The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-01-14

expect a dozen or more well-digested laws
upon the subjects indicated above, and,
perhaps, upon one or two other matters.
Governor Hovey's Attack on the Elec-
ton Law.
There is n doubt in the world that the
republican leaders in this state nave de-
termined to break down the election law
before 1892. They realize that they can
never carry Indiana so long as this law
remains in force. As Mr.. W. T. Brush
told the republican conference the other
day, some way must be devised of using
Doodle at the polls, else the grand old
party will have no chance to carry the
state in 1892. But there is no way by
which votes can be bought, on any large
scale, so long as this law is in operation.
The republican managers have therefore
determined to break it down, il possible,
before 1892. Any one who doubts this
assertion has only to cast his eye over the
country and note the desperate and law.
less methods which republican politicians
IN the various states are now employing
to hold the power which the people have
said they should surrender. Look at New
Hampshire, Connecticut, Minnesota, Kan
sas, Montana and half a dozen other states,
and conspiracies to nullify the peoples W II,
and reverse their verdict as expressed at
the polls, will be found in full flower. The
Indiana republican politicians are fully as
~unscupulous as those of any other state,
as 1880 and 1888 demonstrated. 1t is clear
that they have formed a conspiracy to rob
the people Of the safeguards afforded
them by the existing law, and it looks as
If Governor HOvEY were a party to it.
In his message he attacks the election
law in its vital feature, the provision
which requires all ballots to be printed
by the state, and which prohibits the
voter from writing names upon the bollot,
or putting any other distinguishing mark
upon it. Under this provision any man
who has the ghost Of a chance to be
elected to any office within the gift of the
people can have his name printed, at the
public expense, upon the official ballots,
and can be voted for at the election.
Governor HovEY makes the amazing
statement that he "did not, at
that time when he approved
the election bill, consider the question as
to the constitutionality of any of it's pro-
visions" This is indeed a startling con-
fession for the governor of a great state to
make. He signs a bill of supreme public
importance-the great measure OF a legis-
lature-a bill which revolutionizes the
election system of the state, and intro
duces innovations of the most radical
character-without considering whether
it was constitutional or not This would
seem incredible, and we should decline
to believe the statement if made by any
one but the governor himself. 1t becomes
the more amazing when we consider that
this same governor makes a speciality OF
constitutional law and that he infinitely
scrutinized a number of acts of compare
lively small Importance, passed by the
same legislature which enacted the cleo
ton law, and succeeded in discovering real
or imaginary constitutional defects, upon
the strength of which he vetoed them.
What an astounding sort of a governor our
governor is, to be sure!
He now processes to have discovered
that the right to vote for any man for
any Office in this state, whether the person
voted for was nominated or not" is a
very precious n to the citizen that it
is guaranteed by the constitution OF the
stale that to deprive him of this great
privilege is neither republican nor demo-
rrarfp - a nd ffpofnhf 1aoI 70 x-ar,r rrov-a
consequences" This provision of the
law has, indeed, already led to very grave
consequences to the grand old Doodle
party to which Governor HovEY belongs.
But it has been a great blessing to the
state. 1t has entirely broken up the
blocks-of-five business. 1t has made
Dudley and Dorsey practices impossible,
and it has done, and can do, no wrong to
any citizen of Indiana. The pretence
that it in any way infringes upon the con-
stitutional guarantees to citizens
is very fimsy. The constitution
provides simply that 'all cleo
tons shall be free and equal" and that "all
elections by the people shall be by
ballot" To pretend that an election is
not free and equal, because votes cast for
a man who cannot get twenty-five persons
to recommend him for an office are not
counted, is to insult the popular intelli-
gence.
We have information from the most
trustworthy sources that the republican
managers depend upon their supreme
court to set aside this provision of the
election law before the election of 1892.
If this is done the doors will be thrown
wide open for the bribery of voters. If
tickets can be identified by the writing of
names upon them, Dudleyism will again
flourish in Indiana. Governor HovEY's
action in appointing a republican to the
supreme bench who had been overwhelm-
ingly rejected by the people, and thus
making the court solidly republican, was
probably taken to facilitate the overturn-
ing of the law. The attack upon the law
in his message was doubtless made with a
view to preparing the public mind for a
decision against the law.
We are of the opinion, however, that it
will be a colder day for the republican
party of Indiana than was the 4th of last
November, when its supreme court