Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-03-20

committee, that bribery and corruption ex
isted 70 the extent that ha claimed, repre-
sents in any way the fair and candid jaae
ment OF the reasonable and thinking mer
Of Maine. So far ~ am concerned
have fought too long in the battles Of thi,
State to be able 10 stand upon the noor Of
this Senate and assert with childlike finro
eence, which to me 10 certainly refreshing
that do not believe there 10 any bribery
in the State OF Maine. Upon thai
/ question l an ready To leavs
Is to the Senators Themselves 10 answsI
for themselves In regard to that. l do MOI
believe 1t exists to such an extent ~ Il
control the political fortunes Of this STATE
or the political fortunes Of either party
but that both bribery and intimidation Dc
exist 10 come extent, il SCENE TO me tha
no reasonable man who has had ausht ol
| poiiiicsl experinces, can for Q momen
fairy and caodidiy question. Why, the in
! consistency OF the opponents Of this meas
| ure, Who when they IND in q Canadian
paper, charges Of fraud and bribery and
corruption, ard cite it ~ incontestabie evi
dence that they exist, and yet, when they
hnd the same thing in the papers Of thii
State, they do not coasiier il Il
"Ns e'iaeuSe thst tne tniuk exbSl
At all. 1 7 am not very old
man, but my memory ruhs back TO . Ger.
taiu campaign we had about 1880 wher
there vas considerable said, even upon the
Republican side, in regsrd TO the matter OF
bribery In the Stste of Maine. aud that II
does exist to some extent, as l said before,
believe no reasonable or candid man mar
can question. That intimidation Of Ger.
tain Kind exists to some extent, l believe
that sort OF an intimidation which consists
In mans voting, perhaps, under the eve
and in the immediate presence Of any man
who has the control Of his labor and his
| food-that sort Of intimidation that does
not leave the voter at perfect liberty to cast
| his vote, rs perhaps he might desire to cas-,
1t. am not goirg to stand here ard take
up the time Of this Senate in die
| cussing these two propositions, because
believe they are matters within the kuowl
edge Of all candid men. Now, IL that 1,
80, what is there ia this bill. or this system,
of voting, & secret official ballot ~ distin.
| tinga,hsed from an open ballot which has $
tendency TO remegy these two things.
do not believe for q moment that the
| passage Of this measure will entirely wipe
out bribery in the State of Maine but II
that is the tendency, is that any reason Why
/. .hould not become law? Why? The
same argument would apply to every pre-
| ventive measure, whether in the Legisla
| ture or in any other department. Should
we not pass any laws for thu
prevention of fires, for instance,
| simply because fires will still oc
| cur? The whole queltion 10
Where is the tendency of this measure
l submit that upon the matter Of intimids
| tion, defined as | have defined it, ihs. OF
voting under the eye or in the presence OF
| a man who has extraordinary and undue
ir rfluerco over the voter, / submit this
measure entirely does away with. So fal
a. bribery 10 concerned. | submit that BY
| SO much as you make the execution of The
contract doubtful, by that much do you
tend TO discourage mel from entering into
a contract. As it stands today, the mar
who purchases the vote Of another man, he
| may walk with him to the very ballot boz
and have thst voter take from bis hand
the idcnticsl ballot which he ha,
paid him the money to cast. and
may stsni there ard see him put IL
in. He knows that the contrac. which
he has made has been carried out
How is it under this proposed system? He
can have no certainty that that will be the
result. and be can have no certainty tha
| that has been the result, and beheve that
by 70 much as you render that btful-by
50 much a. you remove the means Of a,cer.
! cer.sining beyond a reasonable doubt tha
| tha. contract has been carried ont, that yo,
tend t, discourage these methods and this
practice. l am not going 10 take the time
If,t tr.a in, >
1t seems to me that fair men who are will
ing to approach this question in candid
manner cannot fail to zee the force of tbi,
| eucgsetion. l do not to propose tt
so into the matter of this newspape,
discussion. or TO talk about III,
course of one paper or the course
Of snoshsr, nor the matter Of whether one
| county wants this or another county doe
not want it IL seems to me that this grea,
public measure, applicable to the wholt
State os Msine, has gone beyond county
| lines; and IL is mstter for this Senate "a
| iegisiaie on for the State ard not for simply
| local districts or bsiiiwicks or counties
Various objections are urged to this meas
| ure here and elsewhere, in the discussion
in the House and il some OF the newspaper
| in tbis State. II is said that il will be
| nothing but n cloak for "sore- -heads" and
| "kicksrs," and for that reason il will tend
to disrupt the Republican party. do no
| believe that the Republic, an psciy exists TO-
day in the State Of Msine a.
msjority party because of the sup
| port of ''sorehesos." When a man il
"sore headed" in the RaI aIubiicsn party, h.
generally finds his way out Of it, and, gen
orally into the Prohibition party, which j.
the nssursl home and refuge of "sore
! heads' in this State. 1t 10 stid thst tbi.
will overthrow q eystem which has s.oot
| for 10 years aoo which has given US som'
Of the greatest and most illustsious men OF
this State and nalion. That is true. Bu
you csnnot always judge by that. As
reco.lect some Of the brightest names ths
we're ever connected with he British Hous,
| Of Commons were there under the old ret
ten borough system; but that did not pre-
vent their having something better
| i remember That under the oil,
syetem Of voting in the eIecsora
college Of the United States. We were abb
to obtain sueh men SIS Washington, Adam
aud Jefferson for President. but when ",
| found that was no. the best method, VI
chspged it, and no great harm has com
from IL. AS far a. tha. is concerned, tn
sermon on the Mount overthrow = sYstep
1hich had existed not only for 20 years
but for 1000 years The Emancip alto
Proclamation over,hrewa a system which h,
been cherished and had furnished in thi.
Country for centuries ~ & very pecsss4r
part Of the consideration Of large pro
portion of the population and Of the pros
perity of this eouatty and, wherever yol
look, along the path Of advancing civilizs
lion, search the history Of H.
World where You will, you vii
fad the onward march Of msnkip
is strewn with the wrecks Of systems, n
lisious and political. ovsr which it la
marched in their couren toward sres.e
freedom Of thought aud Heei3m Of action
The senstor from PeDobscot hss devote
qsite portion Of his spsech to the cossi,'
Grafton Of this matter from a party stand
point. Upon thst question vi.h to suh
nit mY personal views. l do rot srrogs,
10 myself any large portion Of the -isdou
Of this world. and do not know ihst l an
en.iiled to speak for the whole Republics
party Of the S's.s Of Msine. accord (
ssase gentlemen in the Republican party
who are opposed TO this measure Roshing bu
the best Of motives; ard doub, not the
are ac-i tg in accordance ~i,h the dictstes o
their best jatgmer Is, ard II my jaagmen
differs from theirs and il the judgment o
the ffisnts Of this measure differs fror
theirs, tast is fac. that We need not qsar
rel abou,. but we can recogsizs it - fec
and zach man proceed 70 do bi, dasy % b
sees il. A great argument, a. have ur
derstood it, that has been urged both in tn
/ [Continued on 4th page.