Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-11-30
WHOLESALE BRIBERY
rHB REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN OF C0RRuP.
rI0N IN INDIANA.
Over One Million Dollars Dumped into The State
The Ballot 0onpptsd and IN Honest
Election Dsisatsd-A Com
plsts ESposs

IDIANAPoIIs, IND, November a9.-The
startling Developments that are expected
to follow the indictment Of bribsrs at the
resent election will shake Indisna 10 its
centre. Many Of the nataes sent in to the
United States District Attorney for Of
fenses against the State are those Of
men prominent in the Republican party,
chsirmen of county committees, tx.Fed-
eral Office holders, county efiicen Of note
and men whose regulations have extended
bey oud the State, and who were known in
the past for their integrity and upright
ness. Over Q Thousand complaints have
been fltd at the Office Of United States
District Attorney Sellers.
The most scIupulous care is being eItr-
cised in arranging the cssse. Not
man will he brought before the grand
iury whose evidence cannot he c,rrobo-
rated, and NO case will be presented with
ont the most convincing evidence. From
the fragrant and Wholesale bribery ipdulg-
ed in in this State the country at large Ia
led TO believe that no safeguards are thrown
around the right Of franchise in this State.
IL is true the election laws are imperfect
and broad enough TO allow an elephant to
walk through them. Imagine State With
a population Of over two millions without
registration laws Even New Jersey, with
so per cent OF IndianA's s population, is bet
ter OF in this respect, for the little Cem-
monwealth is supplied with an excellent
registration law that Is rigidly enforced.
Bot no 80 in Indiana. The closest ap-
proach to registration is the old fashioned,
insecure and worthless system Of polling
This is done by 10th parties. TIE State
Is divided into /, $50 precincts, or an aver
! age of $50 votes 20 the precinct. Every
County Committee, acting under orders
from the State Committee, makes the poll
10 it's res pec,ive balliwick. The name Of
e,ch voter in the precinct Ia obtained and
bis politics. Where the voter refuses to
diyuIpe his political creed he is pat down
a doubtful and spotted at once "A 1oatsr.
Three polls were made this year and the
nu mber of "foaters" was obtained with
remarkable exactness. 1t is the want OF
registration law that has led TO the over
wfelming corruption In the past in this
state. But the laws Oi luuMud, like tho
excise laws in New York, nre clear, ccm.
prehensiye and strong enough, but the
trouble with them, like the trouble with
the New York excise laws, is that they are
not enforced.
The Republicans had plenty Of money
and were liberal in using it. Their plan,
in the face of all that has come TO lisht,
was simple enough. While they sprinkled
their fards in the strong Republican coun-
ties, the strong Democratic and clote coun-
ties were deluged with corruption money.
The official returns on the electoral ticket
will not be announced till tomorrow. But
the official figures on the Gubernatorisl
contest are out, and ~ Gen. Harrison aud
Gen. Hovey ran very clote together, a.
their pluralities are relatively the same,
the figures for Goversrnor will answer our
purpose just as we'll. To show conclusive
ly the Republican line Ct campaign let us
take the following counties, which ell gave
Mr. Cleveland plurslities in 1894, and
which give Gen. Harrison or Gen. Hovey
pluralities in 1888: