Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-01-22
COMMON SENSE AND SENATE.
RIAL ELECTIONS.

the recent contest for the Ohio United
States Senatorship still continues a burn
ing theme in newspapers and ! n politics.
The alleged cause of the unusual COM
motion is that Payne procured his cleo
ton by corrupt means; while, for parti-
san purposes, our Republican contempt
raries affect to look upon the result as
damning to Democracy in Ohio. They
saw Pendleton was the author OF a Civil
Service Reform bill; hence, that in allow
ing him to be beaten by such a man as
Payne, the Democratic party of Ohio
turns its back upon the reform OF which
Mr.. Pendleton was a conspicuous and
powerful advocate. Now, as to this,
the case is worse than that of the pot
calling the kettle black. Our Republi-
can reformers have run the Government
Tor more than twenty years and they
have done nothing but talk Of purifying
the Civil Service. That the Service is
only a part Of the ''machine" everybody
knows. Whether it will ever be any
thing else remains to be seen, but that it
will ever be reformed under the present
political regime nobody expects. The
Civil Service furnishes an army of
1.-THE payers and henchmen, the party in
power to relinquish which would be its
death. 1t will hold on to power and go
ON rotting until it literally drops to
pieces. Nothing like practical Civil
Service Reform need be thought of un-
til the Republican party is buried and
the places it has left diseased have been
cleaned out, f~umigated and disinfected.
1t is not necessary to say that the
Hercules for this job will be ready to
take hold and do it thoroughly after the
4th of next March.
As to the two men, Payne and Pendle-
ton, it is not to be denied that the latter
would have been the preference of many
Democrats, not only in Ohio, but else
where. Still, there are plenty Of Demo
Gratis, and they were in the majority,
who preferred the former. 1t is con-
coded by all that Mr.. Payne is a strong
and we have not heard it yet urged
that he will not be as efficient in serving
his constituency as Mr.. Pendleton was.
Nor do we know that the election Of
Mr.. Payne was accomplished by corrup-
ton. The nearest thing approaching
evidence to support this charge, that we
have heard of, is the assertions Of Repub-
lican editors. We do not believe this
would be accepted in the Courthouse as
competent testimony, unless, perhaps,
the Judge were of the favorable political
stripe. But we believe if it were adj
mitted that MIR. Payne's success was
secured by bribery and fraud, there
would be no chance of thunder in it for
our Republican friends anywhere in the
United States, but certainly none for
those members of the Grand Old Party
in the State of Nevada.
The naked fact is that it is a mistake
that argues a lack Of political sense for
anybody to try and make capital, whether
Democrat or Republican, out of a Sena-
torial election.
The Salt Lake Tribune Republican,
takes q sensible view of the matter. 1t
says:
The election Of Mr.. Payne is not an
impeachment of any party. 1t is simply
giving emphasis to the fact that in a
political race in the United States, no
amount of ability, no services, however
eminent, to country; no patriotism, how
ever lofty, can compete with money.
And as much as the West has been
abused, the amount per capita necessary
to carry on elections decreases from the
Pacific to the Atlantic. Eastern papers
delight in telling how much money was
spent by . Colorado Senator or a Nevada
Senator to secure his election. 1t was
charged, for instance, that Senator
Sharon spent $500, 600 to secure his
election in Nevada, and for it journals in
the pure cities Of Chicago and New York
have ever since termed Nevada ''the
rotten borough" Admitting for argu.
ment's sake that it was true, Nevada at
the time contained 60, 900 people, or one.
fftieth the population of Illinois, one.
eighty-third that Of New York. That is,
at the same proportion it would have re-
quired the expenditure Of $l5, 0OO, 900 to
elect q Senator in Illinois, and $24, 9OO,-
600 to have elected one in New York.
Now, there is not q man of ordinary
sense in the Union who does not know
that one-tifteenth of the respective sums
would be ample to capture either State.
The election of Payne proves that
il the men of Nevada ever sold
out they did it royalty, at least.
and did not accept any pauper
wages for dishonoring themselves, and
further, that the further east we 70 the
less is the price demanded for q sacrifice
of principle. Still, this does not prove
that as q rule the people are corrupt.
Where parties are about equal, and it
requires but q few votes to turn the
scale, those few votes can undoubtedly
be purchased. That is all there is about
the matter. and it is hardly fair to charge
that O whole people are corrupt becapse