News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-11-15

cauiay and Gladstone fought great battles N
the introduction of the ballot boxes in Eng
land, and to-day it is one of the Businesses of
that nation. 1t is one of the corner stones OF
our government. 1t is older than the consti-
tuition. In it is our national safety. Tell me
what will be the fate of the American ballot
box, the ark of the American covenant, and
l will tell you what will be the fate of this
nation. Give the peop'e once year, or once
In four years, an opportunity to express their
political sentiments, and you practically
avoid Instruction and revolution
Either give them the ballot or they will
take the sword. Without the ballot box there
can be no fres republican institutions Mil
ton visiting in Italy noticed that on the sides
of Nesuyius gardeners and farmers were at
work while the volcano was in eruption, and
he asked them if they were safe. ''Y, S, y said
the farmers and the gardeners, lit is safe;
all the danger is before the eruption; then
comes earthquake and terror, but just as
soon as the volcano begins to pour forth lava
we all feel at rest" 1t is the suppression of
political sentiment the suppression of
public opinion, that makes moral earth
quake and national earthquake. Let pub
lie opinion pour forth, and that gives
satisfaction, and that gives peace, and
that givts permanency to good govern
ment And yet, though the ballot box is the
sacred chest aud tie ark of the American
covenant, you know as well as know it has
its sworn antagonists, and l propose this
morning, in Gods name and Christian
patriot TO set before you the names of some
of the sworn enemies of this sacred chest, the
ark of the American covenant, the ballot
box.
First, / remark, ignorance is a mighty foe
Other things being equal, the more intelli-
gence man has the better he is qualified to
exercise the right of suffrage You have
been ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years study
ing American institutions, you have can
vaSSed all the great questions about tariff and
home rule and all the educational questions,
and everything in American politics you are
well acquainted with You consider your
self competent to cast vote next Tuesday,
and you confident. You will take your
position in the line of electors, you will wait
for your turn to come, the judge of election
will announce your name, you will cast your
vote and pass out. Well done.
But right behind you there will come q
man who cannot spell the name of comp
troIler, or attorney or mayor. He cannot
write, or if he can write he uses small lip
for the personal prOnoun- He could not tell
on which side of the Allegheny mountains
Ohio is. Educated canary birds, educated
horses know more than he. He will cast his
vote and it will balance your vote His ig-
norance is as mighty your intelligence.
That is net right All men of fair mind will
acknowledge that that is not right. Until a
man can read the Declaration of 1ndepend-
ence and the constitution of the United
States, and calculate the interest on the
American debt and know the difference be-
tween Republican, form OF goFsrnmens and
sla@E e ss2ss 9s any = 1 Lilo sG boz OK
n 1872 in England there were 2, COO. 900
-3-liEen who ought to have been in school
Ibout 50 per cent, and of the so per cent not |
more than 5 per cent. got anything worthy |
he name of an education. Now, take thab
oreign Ignorance and add it to our American
ignorance and there will be in November
thousands and thousands of people who are
10 more qualified TO exercise the rlght OF sui
RAGE than to lecture on astronomy. HOW
ire these things to be correcteds by laws OF
education, well executed go
n for law which after giving fair warning
-or FEW years, shall make ignorance
rhine. There is no excuse for Ignorance on
5nese subjects in this land, where the common
schools make knowledge as free as the fresh
air of heaven. l would have a board OF eS-
animation seated beside the officers OF regis
tration, and let them decide whether the men
W no come up to vote have any capacity to
ne monarchs in a land where we are all mon
archs. One of the most awful foes of the
American ballot box to-day is popular ignor-
ance. Educate the people, give them an OPP
portunity to know and understand what
they do. If they will not take the educa-
ton, deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy of this sacred
chest the ark of the American covenant, the
ballot box. is spurious voting In 1850, i'll
Brooklyn. there were a thousand names re-
corded of persons who had no residence here,
and II there were a tEou and attempted
votes in the best Ky on the CON
tInent, what may We expect in cities not so
fortunate! What grand thing is the law of
registration Without it elections in this
country would be farce There must be a
scrutiny on this subject. The law must have
keenest twist for the neck of repeaters. Some
thing more than slight fine and short i'm
prlsonment 1t is an attempt at the assassin
alton of the Republic when a man attempts
TO put IN a spurious vote. In olden times
when men laid unhOly hands on the ark of
the covenant they dropped down dead Wit
ness Uzzah. And when men attempt to put
unholy hands on the American ballot box,
the ark of the American covenant, they de-
serve determination.
Another powerful fee of this sacred chest
Is intimidation.
Corporations sometimes demand that their
employees vote in this and that way. 1t IS
Sklltuily done. 1t is not positively in so
many words demanded but the employe I'M
derstands he will be frozen out of the estab-
hshment unless he votes as the firm do. So
you can go into villages where there arc es-
with hundreds and thousands
OF employees, and having found out the poll
Tics OF the head men in the fact DRY, you can
tell which way the election is going Now,
that is damnable. If in any precinct in the
nltei States man cannot vote as he
pleases, there is something awfulIy wrong.
how do you treat that emp,oye who votes
from what you doc Oh Won saw
you do not interfere with the right of suf- |
rage. But you call him into your private
'Iiice, and you find fault with his work, and |
liter while you tell him there is an uncle. |
OF an aunt, or niece, or nephew that must |
have that position. You do not say it is be- |
cause he voted this or that way, but he knows |
and God knows it is. If that man has given |
to you in hard work an equivalent for the |
wages you pay him, you have no right to ask |
anything else of him. He sold you his work; |
he did not sell you his political or religious |
principles But you know as well as | do |
there is sometimes on that sacred chest the |
ark of the American covenant, shadow cor |
porate or mOnOpOlistic
Another powerful foe of that sacred chest, |
the ark of the American covenant, the ballot |
box, is bribery.
Very often it is not money that brides, but
it is Office. "You make me President and III
make you Cabinet officer; you make me
Governor and I'll make you Surveyor Gen
eral; you make me Mayor and Tll put you on
the Water Board; you give me position and
II give you position" That is the form of
bride often and often in these great cities. 1
do not say it is in our CITY but Won know
again and again throughout the land these
have been the forms of bribe offered So it
Is often the case that by the time man comes
to an office to which he has been elected he
Is from the crown of head to the sole of foot
mortgaged with pledges. and the man who
goes to Albany or to Washington to get an
Office Is applying for some position which
was given away three months befor the elee-
ton. Two long lines of worm fence one
worm fence REF wing to Albany ami the other
to Washingto. and there a great many
citizens astride the fence, and they are
e ;uaily poised. and they are waiting to see
on which side there is most emolument and |
on this side they get down. But bribery
kicks both ways. 1t kicks the man that o
ferS it and the man that takes it. Bribery |
to-day you will admit to he one of the might |
lest foes of the American ballot box
Another great enemy of that sacred chest |
is defamation of character Can you find |
out from the newspapers when two men are |
running for office which is the best. How
often in the autumnal elections the good man |
IS denounced and the bad man applauded so /
hat you can come metimes to no lust |
opinion as to who is the best man, and there |
are hundreds and thousands of electors who |
20 up TO vote so utterly befogged they know
not what they do. Is not that fearful in /
1uence to be brought upon the ballot box of !
this countryl It has been so ever snce the |
OF this Government.
Defamationl 1t is the curse of the Ameri- /
Fan ballot box. Just as soon as in the great |
cities a man is put up for Office he is made
the target. The fact that be is up is primo |
taeie evidence that be must be brought down.