The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-11-08
cation well executed. 1so in for a law

which, after giving fair warning for q
few years, shall make ignorance crime.
There is no excuse for ignorance on these
subjects in this land, where the COM
mon schools make knowledge as free
as the fresh air Of heaven. I
would have board Of examination
seated beside the officers OF registration,
and let them decide whether the men
who come up to vote have any capacity
to be monarchs in 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 opportunity to know and
understand what they do. II they will
not take the education, 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 thousand
names recorded Of persons who had no
residence here, and If there were thou
sand attempted fraudulent votes in the
best city on the continent, what may we
expect in cities not so fortunate9 What
grand thing is the law Of regis
tration! Without it elections In this
country would be a farce. There must
be scrutiny on this subject. The law
must have keenest twist for the neck of
repeaters. Something more than slight
fine and short imprisonment. It Is an
attempt at the assassination Of the re-
public, when a man attempts to put In
spurious vote. In olden times when men
laid unholy hands on the ark Of the COW
fhox7
ness Uzzah. And when men attempt to
put unholy hands on the American ballot
box, the ark of the American covenant,
they deserve determination.
INTIMIDATION OF THE EMPLOYEES.
Another powerful foe Of this sacred
chest is intimidation.
Corporations sometimes demand that
their employees vote in this and that way.
1t is skillfully done. 1t is not positively
in so many words demanded, but the
employe understands he will be frozen
out of the establishment unless he votes
as the firm do. So you can go into vii
lagos where there are establishments
with hundreds and thousands of en-
ployes and having found out the politics
of the head men in the factory, you can
tell which way the election is going.
Now, that is damnable. If in any pre-
cinct in the United States man cannot
vote as he pleases, there is something
awfully wrong.
How do you treat that employe who
votes differently from what you do9 Oh,
you say you do not interfere with his
right of suffrage. But you call him into
your private office, and you find fault
with his work, and after while you tell
him there is an uncle or an aunt, OF a
niece, or nephew that must have that
position. You do not say it is because 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.
do not wonder at the vehemence of
Lord Chief Justice Holt, of Holland,
when he said: LET the people vote
fairly. Interference with mans vote
is in behalf Of this or that party. give
you notice that if an offender against the
law comes before me / will charge the
! jury to make him pay well for it." No
shadow plutocratic or mobocratic or cap
| italistic. Every man voting in his own
way-God and his own conscience the
only dictator.
Another powerful foe of that sacred
chest, the ark of the American covenant,
the ballot box, is bribery.
You know something of the hundreds
of thousands of dollars that were e4-
pended to carry Indiana in 1880. You
know something of the vast sums of
money expended in Brooklyn and New
York in other years to carry elections.
Bribery is one Of the disgraces Of this
country. And there will be more money
used in bribery this autumn's election
than in any previous election. 1t is
often the case that man is nominated
for office with reference to his capacity
to provide money for the elections or with
reference to his capacity to command
money from others. You know the
names of men who have at different
times gone into the gubernatorial chair
or congressional office buying their way
all through. tell you no news. Your
patriotic heart has been panied again and
again with it.
Very often it is not money that bribes,
but it is office. "You make me president
and I'll make you a cabinet officer; you
make me governor and I'll make you
surveyor general; you make me mayor
and I'll put you on the water board; you
give me position and I'll give you posi-
tion." That is the form of bribe often
and often in these great cities. do not
say it is in our city, but you know agair
and again throughout the land these
have been the forms of bribe offered. Sc
it is often the case that by the time 6
man comes to an office to which he has
been elected, he is from the crown o.
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 gwen away three month";
before the election. Two long lines O
,, worm fence, one worm fence reaching t.
: Albany and the other to Washington
and there great many citizens astrid
the fence, and they are equally poised
. and they are waiting to see on which sid
, thereis most emolument, and on this sid
|, they get down. But bribery kicks botl
ways 1t kicks the man that offers
) and the man that takes it. Bribery to
day you will admit to be one Of tn
; mightiest foes of the American ballot box
! SOME OF THE ODDITIES OF CAMPAIGNS.
Another great enemy Of that sacre'
: chest is defamation of character. Ca
! you find out from the newspapers whel
j two men are running for Office which
{ the best? How often in the autumna
r elections the good man is denounced an
I the bad man applauded, SO that You ca
i come sometimes to no just opinion as t
q who is the best man, and there are hun
: dreds and thousands of electors who 6
Q up to vote so utterly befogged they kno,
Q not what they do. Is not that fearfr
n influence to be brought upon the balle
q box of this countrya 1t has been so eve
l. since the foundation of this government
l. G. So ~
- ffA a&s