The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-09-20
The Dorsey Revelations.

but his first book has had convincing
testimony to its scriptural accuracy and
fidelity.
1t told the story of the corruption
and purchase of State, whereby the
election of the whole country was cor
rupted. 1t told of contributions of
money for that purpose by men who
had no patriotic interests to serve, who
had not even political interest in the
election, who did not care which party
succeeded. but who did have base, a
sordid and venal interest in corrupting
the very fountain-head and source of
Federal Justice in buying beforehand
the nominations to the Supreme Bench.
He has told the story with dates,
names and particulars.
No witness has arisen to question or
to deny the truth of the whole story.
One prominent Republican editor. goad-
ed to fury by a singing insult, has
called Dorsey liar" and "rascal,"
and one Brooklyn politician, whose
name was not mentioned in the story,
has uttered feeble expression of dis
belief
But of those who could speak as wit
nesses, of those really competent to give
evidence, of those who stood in the light
of accompliceS as well as of witnesses,
whose reputation and good standing be-
fore their fellow-citiZens are involved,
not one has uttered one word of denial,
contradiction, correction or disclaimer.
They are dumb.
Jay Gould is charged with having
subscribed large sum of money on con-
ditiOn that he could secure the nOmina-
ton of Supreme Court Judges who were
friendly to his corporate interests. He
does not deny It.
Huntington, who rests under the same
charge, does not Geny it.
Pension Commissioner Dudley, who
was an active manager of the campaign,
does not deny it.
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
John G. New, WHO is now the real Sec
rotary of the Treasury. was also man.
aGer of this venal campaign, and he does
not deny.
Ex-senator Plat, who delivered the
money with his own hands, does not
deny it.
Banker Stephenson, who poured out
the golden stream, does not deny it.
All of these gentlemen and every one
implicated in this shameful business
all of them have been asked again and
again to deny the story, but they refuse
to speak; they are dumb. Their silence
is a confession of guilt as convincing as
any explicit ayowal could be.
BY the use of money and by the in
fuence of money Indiana and New
York, two States which had previously
voted Democratic, were bought; Ma
tional election was obtained by bribery
and purchase; the steps of the Supreme
Bench were tainted with the slime of
venality and corruption.
The conformation of the crime is worse
than the crime itself. The silent and
guilty criminals are not alone in their
guilt. They are not outcast culprits.
Not bit of it. The party they have
served stands by them. Not one Re-
publican politician, not one Republican
editor, not one member of the party has
arisen to repudiate the bargain and the
hucksterS who made it.
On the contrary they glory IN it. One
of the most reputable Republican pa
pers, the Commercial AdrerttSer, COM
ares this corruption fund with the am
munition and ratiOns of an army and
laughs at Sunday-school talk about
money in elections as "absurd."
Is this the worst? Have we reached
the bottom? Or is there "within the
lowest depth a deeper yet?" Unfortu-
nately there is.
The worst of the matter, the worst of
the whole bad business, is not that the
criminals are silent, not that the ac-
completes are satisfied, not that the par
tv of corruption reiOiceS in its cO-rup-
ton. The worst feature is the wide
spread, universal indifference. apathy,
I'm concern among the people.
Not to protest against such a crime is
to acquiesce in it. Not to punish it is
to invite a repetition of it; and yet, if
the truth must be told, the people who
were cheated, the people who were
wrOnged, the people who were out
ragged and insulted are almost indiffer-
ent. A great political right has been
turned into farce; A great political
power has been broken like glass;
money has bought State; money has
elected President; money has bought
a reversion of the Supreme Bench; and,
instead of the general outburst of indig-
nation which should blaze across the
country, we witness an Indifference
which can not be concealed such in
difference as lulled Rome to rest when
Jay Gould Crassus who had bought
the Edileship and who had bought the
Pretorship had finally bought the Con-
sulship.
And with such state of affairs they
tell us that the remedy is in the Tariff,
or in Civil-service Reform; that the great
burning question of the day is that our
clerks shall be able to pass examina-
tions in fractions and geography. or that
pig-iron shall be made to cost quarter
of a cent more pound.
The question of the day is none of
these.
1t is Electoral Reform.
We must purify our elections. We
must protect the ballot-box. We must
protect it against the open violence of
the ruffian and against the subtler vi6-
lence of the corruptionist. We must
make the ballot represent the free
choice of the voter. We must punish
all crimes against the purity of cleo
tons -bribe-taking as well as bribe-
giving.
That is the issue before the people of