The aegis & intelligencer., 1897-06-11

into renewed allegiance, naturally welcomed
system which promised to place the iitcrate
Negroes under the strict surveillance of their
partisanse Q But the trainers of the law so lar
respected the just apprehcnsions Of the South
ern Maryland Democrats that they bound the
ballot clerk, who was to assist the illitcrate
voter, with rigid oath not to disclose the
knowledge thus obtained, which he was
quired to make and subscribe. The oath was
contained in subsection I5z of section 7 of the
Election Law OF 1890 and read as follows: o
II will not attempt to ascertain, save in
cases and in the manner IN which L am author
izcd by the law 10 do, for what candidate or
candidates any person shall vote, or has voted,
how any person shall vote, or has voted, on
any question which may be, may have been,
submitted to the vote of the people, and if
such knowledge shall be acquired by in the
performance Of my duty will not directly, or
indirectly by word act, divulgc reveal
the same, aid in doing so, save when l may
be required to do SO by law in some legal pro-
cecdng, and 1 will in all things faithfully exc
cute the duties of my Office Of ballot clerk
cording to the best Of my knowledge, without
favor partiality, SO help God"
This oath, although it may not have excr-
cised a very obligatory force on the conscience
of some of the partisan ballot clerks, yet the
severe penalties of perjury, which its violation
imposed, served to deter them from making
any vindictivc punitory Of -.hGir- knoNi--
edge thus acquired The colorcd voters soon
came to understand this, and so the unknown
and undiscoverable detection of colored voters
from the Republican ranks in Southern Mary
land continued under the operation of the
law, with the result of continued disaster to
Republican supremacy in that section of the
State.
G ..s n
Therefore, when the Republican party found
itself in control of the State government upon
the assembling of its Legislature in 1896 the
necessity of making the election law potent
instrumentality for the maintenance of their
party supremacy was the chief thought in the
minds of its astute partisans- To this end
completely new election and registration law
was promptly introduced and ultimately passed
To the accomplishment Of this partisan pur-
pose, three several means had been determined
upon:
l. To dispense with obligation to secrecy on
the part of those who marked the ballots OF the
illiterates and thereby subject the So 600 Negro
to the surveillance of their white leaders,
and thus to restore the old state of affairs in
throughout the State.
2. To revoke the restrictions imposed by the
registration law of 1890 upon the colonization
of Washington Negroes into the adjacent coun-
ties of Maryland.
J. To subject the counties to wholly unnec-
essary new registration of all voters, which IN
1882 had proved to be such a partisan advan-
tagc to their party-by reason Of the fact that
while many white voters neglected to register,
the Negroes all registered with superstitious
punctuality.
The draft of this important partisan measure
is understood to have been the work of Mr..
John c. Rose, of Baltimore, who appears to
have had for his aid and adviser Mr.. Sydney
Z. Mudd, of Charles county, who became
Speaker of the House of Delegates Rose
might be appropriately designated the Johnny
Davenport of Maryland, in compliment to his
astute, indefatiguable and unconscionable par
tisanship; but he ingenously hides all these ac-
complishments under the veil and garb of a
dcvout "rcformer,' under which hypocritical
disguise he has most deccitfully imposed upon
many well meaning gentlemen in Baltimore,
known as Reform Democrats" Mudd, on
the other hand, makes no such pretensions, but
delights to boast Of his superior skill in max
ing partisan deals and turning political tricks
Fully equipped by practical experience in the
actual work of corralling and intimidating the
Negro voters and thereby maintaining Negro
domination in Southern Maryland, he gave
the points of partisan advantage to be secured
in the election law to the resourceful Rose,
who was depended upon to give them vitality
,oH,r
to the unrestricted surveillance of their whirs
local bosses and thereby to the severe disci-
pline of their race and their families thus
clearly appears to have been the principal pur-
pose to be accomplished by the reform" cleo
ton law presented by the Republicans. y This
being the case, man Of more direct methods
and less finesse and diplomatic subtlety than
Mr. Rose might have gone directly at his
work by proposing amendments to the exist
ing law striking out the oath of the ballot
clerks and all penalties bearing upon disclo-
sure OF how the illiterates cast their votes But
this would have revealed, even to the apprehen-
sion OF the Reform Democrats" the ungainly
cloven foot OF the partisan wolf beneath the
immaculate fleece OF the innocent reform lamb;
and Mr.. Rose is not accustomed to do his
work in that bungling way. Not at all. He
therefore brought forward brand election
law ana registration idW COHiplSlC III dill ltS
parts and substituting the entire article of the
code bearing that important subject and
completely dispensing with the old law. But
all the sections of this new law will be scanned
in vain for any obligation on the clerks who
mark the ballots of the lliterate, either by oath
or penalty, not to disclose the information
thus acquired The stringent oath OF the bal
lot clerk, above quoted from the act of 1890,
is conspicuous by the absence of every vestige
of it, while the penal part of the law will be
searched in vain for any penalty of disclosing
knowledge acquired in the election room The
clerks who mark the ballots Of the illiterates
take only the perfunctory oath to support the
Constitution, etc, required OF the judges and
other officers.
Thus it is clearly made to appear that by re-
pealing the strict oath required OF the ballot
clerk and all penalties for its violation all re-
Stricton OF secrecy is removed from the officers
who supervise the voting OF the iiliterates, and
the illiteratc Negro voters of the State
thereby subjected to the strictest surveillance
In point of fact; proof can be adduced from the
Southern Maryland counties that this change
in the law impressed on the coiored voters
in the campaign OF 1896, and they were thereby
ntimidated and solidihed at the last election
Here we have presented to US the remarkable
anomaly, the astonishing paradox, OF the 5000
llltcrate voters OF the State who, IN point OF
fact, constitute the only element of our voting
population that are subject to the domination
OF a controlling influence, being subjected to
the strictest scrutiny, the most complete
pionagc and surveillance of the very influence
by which they dominated and belonging
exclusively to one political party, under color
OF the Australian ballot system, the essential
principle and Office of which is exactly the con-
verse OF the function Il IS made to exercise IN
Maryland elections. The question arises, did
any political party outside OF the carpet bag
governments OF the Southern States make
such a shameful abuse of its power as this?
Was any such audaciors fraud this ever
practiced self respecting people by any
political party without prompt punishment be
ing visited upon it? The audacity OF this fraud,
in making the very machinery designed for the
oman ipatiou OF the dependent voter do duty
for his cnsiavemcnt, is certainly complimentary
10 the courage OF its authors; but VIC mistake
the temper OF the good people of Maryland if
they are disposed to reward this particular kind
of courage
Another notable feature of this extraordinary
trick in partisan legislation is the rnanifestly
deliberate and prcconcerted manner in which
it is SO framed to evade during the FIRST two
years of its operation its own pretended pro-
visions for the protection of the minority party.
The better D obscure its real purpose OF paTtl-