The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-11-22
! TO-DAY you VIII ADMIT to be ono OF the might,

to-day you VIII ADMIT to be one OF the might
lest foes OF the American ballot box,
Another great enemy OF that sacred chest
Ia defamation of character. Can you find
out from the newspapers when two men arc
running for office which is the bestl How
often in the autumnal elections the good man
is denounced and the bad man applauded, so
that you can come sometimes to no just
opinion as to who is the best man, and there
are hundreds and thousands of electors who
go up to vote so utterly befogged they know
hot what they do. Is not that fearful in-
fluence to DO brought upon the ballot box OF
this country 1t has been so ever since the
foundation OF this Government.
Defamationl 1t is the curse of the Ameri-
can ballot box, just as soon as in the great
cities man is put up for office he is made
the target The fact that he is up is prima
facie evidence that he must be brought down.
His public life and his private life are scruti.
nized, and all the electric lights are turned
on. How often it is that men have gone
down under such things, In every autumnal
election the air is filled with carrion crows
scenting carcasses Cawl Cav. Cawl There
are newspapers in the United States that in
the great autumnal elections take wild
license for liberty. They are filled with
calumy. The editorial columns of such
papers reek with it; their columns are
stuffed with It, There are newspapers in
the United States which in the great popu-
lar elections breakfast and dine and sup on
indecency. They wallow in it. Swine like
the mire, They give more for one quill full
of it than whole hogshead of decent pro-
duct. There are in these great autumnal
elections men sitting in editorial chairs who
write with quill, not plucked from the stu
pid goose or the sublime eagle but from a
turkey buzzard Ghouls! Ghouls They
tip the city sewer into their editorial ink.
stands. Defamation o. character is one OF
the curses Of the American ballot box today
In your great presidential elections who can
tell from what he reads who is the man he
ought to vote for' Bad men sometimes ap-
plauded, good men denounced
Another powerful foe of the sacred chest,
the ark of the American covenant the bal
lot box, is the rowdy and drunken caucus.
This ballot box does not give any choice to
q man when the nominations are made in the
back part of GROCERY. When the elector
cones up he has to choose between two evils
In some OF the cities men have come to the
ballot box to vote, and have found both
names such scaly, greasy and stenchful
crew they had no choice, You say vote for
somebody outside. Then they throw away
their vote Christian men of New York and
Brooklyn, honorable men, patriotic men, go
and take possession Of the caucuses. First
having saturated your pocket haudkerchiefs
with cologne or some other disnfectant, go
down to the caucus and take posses.
sion of it in the name of the Lord God
Almighty and the American people, though
after you come back you should have to
hang your hat and coat on a line in the back
yard for ventilation.
Now, how are these things to be remedied?
Some say by property qualification. They
say that after a man gets a certain amount
or properUy--a certain amount OF real estate
he is financially interested in good govern
ment, and lie becomes cautious and conserva-
tive. / reply, a property qualification would
shut off from the ballot box great many of
the best men in the land Literary men are
emost always poor. A pen is good imple-
ment to make the world better but it is a
very poor implement to get livelihood ordi-
nariy. have known scores of literary men
who never owned foot of groun and never
will own a foot of ground until they get
underit Professors of colleges, teachers of
schools, editors of newspapers, ministers of
religion, qualified in every possible way to
vote, yet no worldly success. There has been
many map who has not had house on
earth who will have mansion in heaven.
There are many who through accidents of
fortune have come to great success while
they are profound in their stupidity, as pro-
found in their stupidity as man of large
fortune with whom was crossing the ocean,
who told me he was going to see the dykes of
Scotland, When member OF my family
asked lady on her return from Europe if
she had seen Mont Blanc, she replied: well,
really, | don't know; is that in Europe!"
Ignorance by the square foot Property
qualification will not do. The only way
these evils will be eradicated will be by
more thorough legal defense of the ballot
box and more thorough moralization
and Characterization of the people, That
ark of the covenant was carried
into captivity to Kirjath- jearim, but one
day the people hooked oxen to cart, and
they put this ark on the cart, and the
| cart was taken to Jerusalem-the ark of
the covenant coming with the shouting and
thanksgiving of the people. And though
| the American ballot box, the ark of the
| American covenant, our sacred chest, has
been carried again and again into captivity
| by fraud and iniquity and spurious voting, /
| believe it will be brought back yet by prayer
| and by Christian conservation, and will be
| set down in the midst of the temple of
| Christian patriotism. Whose responsibility
| Yours and mine
You have not only vote. YOU have
| prayer. The prayer may be mlghtier thar
he vote Oh, as citizens of this beautiful
! city, and of this State, and of this nation, let
us do our whole duty. We cannot live under
| any other form of government than that
which God has given us in this country. The
| stars on our flag are not the stars of a thick
ening night, but the stars sprinkled amid the
! bars of morning cloud. We are goiug to
| have one government on this entire conti-
nent Let the ueSpotsms of Asia keep
their feet off the Pacific coast and let the
tyrannies of Europe keep their feet off
| the Atlantic coast We are going to have
one government Mexico will follow Texas
| into the Union. and Christianity and civili-
| cation will stand side by side in the halls of
the Montezumas And if not in our day,
then in the day Of our children, Yucca
tan and Central America will come in do
minion, while on the north Canada will be
ours, not by conquest-ch, no, American and
| English swords may never Clash blades-but
we will WOO our fair neighhor of the North,
and then England will say to Canada: You
are old enough for tho marriage day." and
then, turning, will say: Giant of the West
go take your bride" And then from Bafin's
| Bay to the Caribbean there will be one gov
| eminent under one flag, with one destiny-a
free, undisputed, Christianiged American
continent. God save the city of Brooklyn!
God save the commonwealth Of New York;