Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-08
Lei all Qualified Register.


A week from tomorrow an election VIII
take place for Mayor and Board OF Al
dermeR to serve for two years. 1T would
seem a work of supererOgation to call the
attention of our citizens to the Importance
of attending to matter OF such
great moment. vet 1t appears to
be necessary TO urge upon them
the performance of a bounden duty,
and one which, rightly discharged,
will secure to them good government, and
the neglect of which may entail not only
serious loss TO them as citizens and tax
payers, but which may forever retard the
future prosperity of the city.
Under the new law the first requisite
to be a voter is to register, and to do this
the party offering must be qualified by
having paid al taxes for which he was
liable since 1877. The operation OF this
registry law, it appears. has given otfense
to some. but this should not be the case.
The registration act of 1881 was found de-
fective. and was questioned in the
courts. The present statute was
prepared late in the session, and
was passed only a few weeks ago. The
list of voters for the use of the Managers
of Registration were necessarily hastily
prepared, and consequently there have
been names omitted, and thereby much
ANNOYANCE has been occasiOned to parties
offering to register. But good citizens
should not complain of this when they
can remedy this annoyance by proving
that they have discharged their Obliga-
lions as taxpayers.
The registration is for the purpose OF
purifying the ballot and giving to each
qualified voter that power to which he is
entitled under our democratic republican
government. 1t has been asserted, and
apparently upon good authority, that our
system of registration and elections here
tOfore has afforded opportunities for
irregularities, by which the wishes of the
people at the polls have been buried be-
meath an avalanche of illegal votes; that
for years, under this yitiated system,
money has been the chief power
exerted, and that those who could buy
the most votes. or who were the most I'M
scrupulous in repeating" have sue
ceeded in electing their candidates. Good
citizens. though Disguised, in order
to even get share in their own gov
eminent, had to submit to certain
conditions. 1t was system NOT peculiar to
Savannah, but employed in every large
city and county, and even affecting in
some parts of our country the State Gov
ernments, and. still further, even the
character of the national administration.
The awakening here is but an echo of
the popular revolution, which is quietly
going on all over the country. The peo-
pie have become tired of rings" and
''machines," and are asserting their right
to control their affairs. Savannah
now has the opportunity to free
herself. True. we have heretofore had
numbers of good men in office, bat the sys-
tenn under which they have been chosen
has, to a certain extent, hampered them
in the discharge of their duties. Let the
source of the fountain be pure, let the
people have a fair, square ballot, and then
we will have better government. Let
every one qualified to register see to 1t
that his name goes on the registry list.
Then if he fails to vote rightly, the fault is
his own