The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-04-16
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.


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The coming presidential election, aside
from the interest which always attaches
to such a contest, will have an interest
peculiar to itself in that in a majority of
the states the election will be by secret
ballot under tine Australian system
Prior to the last general election the re-
form had made only a beginning in this
country. One or two states had adopted
it as an experiment and so successful
was it that in the three years following
the election it gained ground rapidly.
OF the northern and western states only
Iowa aud Kansas adhere to the old sys-
TEN. In the southern states the pro
gress of reform has been slower. Vir-
ginia, North Carolina. South Carolina.
Georgia, Florida. Alabama, Louisiana
and Texas still conduct their elections
under the old method, though Texas
has adopted constitutional provisions re-
quiring action by the legislature in the
direction of ballot reform. In some of
the states credited with the adoption of
the secret ballot, the benefits are neutral
lied. to some extent, by Objectionable
features, but it is more than probable
that the demand for further reform will
do away with those features in the near
future.
This rapid progress of ballot reform
will lend a new interest to the com
ing presidential election. 1t is to
be noted that the states usually classed
as doubtful and where the free use
of money to persuade voters has beer
most notable. have now the secret bal
lot. 1t is beyond question that under
the old method the advantage has been
with the republicans; not necessarily
because more active moral considera-
tions restrained the democrats from the
use of money in elections. for whatever
practices have been in vogue in one
party, the same practices have, as a rule,
been found also in the other. But, for
tunately for the republicans. they have
had sources of financial supply not open
to the democrats. The protected manu-
features believing their interests to lie in
a continuance of the protection policy,
have shared their m profits with
the republican party, as they could well
afford TO do, in order to secure an in
crease or at least a continuance of those
nrntifc Thncn - .,nrnlx- ,,1,f%nr, -
history. Men who have watched the
course of political events will recall the
curious fact that in close or doubtful
states, as for instance Indiana. the re-
suit of an election has often been deter
mined by the lavish use of 81 bills.
while in many other states the purchase
and sale of votes has been a common
thing, the purchaser being first of one
party and then of another.
That the secret ballot will tend to do
away with this barter of votes is I'M
questionable. AS the purchaser cannot
know whether the seller will deliver the
goods he will be less liable to make the
= u nv IllCuilb VI W
whether the bribe-taker will keep faith.
A. man who will sell his vote to one
party will not hesitate to take a bride
from the other as well, and the knowl-
edge of this fact will discourage those
who might otherwise invest. 1t might
be possible to hire voters of the opposite
party to remain away from the polls, but
IN IA general election where the popular
interest is so keen it is scarcely probable
that any appreciate number of voters
can thus he influenced. 1t is therefore
almost certain that under the secret bal
lot system. the actual strength of the
different political parties will be shown.
With popular candidates and well de-
fined principles at issue, the vote this
fall may fairly he regarded as a test of
the strength of the two great parties.