The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-07-21
Protect the Purity of the Ballot Box

Protect the Purity Of the Ballot Box.
Thus far this session the House of
Representatives has relegated to
private life, from seats that they had
usurped by fraud on the ballot boxes,
Messrs. Chalmers, Dibble, Finley
and Wheeler. Each of them held
his seat by grace of the tissue ballots,
or the stuffed ballot box, the intimi-
dator at elections, and the manipula-
tor of the returns; and they would
have retained them until the expira-
ton of the present Congress had the
Democratic members there been as
powerful as they were willing to
perpetuate the results of these frauds.
Now, we have no disposition to fol-
low these gentlemen, for whose per-
sonal disappointment we feel a
measure of regret, with any words Of
exultation; but it is as impossible as it
is unnecessary, for us to attempt to
restrain the expression of satisfaction
we feel that the system which they
represented has met with these signal
defeats. That system, in word, is
system of fraud practiced in such a
manner as to be entirely subversive
of honest elections, or to make it a
matter of comparative indifference
who did the voting, provided the
Bourbon managers could do the
counting and the making out of
the returns. Recently the shotgun
method adopted in 1916 for carry
ing elections in the South has been
abandoned for the less noisy and
obtrusive but equally effective method
of fraud on the ballot boxes. Some
times, as in the cases of Finley and
O'Connor, tissue ballots have been
freely used, and then the returns
have been SO manipulated as to make
out Democratic majorities in districts
heavily Republican. These expedi-
ents have been as various as circum-
stances required, but the end and
the results have been the same; and
the "solidity" Of southern Congress
sional delegations has been preserved
by dishonest elections and fraudulent
counts.
There is one way and only one
way in which these iniquitious prac-
tees can be prevented. 1t is alb
solutely useless to appeal to the
moral sentiment or to the political
honesty in communities where the
public conscience is so warped that
it will condemn no methods that are
devised, however wrong and dis.
honest, to retain political supremacy.
We do the South no injustice in this
remark, for the ablest opponents oil
southern opinion, in South Carolina
in particular, but generally in all the
Gulf states, have repeatedly and
strenuously insisted that anything
was preferable to loss of political
control, and that whatever might be
done at the elections the people
must rally in support of their leaders
and uphold them to the end, just as
their Representatives in Congress
did in these contested election cases
Appeals to the moral sentiment oil
such communities, on this point al
all events, are clearly thrown away.
Almost equally useless is it to prose
cute political offenders in the courts
of the South, as jurors will be toe
much under the control Of locaI
public sentiment or be influenced b,
fears for their personal safety, te
give just verdicts. The one way tc
annihilate these political frauds is tc
clearly demonstrate to the interested
parties that they uiU not be permitted
to profit by them. So long as the,
are successful they will continue t.