River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-10-02
REsoRM. NOR EoRcE.
Congressman Lodges Position Is Right,
EverIastingly Right.


1--WE have passed a bill, said Con-
gresham Henry Cabot Lodge at Bos-
ton, that follows the Australian ballot
bill, and has no force but the force be-
hind any bill"
Mr.. Lodges position is right. ever
lastingly right. The Federal election
bill which bears his name is meas
ure designed to secure electoral reform
on broader scale than that contem-
plated in the law of any State in the
Union
The force behind the Federal cleo
ton bill is the beak and claw of Nation
al authority-the force that executes
the law of the land promptly and re-
lentlessly.
The Australian ballot was demanded
in Massach lsetts as it has been demand
ed in every Northern State, to correct
the crying evils attending and follow
ing the use of money in elections.
The mind and conscience of the North
erf people have been reused 20 the dan
gers threatening republican institu-
tions in that direction; and laws are
being adopted TO render corruption at
the polls impossible. But the prevailing
demand for ballot reform does not stop
with the laws of the State. The feeling
aroused has Influenced the Congress of
the Nation; and the electoral reform
movement in the Nation finds ex-
preston in the Federal election bill,
which was originally introduced by Mr..
Lodge.
This measure is adversely criticised
only by the weak, the ignorant and the
vicious. Every good American citizen,
white or black. Northern or Southern,
Republican or Democrat. should be ar
rayed in its support without reference
to race, sectional or political prejudices.
1t is intelligently devised in the interest
of honest elections; and the shrieks of
opposition sont up by outrage Stoalors
in localities like Albany, Troy, Jersey
City, Cincinnati and Chicago. where
hellish crimes against American insti-
tutions have been committed in the
past, are vociferous arguments which
go long way to convince quiet citizens
that just such law as this Lodge bill
is needed in every large center of popu-
lation at the North.
That the proposed reform is needed
at the South, where Anglo-Saxon SUI
premacy in local and State matters has
given the white man in the plantation
States double voice in Congressional
matters, can not be gainsaid. Such
electoral conditions as those prevailing
at the South can not long continue; and
the North will insist on the proposed
reform. The Northern doughface
may defend condition of af-
fairs by which the South Caro-
lima white man has double the iifiu-
ence of a New Yorker in tariff and
financial legislation. But the doughface
is a rarer bird to-day than in ante beIi,tBa
days; and, although the extreme Demo-
crat, who can see in the monstrous crime
of Anglo-Saxon supremacy at the South
only party advantage, may defend il,
there are thousands of Democrats who
deny the double privileges of the South
Carolinian and refuse to sanction Ethi
opian disfranchisement Even South
ern Democrats to whom the race ques-
tion is an overwhelming issue will yet
see that Congressional elections must be
free and fair; that when the suppress
sion of the colored vote gets beyond local
and State elections, it becomes matter
of National concern.
The Lodge bill provides for National
control and protection of National cleo
tions. That is the central idea of tue
measure; and the provisions embodying
it are W Use and proper. 1t is lacking in
force features; and diligent search will
fail to reveal the CLEAN of a bayonet.
II :. n r,ao.ura in tho in toraS+ of a Iac+oraI
reform wherever the National jurisdic-
ton extends; and the Republican Con-
gress and President will enact it into
law at the next session of Congress. -
Albany N. Y. Journal