The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-19
A Great ana c rowing Evn.

citIzens-thCse Vno are deeply interested IL
the future OF the city and county-should
at once, give attention to the great and
growing evil of vote buying. II is evident
that with our very large colored popala-
tion-a population that contains very
large percentage of tie purchasable
I vote-somethlng must lie done TO prevent
| bribery at elections. Unless something
is done to- prevent IL the time may come,
and, that too, before many years,
when it will be in the power of few men
well supplied With money, and having in
view only selfish purposes, to get control OF
both the city and county governments.
Such men could do the city an immense
amount Of injury in a very short time.
The purchasaole vote will. steadily in
crease under the influence of the high price
paid for votes. The MAJ who was paid Is
or $40 this year will think
at the next election he can get more, aud
| will demand higher price, aud his success
| will influence others to sell their votes who
have never yet done 90. The evil will grow
! greater until those who demand price for
their votes will hold the balance of power.
and the offices can be obtained only by buy
| log them outright.
| A good many thousands of dollars
were spent IN buying votes, IL re-
ports are TO be credited, in the recent
county and city elections. The amount is
not known, Of course, but a conservative
estimate would be, probably, between $780,
| 600 and $4,000. And the vote buying was
done so openly that the scandal could
hardly have been greater had the purchas-
able votes been sold at auction.
Neither political faction can be held
wholly responsible for this evil, for the rea-
son that the faction that refuses to pur-
chase votes is certain to be beaten. Neither
are those who sell their votes to be unqual-
| fiedly condemned. They have not suffi-
GENTLY strong moral sense to resist the
temptation which a bride presents.
Courts cannot check the evil. Il is ex-
| tremely difficult TO get evidence against
those who furnish the brides or those who
receive them, and il might be a difficult
matter to get a jury that would convict any
one giving or receiving bride for voting,
because many of those who help to mold
public sentiment contribute to the vote buy
ing fund. Indeed, this fund is heavy tax
upon those who furnish il.
What then is TO be donel Ii is evident
that the best thing, in fact the
only thing, that can be done is to
adopt system of balloting that will greatly
lessen the evil, if not prevent it altogether
| The Australian ballot system has been tried
| with beneficial effect. In the states in which
il exists bribery at elections, it is said has
practically ceased. The voter is placed
| beyond the immediate influence ct the vote
| buyer. He does not receive ballot until
he is out of the reach OF temptation and
there is no way of finding out the ticket he
voted. The vote buyer. under such circum-
stances, does not care to buy votes, because
he is not sure that he will get what he
purchased.
The attention of the legislature should be
called strongly to the vote buying evil, and
it should be urged to give the Australian
system very careful and conscientious CON
| sideration.
Thousands of Sevannahians saw snow on
the ground for the first time in their lives
yesterday, and it may be that thousands of
them will never see the like again. To
them it was a source OF wonder and delight.
10 was beautiful novelty; something to
play with, to stimulate fun and frolic.
Hardly one, probably. thought OF the
misery and death that every heavy and
long continued fall OF snow causes in sec
tions OF country less favored than ours.
Herews have no really poverty-stricken
people, as the people OF the north under
stand that term. Nobody ever dies OF
starvation or cold, by reason Of absolute
inability to obtain food or fuel, In Ssvan-
nah or in Georgia, az frequently occurs In
the north or northwest. The reason, OF
course, is, chiefly that our winters are not
90 severe as the winters Of the north; then
again, our population is not so dense, perr
mittinR every man to know his nei9hbor
and the neighborhood. and il any case OF
suffering occurs it is quickly discovered
and relieved. It Is not that we, as a PEG
pie, are so very different from our more
northern cousins that there is not more
suffering in the south, but because kind
nature has blessed US with climate and a
soil as fine aud as fruitful as any on earth.
For which we should be profoundly CRATE
full
The Worlds Fair Sunday Closers'' and
Mayor Washburne, of Chicago, are at war
The Sunday Closers" have sued out writ
of injunction restraining the city treasurer
from paying the expenses of Mayor Wash
burne and a committee of aldermen who
went to Washington recently to advccats
Sunday opening. The judge before whom
the matter was heard indignantly referred
co the trip as a ''iuoket," and said the tax.
payers had endured that sort of thing quit.
long enough. The mem oers of Mayor
; Washburne's party characterize the Others
as 'long-haired cranks,r and say they raid
the expenses of the Washington trip out OF
their own pockets, and will 10 it again as
, soon as they please. And thus grows the
great worlds fair.
There are number of bills in committee
in Washington affecting naturaliz a ton,
nearly all of which provide regulations and
, observances more strict than those in force
now. The result is that there has been
: rush OF prospective citizens to the federal
, courts in some sections of the country, in
anticipation OF the passage of some of these
bills. In Pittsburg, according to the Dis
patch, the number of applicants for citizen