Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1884-02-22
Money at Elections.

Many politicians honestly entertain
the opinion that it is impossible to con.
duct campaign and TO bring out the
full party vote without a profuse ex
penditure of money to temptthe cupidity
of the laggard voters and to buy up the
" floaters." The abuse grows with what
it feeds upon. The price of the hummer
vote gets higher and the number of those
enrolled in the ranks of the mercenaries
becomes greater every year. II one
party gets the advantage of the other by
the practice it can take little credit for a
triumph thus purchased, and no party
victory nor any change in the Office
holdings can compensate for the fearful
decentralization which must ensue tc
every community when the ballot is thus
prostituted and the franchise becomes q
marketable commodity.
Old men, with brief span Of life be.
tween them and judgment, stand on our
street corners on election day waiting for
their bribe; young men, on the threshold
OF life, with their careers before them,
go back and forward between the party
lines running up the price of their
own shame; some OF the loud,
est mouthed followers of both par
ties, who talk politics patriotically
the year around, never vote until they
are assured of their pay. Even the
law closing the bars on election day is to
some degree nulliiled by tha opening
of party headquarters supplied with
free beer aud whisky. Practical politics
has become dirty bdsiness, and those
who have to do the work, even if they
enter upon it with the best intentions,
feel that birthstone bath Is needed to
cleanse this town from the ensuing filth
OF present methods.
1t Is no exaggeration to say that our
local experience Is among the worst in
the state. Treachery and corrup-
tion among the political leaders
are not 80 much to be apprehended
here as elsewhere; in fact they are
rare. The affiliations OF those con
spicuous on either side in political work
IN Lancaster are well defined and In.
variable their respective parties can
trust the most of them. But the
vote that waits and wants TO be
bought is relatively larger and more
pandered to than almost anywhere
else In the state. In Philadelphia the
expenses ut the polls consist mainly OF
from s5 to $40 for each voting place for
the men who do an actual days work In
holding the poll book and distributing
the tickets. That is the sum total of
the money spent there on election day
at The polls by the Democratic city COM
mittee. In Luzerne county last year
tne largest Democratic majority ever
brought out in that county was secured
at an expense which we have heard was
only between siOO aud $500, mostly for
printing and postage. The average
expenses OF the Democratic party in
Chester county for the past twenty Eve
years have not been $3.50 per anIum.
We cite these and could produce many
other illustrations TO show that the ex.
penditure of money by political parties
on election day, at the polls and upon
the Individual voters, Is very much
greater in this city than elsewhere and
much In excess Of what is justified in
law, In morals, or in good political man.
agement.
The chief concern now is not so much
to determine who has been most resnon
sible for this as to decide that it shall be
stopped and how. All parties and all
classes OF citizens are interested in that
none more than those who are being
demoralized by TIE sale of their own
votes. Politician and preacher, lawyer
and laymaD, Republican and Democrat,