Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-01-24
STATE PRINTING.

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STATE PRINTING.
Our system of State printing has been
found to work we'll At a moderate cost
it gives US very superior class of work.
The Office of the State Printer is In ex-
having renewed and materially enlarged
aud improved 1t.
SAFEGUARDS FOR THE BALLOT BOX.
The present registry law should be re-
pealed, and an act embOdying adequate
provisions for protecting the rights OF
Regal voters ana preventing Illegal Young
should be placed on the statute books
The present law accompanies neither OF
these purposes. It places in the hands
of petty city officer dangerous power.
No scrutiny or revision of his acts is
provided for; he may be careless or strict,
as mis- partisan prejudices incline him, in
registering names; and if he registers
hundreds Of illegal voters, or names Of
mythical persons, there is no way pro-
Vided for purging the lists of these names
or Of detecting and Furnishing his mai
feasance in Office.
A registry law should not apply in
cities Of less than five thousand inhabi-
tants In small communities such laws
are q hindrance, rather than a prOtec-
ton, to legal voting. The personal &C
mountaineering of one voter with all the
others should afford adequate guarantee
against illegal voting. But IN larger
Centers Of population a careful registra-
ton Of the legal voters, under the pro
visions of a law carefully framed, is
necessary for the protection Of the ballot
box against frauds. Such a law, to be
effective should provide for a uOn-parti-
san Board Of Registration, which should
have power to administer oaths. This
board should sit during a stated period
prior to each election; the names of the
voters it enrolls should be published;
and after such publication, another ses-
sion should be held, when the names of
legal voters omitted could be placed on
the lists, and those Of illegal voters could
be challenged and removed. A law Of
this character would be valuable. The
present law is worse than useless.
HONEST ELECTIONS.
The great question Of the hour is that
of a free, pure, honest ballot box. The
foundation stone on which the whole
fabric of our Government rests is the
ballot box. The Republic cannot long
endure if honest votes are not honestly
counted, or if legal voters are derived of
the right to vote by intimidation or viO-
lence. The developments following re-
cent National elections are startling, and
should admOuish all honest American
citizens Of the danger that menaces our
form of Government. The returns of
these elections show that, In q number
of the States lately In rebellion, one voter
has usurped, by force or fraud, as much
electoral power as Is exercised by two
or three voters in the Northern States.
At the Congressional election of 1882,
the average vote Polled in the
th1rty-seVen Congressional Dis
triCts Of Georgia, Alabama, South
Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana, was
only 1894, while that polled in the
thirty eight Congressional Districts Of
Iowa, Wisconsin, New jersey, Maryland
and Minnesota, was 26, 748, and for the
seven Congressman representing Kansas
the vote averaged 26, 168. That this ex-
traOrdinary contrast was not the result
Of an unusual interest in the Onesection,
and Of the apathy of voters in the other,
is shown by the vote cast In the late
Presidential election. The five Southern
States named above pOlled, for President,
a total Of only 618, 8l2 votes, and elected
fOrty-seVen Presidential electors and
thlrty-seVen Congressman, or one Presi-
Dental eleCtOr for every 1915 votes.
nd one Congressman for every IL, 7Zz
votes. At the same election, the five
Northern States Of Iowa, Nebraska,
Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Jer-
Bey, pOlled q total Of 1875, 1886 votes, /
and elected only forty-five Presidential
Electors and thirty-fiVe Congressman, or
one Presidential EIeCtOr for every Is, 1853 /
votes, and one Congressman for every
%, 453 votes. Our own State, atthis election /
pOlled a total Of 265, 6S4 votes, electins /
nine Presidential electors and seven /
Congressman, or one Presidential Elec5OT /
for every q, 500 votes, and one Congress /
man for every 1885 votes. 1t wall be |
seen by these facts, that IN each Of the |
five Southern States named, one voter [
exercised more political power than two |
voters In the six Northern States named. I
The same comparisons might be made /
between the votes Of nearly all Southern /
and Northern States, showing similar re-
suits.
No government assuming to derive its 1
authority from the popular viii, can long /
endure if such systematic and persistent /
crimes against the ballot box as these /
figures reveal, 60 on, unpunisEed and /
from year TO year and cleo /
ton to election No fair minded, right 4
thinking American citizen can uphold /
such injustice. No question Of political j
economy, or Of administrative reform, or
Of foreign policy, is comparable to this
question of free, fair, honest
ballot box. No crime against the
Constitution, the laws, the principles or
the traditions Of the Republics so mons
.rous as that Of EubVerting the rule Of the
majority. and substituting for it govern
sient bv 3 miucritV- Honest man of all
oarues should unlUe on me sIssae Ehus
and demand that every law
and every proper power which can be ez-
srcised by the Government shall be
brought TO bear to protect the ganctity Of
he ballOG-boZs ana establish beyond
-.r1-f1~ar 1FrTFrfa hha T-Iunt elwopu I