Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-03-09

Il, c,,ies into wards, and il spsns into con-
veniens polliae places. and elect o. appoint
somebody 70 psesids q shsss polling places
a-d receive, sort and ysrt voees, in direct
violation OF tae Constitution Of this SfAse
The rxrtlema1 from Auburn and the other
ss man on the Judiciary committee are
ecoI lsvyefs. They must have known az
rhas secsisn Of the cons tuition. They must
have read il and Il cannot ee that they did
this purpossl5, In violation OF the c0nstitu-
tios. Ii simply shows that in their haste
An. al {, do something, they did NOT know
vhss, they never thought Of locking as the
constitution Of Aaine; but, - my brother |,
Drummond said, they consulted chic ny |
the constitution Of Massachusetts. What
il this proposed system? Fret, they say Is |
il . secret system Of bsllotf;ng and that
they prefer such . system to An open sys-
ten Of bsllctsing. Way back, l, my child |
hood. in the Bible which l read upon my |
mothers knee, read that Why man de- |
sired to do thing in secret vas because be
vas wicked. IL man wants to commit.
crime. or 10 do something he wants nobody
10 knsv Of, or to do Ting he 10 ashamed
Of, he wants {, do il in secret; but, II
be wished to do . thing to be proud
Of, or that he 10 willing the world should
know If, he wants to do il ia orosc
day light; aud want to ask nov. how yen
would liie, gentlemen, to have this question
,ubmi,sed upon the Australian system. how
would you Ike n have til, House vote in
secret tedN? Would you W no are in favor
of this Ausraisn ballot consent to that
kind Of vote today? You would be beaten
two TO ere. There are gentlemen on the d ,sr
of this House who have told me they did
net believe in this bill or this system, but
who felt sort of committed to il fjr some
sort of reason 1t home. and hence felt
obliged to vote for it. There isn't man
here but knows ihst il this vote could re
taken in secret, Cad wonld Yews.d us openly
BY defeating this bill. Now l want to esy
somstbiog about bribery" for think the
only argument have heard which has Ad
dressed itself to my intelligence at all
about this bill, was, that Is would
stop bribery; and if it would
stop b,ibery,-as I do mt undertake
to deny that tr berry exists, although have
evidently lived in purer stratum OF pcliti-
cal atmosphere than scme OF these gentle
| men. such AZ my fris nds from Auburn and
Lewiston, judging from conversation today,
it would be q strong argument in i!s favor.
/ have nj yer seen any bribery, never knew
a man to be paid for bis vote. and l have
| voted ever since the birth OF The RepUb icao
parts when Abraham Lincoln was voted TO
be President of the United States l have
| never seen man bought, but l suppose
there is bribery because, what every body
SAWS. must he trus. The gentleman from
Lewiston says he cxres nothing about
| Canada except that Canada has the came
ey.iem of voting tia: we have. vas ia
Conversation, not geex. while ego with
| gentleman who lives in the Province
Of St. Stephen, man who is sOmeth ng
| of q poll ieiAn down there aod who has bet n
once candidate for Parliament 10 Ottawa.
and he told me, slthough he claimed to be in
fsvcs of the Australian % stem. that hs rever
saw so much bribery as be sSw last fall
under that system. He said that men were
bought ike biscuits At q bakers shop; and
know Of a very prominent and response
bic man in the province of New Bruins.
wick whom asked about this system and
whether it stopped bribery, aud will read
! what he says on tina, question. He says :.
Your favo. of the oh at haNd. l believe
tha Australian system TO be the best one If
you desire secret ballot; and l believe
further that the party voting ought 10 be
| abls to read AMI VT te." A senator ho.dir 9
b.s posit,en IN The Senate of Mai 'e
to lay, when read him this letter, told
ne that wss the true que stion, snd though
he had believed in 1t, ne did not Iov, uriil
we changed our consti.u ION so tina. every
man v no voted should be able - resd sind
wsite---furrher the writer Gays: 1.-THE las.
| Dofuisiou election in Charlotte. Canada
! just across the river from Calais -wss
held under this law. There was more
bribery than ever l knew before, but was
Oh account of the pure CussedDess of the
| voters, The candidates aud ,heir .iieods. :"
! Now, gentlemen, is not that what We have
ALWAYS said ?-S hat BIZ. Msnley, ME- Heath
and NJ. Hay mes said? Mr.. Hay pes said that
his experience OF many yssrs in the
political affairs Of the STATE, led him to
| believe that the ballot in Maine WAS ~
pare As in any State in this broad Union. MI
Msbley msde the statement that he did rot
,hrk Mr.. Looney's statements can be au-
thorizsd by facts. I relieve very little
money is used except f,r legitimate pur-
poses; aud Mr.. Heath said 81 do ncI be-
lieve the system will prevent bribery.
believe that so long as men are mean
enough 10 seli their votes, and there are
snesks enough to buy than. bribery will
exist" and go DO l believe, and 81 does
every man who has q thinblefu,l Of brains
ard who tells the horess truth about the
matter. 1t seems that my friend, the gen.
tIeuaa frcm Caribou, Yesterday spoke 70 a
prophet. although I thought at the time
that perhaps .e should not have said VIVA,
hs did AZ, might, pe,h.rs. before thi.
question came to a vote, Get the news that
The Australian ballet system down there WAS
a perfect success, But hold 10 nv hand
nov n Telegram which | will read. which
was received TO-DAY from Por,lsnd: "Po,t.
land, Me to J. Fl Dtunmond Jr, Dis
patches from Halifax to Maine state that
b,i berry of The most Omen sort carried the
day there ye.terasv. Votes brought from
s. to 500 spiece while rum was az free n,
water" This is respectfully dedicated 20
The gentleman from Lewiston. the eff.
Z. Ct of the Canadian Pacific money. and I
suppo.e that means the Canadian Pacific
Raj read money, 70. this was an cleo ion In
which they were greatly Interested. was
ser n in transform ng the Liberal di.t,i t,
! no Conservative. The same y.pyt comea
from ali over the domioion." Tbi. was
s,rt &, ,he editor Of the EYnress Ia the
face If this il seems tn me a man is making
a NIFTY st -ony statement when he saw. he
h ,,isves,h Aus,,xlisn srstaro oe vain !.
a III preveot h,;bsrv
There /. anothe, .,ouuent think the
Governor at the S,.,e gave ma ,ha ,,gu,en,
IN his ;nsnon,al ,b,t IL vonli .;vs ~. b,,,
Tor cana;ds,e. NJ .;.b ali re.n,o, ,,
whom he x.s rssl;n, hi. ;r.nan,.i al
SRA; 70 th.. Tho .v.t.,o x,n,d e;vs us h,t,. =
candh,nte.-.h.t m, E1celjenev hsd bean
y