AA
State in the Union was stolen bodily,
so to speak, by Tilden and Tweed, and
that the Democratic party Of the nation
sanctioned the theft by accepting as its
candidate for the Presidency the chief
criminal in the nefarious business!
He who considers the stealing
Of the Government of Maine as
a sporadic case of Democratic vii
lainy is not only q poor student of
political history, but utterly blind to
the logic of this particular robbery.
When the Democratic party had Sc
cured a solid South, its managers as
sumed that the control of the nation
was within their grasp, and their
spokesman outlined the party policy so
Extensively that the reaction here fore
Swallowed solid North. The stealing
of Maine is the Democratic answer to
Northern expressions of disgust. "If,"
say they, in their secret counsels, eff
we can steal Southern State Govern
ments with impunity, why not Northern
1