St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-29

suit himself. In by far the greater
part of the city no notices were post
ed, no primaries held and no delegates
chosen. The law was thus violated
in every essential particular.
It Is not necessary to follow the his
tory Of the pretended convention. 1t
fulfilled admirably the conditions from
which it sprang. It was not legally
organized or conducted The man
Scannell was not elected chairman. His
acts were throughout in defiance Of
rule and precedent; and finally ma
jority of the persons In the hall under
the name of delegates voted for mo-
ton to adjourn the convention ''for-
ever" departed and did not return.
Thus there is not one point, from first
to last, in which the ScanneH crowd
can claim to have acted with warrant
of law. Their moral turpitude Is as
great and as obvious as their con-
tempt for and defiance of the statutes
of the state of Minnesota. If such
persons, by such course Of action,
can place a list Of alleged candidates
upon the official ballot and have it re-
main there, then the whole law re-
lating to elections and guarding the
honesty of the ballot is not worth the
paper that it is written on. As well
let the convicts at Saltwater make out
list of candidates, send it to the city
clerk by a ticket-of-leave man, and
have 1t submitted to the people Of this
city as the choice Of an alleged politi-
cal party If this outrageous and
desperate game can defy the author
ity Of the law, then the purity Of the
ballot is in far worse case than when,
under our old laws, 1t was at it's lowest
estate
No such contingency Is conceivable.
Up to this time the officials who have
acted have been complying merely
with requests that came in the form
and under the color Of regularity. The
law had not been called in to demon
strate it's own vigor and to teach the
outlaw its sanctity. Now this has been
done. 1t Is provided that just such
steps as these may be taken to pre-
vent the successful consummation Of
a conspiracy against the suffrage. The
representatives Of the Democrat-Citi-
zens' movement have appealed to the
courts to protect the ballot Outraged
law will vindicate itself. The law Is
clear, the evidence is complete The
action is brought at the earliest pos
sible moment, since 1t could not be
begun until the purpose of the con-
spirators was made known by the fl
ing Of their list Of candidates under
the party name which they had stolen.
This issue is far broader than party. 1t
touches the interest Of any candidate
less than it does the future safety Of
the community from the political
marauder. 1t goes back Of honest elec-
tions to that more primary requisite,
ballot. The fight is for the possibility
of honest elections, and against the
success of high-handed knavery. It
will decide whether attacks upon the
purity of the ballot are to become the
rule, or whether such punishment is to
be visited upon the law-breakers that
never again will they care to put
themselves within the reach Of a court
or an officer Of the law. 1t is funda-
mental. And good citizenship and
honorable dealing and obedience to
law are arrayed against the most ex-
quisite, impudent and knavish bit Of
law-breaking that ever startled any
community. To doubt the result would
be an insult to our institutions Of
justice, and a denial Of the capacity of
the people to preserve the forms Of
orderly self-government.