Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-11
The GDaily Heraldo
WEDNESDAY, JUNE IL, 1890.
A GREAT POLITICAL ABUSE.

There is great evil in politics in Cal
ifornia that cannot be too strongly dep
recated-we allude to the free employ
ment of money in elections. We do not
mean in this connection that gross brib
cry that ought to land man in the PEN
itentiary-that ought in fact to land two
men there, both the giver and the re-
celver-but to exactions upon candidates
of all degrees. 1t has come to such a
pass that no man can aspire to any office
in the state without the uneasy con-
sciousness that his purse will be called
upon to undergo an unusual strain.
1t makes no manner of difference for
what Office a man may be running; for,
in the present state of things in the
good commonwealth of California, he is
expected, in the argot of the politician,
to "pungle" If he is candidate for
governor he is probably expected to re-
spond to an assessment of $1,000 by the
state central committee of his party, for
both parties are alike vicious in their
practice in this regard. 1t does not fol-
low that all candidates for governor are
necessarily rich men. Some of them
may, in fact, be poor men,
but the assessment must be forthcom-
ing. 1t must be furnished either
by the prospective governor or friend,
or friends. In the latter conjuncture he
enters upon the discharge of the duties
of his office handicapped in very pain
full manner. No doubt in some cases a
powerful corporation comes to the relief
of the hard-bested candidate, and it is
any grosser suggestions, that his conduct
may not thus be at least slightly warped
in the important station to which he
has been advanced. Supposing, how
ever, that, instead of a corporation, it is
only friend who advances the needed
funds. Even in that case the presumption
of bias is not violent one. Dismissing
both of these suppositions, and accepting
the hypothesis that the candidate ad-
vances the money himself and is able
to do so, the mere fact of his ability to
meet the insatiate pecuniary demands
of political committees may rule out
far better man, who could not undergo
the mercenary ordeal.
Dropping from the office of governor
to minor offices, the evil still remains,
and probably in redoubled force. 1t has
long been an axiom in California
that to run for sheriff in any OF the
important counties means the risking
of small fortune on the turn of the po-
litical cards. The money that has some
times been put up on contest for
county treasurer would make the head
of tyro swim. And so, in lesser de-
gree, of all the local offices, down to
justice of the peace or county con-
stable.
OF course this is all wrong, but it is
far easier to point out the evil than the
remedy. We have purposely left out of
our enumeration of the evils of the en-
ployment of money in politics any of
the more criminal aspects of the matter
Yet it is a notorious fact that Hon.
Eugene Casserly resigned his seat
in the senate of the United
States rather than stand an official
investigation into the methods by which
he obtained that honor. At that time
there were not thirty-three millionaires in
that body, and it is very doubtful
whether Mr.. Casserly could have been
stampeded in that way now. There are
few evidences that a millionaire senator
could be made to show the white feather
in this day and generation. That was
bad Democratic example. A bad Repub-
lican one was the incident which intro
duced Hon. John James ingalls, into the
senate from Kansas. Pomeroy had
nearly bought his way into that
body when a member who had
received his money got up and produced
the identical package of greenbacks he
had received in the Kansas legislature,
thus putting Pomeroy in the boullion
and making an opening for talent in the
person of the poor but brilliant ingalls,.
The whole system is wrong from top to
bOttom-from turret to foundation stone.
1t can be and should be amended. A
good beginning has been made in New
York and other states by providing for
the printing of the ballots by the state.
The poor man ought to have show for
the honors and emoluments of office
equally with his rich neighbor. Politi-
cal preferment should depend on merit,
not money. The reformation, however,
is admittedly as difficult as it is desira-
BILE. The remodeling of the whole sys-
tenn OF our elections, primary and sec
ondary, will be needed to make the
change practicable. Doubtless this will
be undertaken at the next session of the
legislature.