The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-04-02
How 1t Would Act, and
Why We Ought Not
to Hurry.
MASSACHUSETTS WENT SLOW.
If Adopted as 1t Stands 1t Would
Be Confusing, and, Perhaps,
Injurious.
Lsnecin1 to the Ierseu city Ne,ps.l

place in the minds of several members OF
The House on the subject of the Australian
Election bill since that measure was put
through the Assembly last Thursday by
an almost unanimous vote. There is a
strong feeling now that it would be well
to go slow. Men who have been pushing
the bill for all they were worth
have all at once realized that it amounts
to a complete change of election methods
and election machinery; that the system
proposed to be introduced is extremely
complicated, and that errors are almost
certain to occur, in spite of the greatest
vigilance, both in the preparation OF the
ballots and in voting them.
In order that the system should c
coed, it would be necessary to drill the
voters as well as the election officers. 1t
is felt that to try the first experiment with
this new system at an election SO import
when a Governor is to be elected, would
be not only ~injudicious but dangerous,
The bill will be before the Senate this
week, and the action of that body will be
watched with interest.
1t was for such reasons that Colonel
Heppenheimer and other Democratic lead
ers sought to have the operation of the
law deferred until 1890. They wanted the
system tried first at q township election,
where mistakes would be of far less con-
sequence than at a general election. The
voters would thus have an opportunity OF
getting accustomed to the system, n
defects in the law could be discovered by
..---As1.l - ~1uaf14- a,I ,nato6iod pnanlo
have more respect for the sound common
sense of Assemblyman Feeney since he
had the courage to stand out against the
passage of the law, almost alone.
MASSACHUSETTS SLOW TO ACT.
In comparison with the haste shown in
the New Jersey Legislature to put the law
in operation, it is instructive to note that
in Massachusetts, when the law was
adopted in 1888, it was provided that it
should not take effect until 1890, thus al
lowing time for citizens to familiariZe
themselves with it's provisions. Massa-
chusetts allowed two years. New Jersey
proposes to allow six months.
Colonel Heppenheimer's proposition
was to pass the law this session; to let the
Legislature of 1890 make such amend
ments as might be found necessary by ex-
aminations of it between the time of it's
passage and the meeting of the Legislature
next January; and to test it at the town
ship electionsin 1890. The Gubernatorial
election next November would be held
under the present system. He urged that
such an election was OF too serious n
important a character for an experiment.
He and many other Democratic leaders
fear that with the mistakes likely to occur
iii printing the ballots; in voting them,
and in counting and handling them, the
result of the election may be determined
more by chance than by the will of the
people.
THE KANE BILL CRUDE.
These reasons for avoiding undue haste,
which might have very serious and
damaging consequences to the State, con-
Germ the practical operation Of the law.
In the case of the Kane bill, which was
pissed in the Assembly last week, there
are additional reasons why there should
be delay, and why Its operation should be
postponed at least a year. Lawyers who
have examined it say that whatever
opinion may be entertained of the princi-
pies on which it is drawn, the Kane bill is
Not HI such shape that it could be safely
put into effect. They say that it is crude
and they believe that it will be necessary
to alter it in many particulars before it
can come anywhere neal accomplishing
the objects for which it is intended. In
proof of this the fact is cited that no less
than 1870 amendments were made to it in
committee, while forty others were
adopted when it came up on second read
ing. 1T is not known how many more
amendments will be found necessary
when the act is more carefully studied
and analysed.
The great boom which the Australian
system has received, has been due in a
great measure to the urgent necessity of
the adoption of some means to check bri-
berry and intimidation at elections. The
assertion has been boldly made that this
49, fr1r, tho A ntinndoc would .,an1au
bribery and intimidation impossible, and,
in disgust with the present stateo things,
there arose a general demand that the
system should be tried.
INTERESTS OF H DEMOCRATS.
No one recognizes the vital necessity of
reform in this respect and of the protec-
ton of voters in the exercise of the
electoral franchise more thoroughly than
do the gentlemen who are now pleading
for delay in putting in operation the Kane
bill. They include some of the foremost
Democrats in the State, and they know
how severe a struggle the Democratic
party has had in the past to hold its own,
owing to the bribery and intimidation
practiced by the Republicans.
In New Jersey it is not the Democrats
who have profited by bribery and intimi-
dation. The wealthy men who have con-
tributed sums of money to buy
elections have been Republican capitalists
ana maQuIdCUuIeTS, Ul0 uleQ VINO nave
driven employees to the polls with ballots
of their own choosing; who have threat
ened poorly paid laborers with discharge
If they did not vote for certain candidates,
have been Republican manufacturers.
The interests of the Democratic party are
wholly in the direction Of the publication
of elections.
With these facts in view, eminent
Democrats want to whistle down brakes
on the Kane bill. They say that the
people must become familiar with the
system before it will be safe to try it at an
important election, and that the Kane bill
should be made as nearly perfect as pos
sible before it is tried at all, There is a
third reason for delaying until the Aus
tralian system can be carefully, deliber-
ately and intelligently studied. That is
that many experienced men doubt its
efficiency.
THE TAsMANIAN RACKET.
With the arrival of the Australian sys-
tenn in this country, ann also accounts of
what is known as the Tasmanian Racket.
To those who have not heard of this sin
full device an account of it will be inter
esting.
Under the Kane bill the County Clerk
has the ballots printed. The number of
ballots to be printed is determined by
law. In the Tasmanian Racket the
County Clerk or some other wicked
as many extra ballots printed as he
judges advisable. The law requires the
election officer to stamp each ballot before
giving it to a voter. The L. X. sinner
gets a counterfeit stamp and stamps his
extra ballots. Then he puts the required
crosses opposite the names of the candi-
dates he wants to elect, and carefully