The Portland daily press., 1889-10-28
The Secret Ballot in Montana.


The Bangor Wing still persists in ignoring
the success of the new ballot law of Con-
necticut. which embodies many of the prin-
ciples of the Australian system, and in as
suming that, because there were frauds in
the mining camps Of Montana, the new bal
lot law is therefore a failure. The Wing de-
clares:
In Washington and the two Dakotas, where the
people voted under the old system there is not
breath of suspicion against the validity of the
election but i'll Montana, with this SO-caed Sc
cret system OF balloting, the conditions are ex
actly the reverse, and three weeks after The cleo
tion the result is still in dispute. They have had
elections In Montana before, but the Chairman of
the Republican committee in letter published
elsewhere, says: There never has been a cam
paign in which fraud of the viest sort was so
rampant as in the election of October l." lie
also says the Democrats purchased voters by
the wholesaler" they "b uglt the judges Of elec-
ton" and committed every fraud, every outrage
against q pure ballot that man is capable Of"
This is the testimony of one in condition TO
know the facts OF the condition Of things under a
law Tor which It was claimed il would stand as
sofia lulWalk between The voter and the corrup-
ZIONIST.
Because there was fraud and intimidation
in Montana (and by the way it does not seem
to have been very successfully the Wing ar
CUES that the Australian system, which is
designed to make fraud and intimidation
difficult, is responsible for it,
1t would be just as reasonable to say that
the tramp law passed last winter is respon-
sible for the presence of every tramp now in
Maine That law makes it difficult for a
tramp to stay at large in Maine, but there
are some here and they have recently COM
mitted some outrages. The Australian bal.
lot law makes it difficult for the briber and
intimdator to ply his trade, therefore, ar
CUES the Wing, it is responsible for the des-
perate efforts at corruption made by some
Montana Democrats whose ambitions and
hopes centered in the result of
this election. Did the system
make intimidation difficult? The
Democratic boss in Silver Bow confessed IL
when he said to his men; "We have here
new system OF voting, and the bosses are not
able to tell how you vote. But unless large
proportion of the votes coming out of that
box tonight is Democratic every man in this
camp is discharged tomorrow Pa threat which
ne could carry out in that small mining
camp, but which would have made him
ridiculous in any town in New England.
But the assumption of the Wing that be-
cause there was fraud in Montana. the new
voting system is responsible for it, is shown
to be wholly fallacious when tested by the
conclusions of those who have the best infor-
nation from the Montana election. We
commend to the Wing the staten ent OF
newspaper that has the amplest means of
informing itself as to the election in ques.
tion Says the New York Tribune:
The secret ballot system has now been tried
with success in Montana and Connecticut The
lnN NfAu h., A.,
Australian system. and the accounts of its work.
ings at the recent election all indicate satisfac-
ton with the new method. Both parties unite
in declaring the Australian system a success"
said one OF the early dispatches; and a later ao-
count, summing up the operation of the law, de-
clared mat 1.-THE system simplifes the machinery
OF elections and abolishes some of the most obiec
uoh able features OF that in general use-to wit,
the ticket peddlers and hangers-on" In Con-
neeticut The SecretBallot law is much less COM
prehensive as there is no provision for The print
ing OF ballots by the State and the late election
there was not of such nature as to call forth a
very large number of voters or to arouse special
interest The trial Of the innovation in that State
can h~Iuy De considered test OF the principle of
"seoiee Ddloti but so far as appears the new law
s,nootniy and satisfactorily; there was no
delay IN the casting OF the votes. and even the
perfect Connecticut statute made hr,har,, -, =.
tlmldatlon practically impossible The Testimony
from both these sources is complete Wind ication
of the advocates OF the Australian system in his
State and elsewhere, and is sufficient 10 NM ~
confusion GOV Hill and all those who think with
him that the plan provided for in the Saxton hin
is cumbersome, awkward and confusing, and that
the Australian system is ''mongre foreign"
thing not at all adapted to the free and indepen-
dent American citizen. The experience of Mon
tana and Connecticut only confirms the results