Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-21
FOR BALLOT REFORM
And a Constitutional Convention
to Properly Accomplish
the Work.
POINTS MADE BY PATTIS0N
In the Course of His Somewhat
Lengthy Inaugural Address.
ORGANIC LAW WILL BE ENFORCED.
The Safety of the Public Fundsan Important
Consideration.
POINTS MADE BY PATTISON
ORGANIC LAW WILL BE ENFORCED.
SOME SUGGESTIONS UPON TAXATION

L
gural address:
Gentlemen of the Senate ana House OF Represent
atives and Fellow Citizens;
Chosen by the people to undertake, for a
second time, the duties of the Chief Execu-
tive of the Commonwealth, make use of
this occasion which custom has established
10 declare TO what end l "shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed" A
deep sense of responsibility attends the as
sumption of this obligation. At such an
hour it is meat to look to Him from whom
cometh every good and perfect gift, and,
with devout thanksgiving for the blessings
bestowed, to seek for continuance of His
favor.
-Four especially important problems con-
front us: First constitutional enforcement;
second, the publication of elections, inyolv-
ing ballot re .orm, personal registration and
the prevention of the misuse of money in
politics; third, taxation; fourth, municipal
government.
Rigid Constitutional Enforcement.
The present Executive will zealously
strive to maintain the Constitution and the
laws. Our Constitution as approved by the
people is In many respects a model
of organic law. 1t breathes the es-
sential spirit of popular government
through all its members. By it the general
welfare is sought to be promoted In it
there is no hostility to any interest, iudiyid-
ual or corporate. 1t was drafted by a con-
vention controlled by as noble and choice
characters as ever adorned our State Many
of its important provisions are, however, uu-
onI 4ah1 A sol,
Gle commands nothing but what is right
and forbids nothing but what is wrong. 1t
simply provides that corporations shall treat
all persons fairly, impartially and Justly.
1t prohibits unfair discrimination
against persons or places. 1t forblds ex-
tortion. 1t seeks to prevent monopolies and
TO compel the creatures of the law, who owe
their life to the people, to be law obedient.
1t commands that they shall not use their
granted powers to harasS and oppress. 1t
also specifically directs the Legislature to
enforce its provisions by appropriate legis-
lation. Surely an earnest effort should be
made to give adequate effect to so wise and
jus5 part of the fundamental law Every
power of the Executive shall be exercised to
enforce the Constitution of the State by
every article and section. -
When the modern State, in the exercise
OF its sovereign power, created that extra
ordinary realty called, in the irony of the
law, an artificial person, 1t produced being
almost omnipotent for good and for evil.
To deny the great benefits conferred upon
society by corporate capital would be as
futile as il would be foolish. But these
should not blind US to the perils connected
Herewith i'll Democratic community
Many modern charter enables a single
man to WELD powers greater than were ever
welded by a medieval king; and these
powers, exercised under the broad
seal of the State, may be and have been
welded notoriously to the injury of the
State and of her people. The State, there
fore, having created these artificial persons
and clothed them with enormous powers.
should protect herself and her natural
children against their abuse and misuse
Before the State sanctions, either by judicial
decision or legislative act, any extension of
these powers into others stlll more colossal
II is to be hoped that some means NAV be
found to place them under and to prevent
them becoming superior to the Common
wealth, the law and the people
The Need of Ballot Reform.
The Constitution requires that all elections
shall be free and equal, but such elections
are not secured by existing laws. Nor
our ballot secret Fierce political conflicts
between parties have given birth here as
elsewhere 10 many phases of corruption. to
the lavish use OF money by rich candidates.
TO fraudulent registration, to intimidation
by corporations and large employers of
labor, to false counting, and to marked, al
tered and suppressed ballots. These poIiti.
cal contests have revealed the existence of a
purchaseable element in our midst evolving
all forms of political debaucherv
The sovereignty of the people depends for
Its efficiency upou the cooperative intel
igence and the incorruptible integrity os
the sovereign. To make sure of the former
We have established our public schools; to
make sure of the latter We have adopted the
ballot box, and we have thrown around it
the protection of peculiar laws But the
abolition of the viva voce vote and the
adoption OF the ballot nave proved to be ouIy
step toward pure elections. Now, at the
ballot box the equality of all the citizens
must be secretly protected; the freeman's
franchise must be preserved. But when law
ABIDING voters are confronted at the poll with
the corrupt hirelings of leaders who scorn
the law they are degraded to an equality in
sulting and dangerous. For the purchaser
OF votes is repeater by proxy; to him the
commercial and industrial interests of mill
ions are oil lar less moment than his hold of
power. Hence his gangs of organized ig.
norance and purchased vice; hence his sneers
at the decalogue in politics, his defiance of
the law, his bold attempt to thwart the pop-s
1lar intelligence and to defeat the popular
will. He is the most insiduoas foe to our
institutions, for be aims at the overthrow of
virtue, liberty and independence. Every
dollar used to defeat the unbought will of
the people is an attack not only upon free
institutions, but upon every vested interest.
When money shall be king at the American
polls, money will be king at American cap
1tols.
Great Popular Movement.
1t is not a mere local agitation that under
lies the present demand for a thorough re-
vision of electoral methods. A great popu-
lar movement for ballot reform has set in,
and 10 States OF the Union have already re-
sponded to 1t. Ali political parties in Penn
syIvania have made open pro oesslon in favor
OF securing the most perfect attainable ex-
preston OF the public will, and the oniy
question that we now deal with concerns
the most expeditions and efficient method OF
its accomplishment The Australian ballot
system is the best agency vet devised for
purifying elections. 1t is neither an un-
tested experiment nor a questionable expe-
dient. Upward of 81, ,OO0. 900 of peopIe
conduct their elections BY its machinery.
1t is not the method of any country or peo-
pie, but hnds home wherever a free and
accurate expression OF conviction is desired.
Its cardinal features are:
First-Compulsory secresy of votinr.