The morning call., 1894-10-17
EVANS GLORY IS PASSING.
Glaring Defects of the Costly
Central System.
FOUR DOLLARS FOR EVERY VOTE
The Twenty Spoilers Who Enjoyed
Themselves for Pay and Let the
Suffers Stuff.

Desolation has followed the passing of
Registrar Evans brief period of conse-
| quence as the boss of battalion Of clerks
at the City Hall.
AThey have scattered and the place that
knew them and their measuring machines
| and their motley crowd of spoilers and
their Bureau of Information and the clam
! orOus thrOng of would be voters, the
busy policemen and the army of hangers
on, will know them, not one Of them, until
another election time.
MI. Evans is scarcely less important,
| however. He swaggers round the inner
office where his immediate corps of clerks
Is still busy finishing up its part Of the
job with no apparent reckless desire to get
through, and talks in that tone of voice
which is so easily recognized round the
block.
1t is the recinct registration, which has
just gone into effect, that has brought the
change in the Registrars Office, if not in
his manner.
''And what Of all this work of detecting
suffers on the roll that 50 much fuss has
been made about and so much money ex-
pended for?" inquired Auditor Broderick
in talking over this lurid period yesterday
afternoon.
Ten men were appointed by the Repub-
lcsD and ten by the Democratic commit
tee at the beginning of this thing to watch
the men registering, take their names and
If they we're not ali right cite them to ap-
pear before the commission. Early in the
sitting they brought in an occasional name
and three or i0ur were dropped from the
roll. Laiterly they have not even tried to
wear the appearance OF earning their
money. Out of the IL, 232 that have been
registered do you mean to tell me there
held these night sessions? Do the
voters demand 1t? No. it is for
a double purpose. First, the clerks
that are doing the registering make
big money out nf it for overtime, and
second, the rlff-raff AXE advantage of it to
get in their work while the watchers are
probably off getting drink. They make
q rush upon the clerks for the express
purpose of passing muster in the midst of
| it. They have got book, they say, full
| of names-ovsr 500 of them-which gives
them the appearance Of having done some
| thing. But ask them when they are
| going to CITE these people to appear and
| show cause. After election, is it? They
can hardly look after that mum Der between
now and then. And now they have ten
more men to go out and look mp the sus-
picious characters. 1t Is simply great
grab game, and while l know it I'll have
TO sit and sign those warrants" The
| Auditor was disguised.
Another thing that is all wrong is this
affidavit business independence of the
! books. The clerk writes out a description
on a separate printed slip of paper, The
| registered man goes away and the slip of
| paper-what becomes of it? 1t is to be
hoped it is always we'll disposed of, but
| what is 10 prevent it being dropped in the
waste basket? l have personal expert
ence in point Eight men registered one
after ano her. every one giving their rrsi-
i Co.
books were opened to be scanned one
after another discovered that they were
| not in it. They complained 10 me, declar-
| ing they had been registered on such a
| day. Well, they were found on the books
| located out by the park, whsre the street
| they live on in South San Francisco has
| namesake. / insisted on the affidavits be-
| ing hunted M and every one of them was
recorded there all right, but the clerk in
putting them in the book had tran sferred
them to another part of town.
but that's not the worst OF the affidavit
system. An ignorant suffer comes along
| and in answer 10 questions Says he has
lived in the State six months. He is told
| he can't vote, and the paper is torn up.
| What is to prevent his coming back next
day and answering the questions all right?
With a'bouk it Is different. His name is
written down and the answers to all the
| other questions across the page, and finally
| those as TO his qualifications. He stumb|es
and is turned away, but the record re-
mains. He cannot come back and lie
| about 4 in fear of being confronted by it.
"This central registration is a great fGs-
terer of fraud anyhow, in every way. shall
| be registered in my precinct, where my
neighbOrs are present and know that
| have right to vote. Let a man go to a
precinct registry and he has to come
pretty near telling where be lives. If he
! lies about it the man at his elbow is
likely TO know it and bring trouble 10 him.
| The whole job of registering could be done
| in few days that way, the rolls posted
and scanned and kept clean without all
| this costly detective business which ut
| terly fails of its purpose.
s'Do YOU know what all this machinery
means when it is Jumped in bill of costs :?
| 1t means about 81 for every vote cast in
this election. 1t has cost nearly a dollar a
man just to do The registering. In New
| York the entire leetions-regis istrations, s,
voting and all, costs only 80 cents per
man. 1t is serious question, l tell you.
| To make elections costly and burdeusome
| is to stIike hard blow at the fundamen-
tai principle of the Government Elections
ought to be cheap so that people shall not
dread them"
|