The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-12-06
CORRUPT POLITICS AND THEIR
REMEDY.


William NJ. Wins, whose exposition
of the vast cos of getting office in New
York city has not been forgotten, ad-
dressed an even more noteworthy dis.
course to the Congregational club of
New York Monday evening. His sub
iect was Purity of elections and ballot
REFORM and the picture he drew of the
power of money welded by bad men to
control the elections of city, State and
nation, was one whose unimpeaChable
accuracy but emphasizes the necessity
that the conscience of the people should
be aroused before it is too late. it is a
familiar fact that in the city of New
York the people do not really elect their
city governmental or their representatives
in the Legislature or Congress, or have
their choice for President. The saloons
and the politicians in combination man
age all these mltters, and Mr.. Wins tells
us that it is so in the broader field of
state and nation. He even suggests that
the election of 1884 did not turn on a
Question of character, as then appeared,
aud quotes the literary director of the
brewers association, Gallus Thomann,
as saying that Mr.. Blaine was defeated
because the Germans found that he was
an advocate in his own State of the pro-
hibitory law, and that "the Republican
managers found out their mistake, and
1888 nominated man who had no OBJ
ljectionable prohibition record, gave the
Prohibitionists the cold shoulder, and
adopted a resolution copied after the
utterance of the National Liquor Dealers
Association. The consequence was the
Germans came back to the party and
| s, ,la n
may do for the brewers, but the truth ia
that no one thing accounts for defeat
or victory in a contest covering the
whole country, and it IS not rational in
Mr.. WINS to accept this as explaining
the national result. When he speaks of
the result in the city and State of New
York, on the other hand, he is no doubt
right in saying that the saloons scored
victory in both.
In the metropolis of America are
found the conditions which he describes
truly as the extreme of evil conditions
"that the bribe giving politician and the
bribe giving liquor dealer should strike
hands to subvert true democracy in the
interest of rum and corruption, and that
the machinery of elections should be
such as not only to make this cOnjunc
tion possible and profitable, but to assure
it of success" Mr.. Wins gives certain
convincing statistics such as that hun
dred or 80 men hold mortgages of So
000,0 900 fixtures of 4710 saloons in New
York city, one brewing firm holding
over 900 and another 200 such mort |
cages and "if this handful of men agree
upon given policy they can at once
convert these 47l0 places into very hives
of political agitation, controlling and di-
recting the most corrupt, the most de-
graded and the most ignorant portion
of the community, massing them and
driving them to the polls like cattle
Money is needed and there is no trouble
about that, The brewers in the late
campaign levied tax of one cent per
keg upon their last years output, to be
used in attempting to carry two or three
legislative districts in New Jersey and |
so secure the repeal of the high license
act and to help Gov. Hill in New York |
State. This light tax would raise not
less than $50, 600, and was in addition to
the brewers voluntary gifts and to vast
snms raised by the dispensers of hard
liquors; and the affair was cited to show
how easy it is for this interest to get |
money for the worst cause. Mr.. Wins
turned then to Col. Dudley's letter, dI-
recting the division of "floaters" into
"blocks" of five" with a trusted man in
charge of necessary funds" to insure
that ''all vote our ticket" Where we're
the necessary funds to come from !
Why, said Mr.. Wins, where the interests
of the monopolists are at stake the funds
are raised as easily as from the liquor
dealers.
The practical politician then received
Mr. Ivins's attention. starting with a
memorable saying of the late campaign
-"those who know anything at all
know that there is no politics in politics"
1t is not this or that question of public
importance which determines the vot
ing, it is the personal interest of men
whose sole business is to live by their
wits on elections, and whose whole con-
duct IS nor morally illegitimate, but is
absolutely prohibited by law, and has
been pronounced illegal by the highest
court in the State. The machinery of
elections IN New York is under control
of the officers of the Jaw with the ex-
ception of the printing and distribution
of the ballots. That is left to those who
make personal business of it:
The result is that those who see fit to
organize themselves into a party to
make nominations for office, to levy as
sessments upon their candidates or upon
their official followers, and with the pro-
ceeds not only to pay for the printing OF
the ballots, but to hire men to distribute
them at the polling places, are given
the virtual monopoly of political power.
Like other monopolists they find them
divided into several corporations which
fight for the control of the trade; that
is, which fight for the final monopoly.
Those who win are monopOlists in fact,
enjoying the fruit of their work, Those
who lose wait for the next opportunity
for control; but political power has
passed out OF the hands of the people
into those of these political corporations.
One of these corporations even holds a
charter from the State, and, under the
guise of charitable organization, de-
votes its property and its influence to
the single purpose of controlling the dis
tribution of office,
This is, of course, Tammany hall,
which originated in charitable order
like hundreds of others, and is the most
glaring instance of perversiou IN this
country. 1t is because of this peculiar
privilege that Tammany always survives
defeat. No other political organization
can compete with il OH equal terms, and
so one after another they become its
allies or give up the ghost, But every
one, no matter how virtuously began,
eventually comes to the plane of Tam
many, and for practical reasons
If one of these corporations sees fit to
ally itself with the interests of the mo
nopolists, by naming some prominent
railroad man, or some prominent manu-
facturer or banker, or to the liquor deal
ers by espousing their cause, iJ not only
finds it easy to raise funds for its cam
paign purposes, but its candidates, hav
ing received nomination from a machine
which can effectively man the polls and
handle the vote, are willing to pay well
for the whistle, the risk being, from
purely business point of view. good
one. When a party becomes so weak
that such risk on the part of its candi-
dates is bad risk, it fails to secure can.
didates and goes out of existence by ex-
tinotion or merger.
Every political party, under the cir
cumstances, spends money in the same
fashion at the polls. 1t cannot run a
ticket at less than $50 for each election
district, and that is over $25, 900 for the
city In the last election Mr.. Wins be-
lieves the three parties spent not less
than $500 for workers IN each district, or
1928 600, and this is outside Of the large
sums placed in the hands of individuals
for the open and avowed purpose Of buy
ing votes. Divided at the average of s.
to each worker. this gives employment
to QUAR- az OOO man An fur the WOr lpr