San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-01-23
SHORT STOPS.
What the People are Saying.

No self respecting citizen can avoid
blush of shame at the condition OF lOca
politics that UreedS bribery and cOrrup
ton such as is now being exposed In on
district court.
Yet there are respectable citizens VIII
are heard to make excuses for this cOndi
ton of local political depravity, such as
they all do it, one side is just as bad a
the other"
If there is one crime more henOuS thai
another, IL is the violation OF our election
laws, protecting the purity OF the ballot
for upon this stands the security OF GU
Institutions.
The state, in its wisdom and out o
abundant caution, follows the successful
candidate to the last moment when he Is
about to assume the duties OF the office,
and requires of him that he take an oath
that he has not directly or indirectly
paid, offered, or promised to pay, con
tributed nor promised to contribute, any
money valuable thing, or promised any
public office or employment. as a reward
for the giving or withholding a
vote at the election at which
l was elected. So help me God
How many of the officials now in office
can take this oath conScient iously? How
many have been guilty of perjury?
Our laws providing for registration and
| elections are ample in their safe guards
and penalties, and yet, the low state of
political morals, by reason of long reign
Of non-partiZanship,i in our local elections,
these enactmentS with severe penalties
attached, have become dead letter.
IL 81 o. A. lnt Lao
| full Ethiopian idea that there should be
no politics In local elections, uses the ad-
vantage that may accrue to it by reason
OF official patronage, or a big slush fund,
to gain the ascendancy, and at last the
really conscientious voter and good citi-
zen accepts the situation as the common
law" governing elections.
1t looks invidiouS to single out one
nationality or class ofvoterS for criticism
but when this class become a gigantic
menace to fair and legal arbitration at
the ballot box the criticism is iuStifiabe.
The present registration of voters shows
900 more Mexican voters than the regis
tratton for the last general election in
November. These people have come
from all directions and are really tran
SientS. Yet they have been herded and
brought TO the registration office, by
FOUNDERS and heelerS and registered
Let it be said in defence of these people,
that left TO their own vOlitiOn, they would
never presume to exercise the rights of
American citizens. They are taught to
look upon the voting business as a means
OF securing public employment, or the
payment of actual cash for their votes.
Bribery, in one shape or another, being
universal, the transient Mexican tramp
is not the only bride taker, but such
great mass of mon partizan" voters fur
nishes wide field for the operation of
mon. party" politicians and combina-
tiOns that succeed through corrupt
methods, have little respecl for Iaw,-otfi
cals have come to regard the offices they
hold as their property, because they have
paid for them.
In such state of affairs what is the
duty of the good citizen? Most aSSnredly
to oppose those who have long profited by
the manipulation of the perchaSPable
vote, and TO return as soon as possible to
the well beaten paths of distinct political
parties. Parties also become corrupt, but
the people can control and rebuke them.
In this emergency now upon our COM
munity, it behOOves every good cItize to
stand firmly for the men who promise a
reform in her local politics, most aSSur-
eddy not a restoration of what can proper
y be termed, Mexican politics, as repre-
Sented by men who have prOited by the
use and manipulation of this poor, ignp-
rant innocent mass Of aliens, who rtally
have no legal standing as citizens under
the naturalization laws Of the United
States or the cOnStitu ion Of the state of
hInf M hall i.,In
tuIed as citizens aud voters at our cleo
tionS
Judge Callaghan relies upon the solid
vote OF the 1000 registered M"Xcans,-
these people will be appealed to on the
score Of blood, which is thicker than
water. Yet there are at least 500 Of tn, So
voters who are residents of our city and
VINO are as deeply interested as any other
nationality or class in its property, will
they be driven to side with Mr. Callaghan
because Of fancied discrimination
against them?
Already the opposition to the Elmen-
dorf SIDE are parading as criminal the
employment Of a large force Of laborerS
upon the streets; because the city is now
giving bread TO day laborers, it is to be
condemned as an lectiOneering program;
| perhaps II is, no doubt 1t Is, but 1t Is one
OF the milde>t form of corruption lit has
been the practice for 10, these many years
it has grown under our nOn-partizan poll
tics. MIR. Callaghau and the big six" are
its apostles and now their virtuouS press
hold up their hands in horror.
| Is not MIR ElmendOrf justified in using
the weapons lett in his hands by his com
/ petitOrS to win his fight?
But rather shall he turn his face to the
intelligence the worth. the patriotism OF
the Community and ask them to rise as
one man TO aid him in his endeavOr &c
push The city forward to day when a bit.
ter order Of things will be inauguratrd
Rise, man the wall, the fatal day has
GOMEZ"