Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-11-17
FOES or THE BALLOT
DR.. Talmage Speaks Of the
Dangers for the Ballot
Box.
Among Them Are Ignorance,
Bribery, Intimidation and
Defamation.
The Rowdy and Drunken
The Rowdy and Drunken
Caucus Another Power
full Foe.
The Remedy Is a Pure Ballot and
an Honest COunt--A Prediction
That May BE Fulfilled.
DANGER FOR THE BALLOT BOX.

DANGER FOR TIE BALLOT o Y
BROOKLYN, Nov, AT the Taber-
naclc this morning the Rev. 4. Dewitt
Talmage, ID. d.. e~xpounded some pas
sages of Scripture about ancient politics.
He gave out the hymn:
"Arm OF the Lord, awake, awake,
Put on thy strength, the nations shake"
The doctors text was:
'sTwo cubits and a half was the length OF
t, and a cubit and a half the breadth OF It,
and a cubit and a half the height OF it,
Exodus 81: !.
He said:
Lcok at 1.-THE sacred chest Of the
ancients. 1t was about five feet long,
three feet wide and three feet high. 1t
was within and out of pure gold. On the
top Of it stood two angels facing each
other with outsprcad wings. In that
sacred box was the law, and there were
IN it a great many precious stones. with
that box went the fate Of the nation.
Carried i'm front of the host, the waters OF
the Jordan parted. Divinely charged,
costly, precious, momentous box. No
unholy hands might lay hold OF it. 1t
was called the ark Of the covenant. But
you will understand it was n box, the
most precious box of the ages. Where
is it now? Gone forever. MOI a crypt Of
church or museum of the world has IA
fragment of it.
But is not this nation Gods chosen
people? Have we not passed through
the Red sea? Have We lot been led with
a pillar of fire by night? Has this nation
no ark of the covenant? Yes, the ballot
box, the sacred chest Of the nation, the
ark of the American covenant.
In it is the law. in it is the divine and
the human will, in it is the fate Of the
nation. Carried in front Of our host
again and again the waters Of national
trouble have parted. Mighty ark Of the
covenant. the American ballot box. 1t is
a very Old box.
PEBBLES As BALLOTS.
In Athens, long before the art OF print
ing, the people dropped pebbles into ii to
give expression to their sentiments. After
that beans were dropped into it. a white
bean for the Affirmative. a black for the
negative. After that, when they wished
to vote IA man out Of citizenship they
would write his name upon a shell and
drop that into the box.
O'Connell and Grotc and Golden and
Macauley and Gladstone fought great
battles in the introduction Of the ballot
boxes in England. and today it is one of
the Businesses Of that nation. 1t is one of
the cornerstones of our government. 1t
is older than the constitution. In ii is
our national safety. Tell me what will
be the fate of the American ballot box,
the ark Of the American covenant, and |
W. tell you what will be the fate Of this
naton Give the people once a year or
once in four years an opportunity TO ex-
press their political sentiments, and you
practically avoid insurrection and revolu-
ton. Either give them the ballot or
they will take the sword. Without the
ballot box there can be no free rcpubli-
can institution.
Until a man can read the Declaration
of independence and the Constitution Of
the United States and calculate the in
terest on the American debt. and know
the difference between a republican form
of government and a monarchy or a des-
potism. he is unfit to exercise the right of
suffrage at any ballot box between Key
West and Alaska.
ENEMIES OF A FREE BALLOT.
In 1872, in England, there were . 600
900 children who ought to nave been in
school. There were only 1913, 600, in
other words about so per cent, and of
the 60 per cent. not more than 8 per
cent. got anything worthy the name of
an education. Now, take that foreign
ignorance and add to it our American
ignorance, and there will be in November
thousands and thousands Of people who
are no mere qualified to exercise the
right of suffrage than to lecture on
astronomy. How are these things TO be
corrected? BY laws Of compulsory edu-
cation well executed. | 90 in for a law
which, after giving fair warning for a few
wears, shall make Ignorance a crime.
There is no excuse for ignorance on these
subjects in this land, where the common
schools make knowledge as free as the
fresh air Of heaven. | would have a
board of examination seated beside the
officers Of registration, and let them de-
eide whether the men who come up 10
vote have any capacity to be monarchs in
a land where we are all monarchs. One
of the most awful foes of the American
ballot box today is popular ignorance.
Educate the people, give them an oppor-
tunitv 20 know and understand what
they do. If they will not take the cdu-
cation, deny them the vote.
Another powerful enemy of this sacred
chest, the ark of the American
covenant, the ballot box, is spurious
voting. In 1880, in Brooklyn. there were
a thousand names recorded OF persons
who had no residence here, and If there
were a thousand attempted fraudulent
votes in the best city on the continent,
what may we expect in cities rot so for.
etunate? What a grand thing is the law
of registration Without it elections in
this country would be a farce. There
must be a scrutiny on this subject. The