Evening journal., 1892-11-12

dred-indeed l do not think cratic is
as great ms this-is to be influenced by
money or any other improper considera-
ton. In close states and in stubbornly
contested national conflicts the purchas-
able vote undoubtedly holds the balance
Of power
And the lesson Of this campaign and
of every campaign is that the American
people must raise aloft the standard of
purity in the suffrage and 60 on in the
work of perfocting their ballot laws till
corruption of men becomes well nigh
impossible. The ballot law that will do
this has not yet been devised, and am
afraid never win be. The ingenious
politicians have found ways Of evading
every provision against their practices
so far put upon the statute books. If
they dare not hire q man 10 vote a GER
tain ticket they hire him 10 stay away
from the polls altogether. They have
an erraud for him which will take him
away from his voting precinct the night
before election and not permit him to
come back till after the polls are closed.
There is only one way to suppress all
these various forms Of corruption, and
that is. TO educate the people, improve
/ their moral sense, till submission TO un-
worthy influences in connection with the
right of suffrage becomes as disgraceful
as stealing OF arson. 1t would also be q
good idea for right thinking voters to
frown upon any party which seeks to
control the election by such means.
Right here arises the question what n
voter is to do when both Of the leading
parties are guilty, for, 50 far as I am
able to see, they are equally guilty. AS
long as ono party raises a large corrup-
ton fund and seeks TO win the day by
its use the other party must do the same
! thing or go down in defeat. That is pre-
cisely what happened in this campaign.
/ say it upon positive information that
both national committees raised larger
sums for use in the campaign just ended
than any of their predecessors had ever
done. The Republican national commit
tee handled all told more than$2 100000
and the Democratic committee about 81,
100000.
Not all of these vast sums were spent
in improper ways. Perhaps not moro
than one-third Of the whole was devoted
to purposes which might fairly be called
corrupt, and of this one-third probably
not more than 10 or 90 per cent. ever
found its way to the voterfSfor whom
it was intended. Campaign money nj
ways gets lost on the way. It is distrib-
uted honestly enough perhaps by the
national and state committees, but after
It leaves their hands the absorbing proc
ess begins TO work Small politicians
take out what is iokingly called "their
commission" but for which the good,
smart English word is stealing. In this
way 1t IS as often the politician as the
voter who is corrupted by the campaign
money.
The Democratic national committee
did not have quite as much money as
their rivals, but they had all they want
ed. For the first time in the history OF
national campaigns the Democratic man
ayers had enough money TO satisfy all
claims made upon them. They did not
receive n single call TO which they failed
to respond. Take. for instance, the case
of Illinois. There tho Democrats were
unusually aggressive and ambitions
early in the campaign. They wanted
western headquarters established, and
promised if given direct management OF
their own campaign in this way TO raise
all the funds with which to carry on the
work. But they failed TO keep their
promise. Though in other respects they
did good work, their finance committee
failed TO raise funds in sufficient
amounts, and during the last week Of
the campaign the Illinois national COM
mitteeman camo to New York for money.
Don Dickinson and Mr.. Whitney sal
lied out and raised q purse of a good
many thousand dollars for the Demo
Gratis of Illinois This was done in the
case of good many other states. OF
all the money contributed to the Demo-
cratic campaign fund more than 80 per
cent. of il WINS raised in New York city
It came from merchants, importers,
bankers, capitalists. Probably Mr.. Whit
ney himself put up more than n quarter
of million dollars Of it, The Republic
ans got most of their money from Penn
sylvania. Philadelphia and Pittsburg
were ventablo gold mines for the Re.
publican campaign collectors. New
England did pretty well by the Repub-
icans too.
The politicians say that politics is
purely q business matter. Their theory
is that every mans place in politics is
governed 10y his financial interests. II
is his pocketbook and not his imagina.
tion that controls him. Here again the
politicians overshoot the mark They
always go too far They are altogether
too sordid and too distrustful of the peo
pie In my Judgment they are only
half right. 1 am unwilling to talk.
the narrow view that the pocketbool
= rules politics, and that the corrup
voters necessarily hold the balance o
power. Sentiment is the greatest factor
in the control of human actions. Iii
sentiment that makes political party
possible-not selfshness. Ask yoursel
or your neighbor if he votes one ticl,e
p OF the other through sordid cousidera
y tions, and the answer win invariably b
negative
Looking ahead to another prosideniia