The Portland daily press., 1889-02-01
ALL WERE IN FAVOR OF THE SYSTEM.
Rev. Mr.. Blanchard, Gen. Dow, o,
W. Snow, ESQ.,, and Others
Speak for Ballot Reform with
Speeches Wise and Witty.
MR.. Looney'c Bill to be Reported
FavorabIy by the Committee.

Mr.. Looney'c Bill to be Reported
FavorabIy by the Committee.
Especial TO the Press.l
AUGUSTA, Jan. 31.-The hearing before
the legal affairs committee on the ballot re-
form bill occurred in the Senate chamber
this afternoon. Besides those who appeared
to argue for the measure there were a large
number of spectators who listened uatten-
lively throughout. Many legislators were
present; and many questions were asked by
those who were anxious to learn about the
| bill. Many questions were asked by those
| who thought they saw grave defects in the
| bill. but not one question was asked that
was not answered so satisfactorily as to
silence criticism and argument. Most of
those who asked the questions acknowledged
when answered that they had not under
stood the bill. General Neal Dow was more
than usually witty. and his description of
the operation of the system in England were
very interesting and instructive.
The Legal Affairs committee, who heard
the arguments is composed of Senators
Wright of Paris, Ryder of Springfield,
Halnes of Waterville, and Representatives
Sprague of Dexter, Looney Of Portland
Clason of Gardiner, Purinton Of Minot. War
rem Of Castine, Dane of Kennebunk and
Madigan of Houlton.
Rev. Henry Blanchard was first introduced
by Mr.. Looney Of Portland. Mr.. Blanchard
said he had appeared because he considered
1t his duty. He was very glad that one of
his townsmen had introduced such bill.
Mr. Blanchard said that there were four ar
guments which appealed powerfully to his
mind in favor of this bill:
l. The passage Of this bill would very largely
decrease the cost OF elections.
~: 2; II would remove very largely the tempta-
8. 1t would protect the employed against the
tyranny OF the employers
4. 1t would largely decrease the power of the
caucus.
As to the cost of elections, Mr.. Blanchard
said that in these days we had come to very
expensive methods of conducting elections.
The clubs, the torchlight processions and all.
opinion, this was an unnecessary expense.
The cost OF ballots was another great ex-
pense, and this cost the bill would largely
decrease. A well informed man in Portland
told Mr.. Blanchard that at each election
about twenty times as many ballots were
printed as were needed. This bill would do
away with this waste.
In the second place the bill would decrease
bribery, and therefore make elections far |
less expensive. Under this bill the voter |
goes to screened place and marks his bal |
lot. No one can know how he votes. There. |
fore the vote buyer cannot know that he will |
get the value for his money. In Mr.. Blan- |
chard's opinion this was an important fea- |
tnre, which should be borne constantly in |
mind.
In the third place the bill would prevent |
intimidation. He thought there was in
mi m ha xyQll 9 ba
He knew where workingmen were compelled |
to vote as their employees wished ON pain of |
losing their bread. He said he spoke with |
deliberatiou.
Fourthly the bill would diminish the
power of the caucus. Mr. blanchard be- |
lieved In the caucus because he thought it |
necessity. Yet he was aware that the |
caucuses often fell into the hands of machine |
ed to vote for men they did not approve. BY |
this bill fifty men could get q nomination |
made and the name of their candidate /
printed on the ticket
Finally Mr.. Blanchard said that In apear- |
ing for this bill he appeared for the la5oring |
men who needed this measure for their pro- /
lection and their independence. He also APP |
peared for that large class Of voters who /
were getting, restive under der, the @ rule Of
the fashion to sneer at the participation of |
college professors and ministers in politics, |
but he wished the committee to remember |
that the influence Of the college professors |
was exerted directly upon the young men Of |
the country. Mr. Blanchard referred to the |
great influence that Mark Hopkins had upon /
President Garfeld's life and to Garfeld's |
gratitude to his teacher.
ID. w. Snow, Esq, of Portland, next ap- |
peared. He said the first thing that deter
mined him to appear to advocate this meas
ure was an editorial In the Bangor |
Whlg which took the ground that ballot /
reform was not needed and that 1t was well /
20 laf oil 0h oil Ir oil
was not well in Maine. he read the Maine
statute on bribery, and then said, "Gentle-
men, have yet to learn Of a conviction un-
der that statute; but everyone yet knows
considerable time and carried around a pa
per in Portland. That paper did not take
ground for any particular method, but 1t was
merely for testing whether they were salts
He went to 12S Of the leading men of Port
land and only five Of them declined to sign
his paper, stating that they were not satis-
fed with the present system. They were
convinced that there was bribery. OF these
men there were five bank presidents, two
judges, district att lrney, an ex-governor,
one ex-attorney general, three ex-mayors,
two ex-county attorneys and the rest were
leading business men. They were all salts
them said There must be a change:
/ know a little town in Cumberland
county where there are 126 voters
and 40 Of them sell their
votes" Another said: II have been 20 |
years in politics, and ! know that in the
party there was a fund known as the corrup-
tIon fund.-" Another said: 81 have been
largely interested in politics, and If there Is |
Wond the
Two said they wanted voting more open.
One, who was judge, said he could not sign |
it because he thought 1t would seem that he /
was trying to make party capital Another
man who was going to die. The clergyman |
said to him: you must love the Lord" II
do," said the dying the man. "You must |
eschew the devil" III don't know" was the |
don't want to make any enemies."' The
fifth man, Mr.. Snow said, had not had time |
to examine the bill. The list Of these prom |
inent men Of Portland was published In the |
PRESS on Wednesday.
Gen. Neal Dow was the next speaker. He
said he feared the voting system was going |
to the bad very fast, and that there was |
trouble North as well as South. Now, If |
this government was to continue to exist,
this must be stopped Our institutions rest
upon free vote and fair count. We do
not have this now as we should. There are.
in every State, machine politicians who ma
nipulate matters instead OF allowing the
people to arrange the affairs. Gen. Dow
said he knew a certain politician, who said
to him, Before our county convention sat
down In my office and marked down who
should be senators, VINO county commission
ers, who county attorney, who treasurer
And when the convention met at Gray my
| men were nominated" But by and by, said
| Gen. Dow, the people decide that they must
| have something to say about these things
| Gen Dow said he saw piece In paper not
| long ago, which took the stand that 1t would
| humiliate the voter to vote in secret. This
| reminded him of the argument made In the
| British Parliament against bill that was
| intended to punish wife beaters. The oppo-
| nents of that bill declared that 1t would be
| too humiliatlng to the man. General Dow
| had seen the system operated in England. 1t
was really an English and not an Australian
| system, as it was used in England first. He
/ described scene on election day in polling
| place. There were few boards put up In a
ward room, the men went In quietly, marked
their ballots and passed out quietly. 1t was
| as orderly and quiet In that polling place as
| Quaker meeting. This was in London.
| General Dow also witnessed an election be-
fore the system went into operation and he
gave very vivid and interesting picture of
the disorders. General Dow also said that
there was practically no bribery In English
elections now, while before the adoption Of
the reform system, and the Corrupt Practices
| Act bribery was rampant. Coming from the
L AZ