National Republican., 1888-04-25
Frank Against Glover.


2cns Of the district selected him.
This district /, composed Of ward, !, ., ,,
10, l3, Is. II, IS, ~. -, and 81 OF the city Of
~. Louis. The constitution " the state of
Missouri provide, that the legislature shall
make registration laws for all the cities con.
taiuing over 100000 inhabitants
Prior TO 1883 the officers Of registration In
Si. Louis were appointed hy the mayor Of
the city, hut there being Republican mayor
that year the legislature took the appoint
mont from the mayor aud vested it in the
governor. Under this law "rccorlpr Of
votes Is appointed, and he selects the regis
trars. The board Of revision consist, Of one
member from each Of the tweniy-cigh;
wards. The registrar. conclude their work
forty days before the day Of election. anl
twenty duys before The election the board Of
revision meet, and sit, for ten day, report
ing It's wuri; and publishing the names Of all
the voters stricken on in daily newspaper
ana this is he oaiy uoiicc gircH Of the re-
nOval Of voters name from the rcgistra-
tiun books.
This board Of revision is authorized to
strike from the list returned by the regis
trurs any name, which they ou1 u,;Sf,R
from their own knowledge or by competent
testimony are not properly listed.
of the $1,000 registered voters in ST.
Louis the board struck OF li.O0J names,
over 6,GoO being taken from the ninth dis
tIct. A. 4 matter Of fact, IN revising the
lists each ward rcyiScr presented list OF
names aEd moved they he stricken OF,
which was always done, and no icStim9aJ Ot'
any kidd rdS tkcu In the second AMI
h1th wards, which are in. the heart of the
city. the rc,i>crs ON the last day struck OF
1,G!l names. Artcr the board sits ten duvs
two days are allowed FOR review. during
which days any voter whose name has been
Stricken from the list. can have the oppor-
tunity Of having b.. uamc rcinstatcd by
evidence that It hat improperly been re-
moved. In this election the last day of re-
vision was on Saturday, when these 1921
names were stricken on aud the paper in
which they were published was au evening
paper, So that ii was Monday evening
O'Clock before any of the voter, whose
names were strickcnUiT that day could know
this fact. Monday aud Tuesday were the days
on which the board sat for review, so that
one Of these days was lost in which any of
these voter, could apply for reinstatement.
As matter Of fact, that + shown in evil
drncc The board Of review only -lt four
hours each day, and it was utterly mposs-
lie if all the voters had been notified for
them to appear IN this time.
II i, in evidence that the private mark Of
the recorder Of votes to identify voters had
after the name Of each negro voter regis
tered the letters COLI, ana it il testified by
witnesses that in this district each name
with these letters following It was stricken
Of the list
When the election was held the federal
supervisors in the tenth ward cndcavored to
take the name Of each voter whose vote was
refused by the judges Of election because of
on-rcgistmtion They did get 2l9 names
and addresses, each one Of the 2i1 dcclar-
ing that he was legally entitled to vote, had
been registered, and his name improperly
stricken from the list, and that he proposed
to vote the Republican ticket. The tickets
of these men which they proposed to vote
were taken by the supervisor, aud placed in
an envelope, and on examination they were
all found to be votes for Mr. Frank and the
other Republican candidates. These voters
were all examined, and their testimony ap-
pears in the record, showing that they were
legally qualified registered vOtcrs-wcrc
stricken off without notcc-and would have
voted the Republican ticket
This alone would have elected Mir. Frank,
. L.. #, A.
ionty for Mr., Glover. In addition to this It
was proven by every Judge and clerk at
precinct ls3 that forgery had been com
mittcd TO increase the vote for Mr.. Glover
The whole question as to Mr.. Franks
election rests upon principle that has long
been established, and cannot be contrO-
vcrtcd without Il palpablc violation Of the
rights andprivilcgcs Of the citizen. Congress
has always claimed and always exercised the
right to review an election for one Of its
members and see that the vote Of each citi-
zen, who was legally entitled, should he
counted. These 2i9 voters were Illegally
prevented from voting under the rcgistiq-
tun laws OF Missouri
These laws are unreasonable and intended
to deprive citizens Of the privilege of cX-
pressing their views at the ballot box They
provide that names may be struck from the
registration list without any notice, except
such II, Is conveyed in the publication Of the
names IN newspaper, In other words,
they try a man right to vote without Civ
ing him the opportunity Of being heard
Again. these laws only provide two days in
which all the voters who may have been
stricken from the lis, hay, the opportunity
In come before board Of review, establish
their rigAt,, and have their names rcinstutcd
upon the li1. Fourteen thousand names
were stricken from the list in 81. Louis last
year and 1t was a physical impo,sbility
that even 10 per cent, Of tlis number could
have, If the hoard had set continuously,
proven their right to reinstatement on the
li-t SIN further the registration closes
twenty day before the election, thu, lie
priNing any citizen absent or arriving at
9gc of rlc night 4, register
If lhc.c?la Illegally di-rmnchiscd voters
had been permitted ropul the votes they
offered Mr.. Frank would have had 1881
vote, and his majority over Glover would
have been 80, Other frauds proven would
have increased this majority to 1913, and had
time permitted il Is claimed evidence would
have been obtained that the illegally dis
lrmchiscd voters numbered at least 900,
The Republican members ON the committee
Of election, In the House should examine
carefully into this record, There is no ques-
lion that Mr. Frank has been improperly
deprived Of his scat, aud that It is the duty
of Congress to give him the position to
which n majority Of the voters in his district
sought 10 elect him,
If Congress refuses 10 revise an election
held under amy such laws as those Of Mis-.
fouri, and 10 provide method for men dis
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