The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-02
VOTES BOUGHT JUST
LIKE MERCHANDISE
The Business OF Electioneerlng as Prca-
tced in Delaware.
WARNING TO PENNSYLVANIA
Market to Get All They Can of the
Money with Which the state Is De-
bauched on Election Days--A First
Voters Auction Sale of His Vote at
the Four Corners-- s--"Wanamaker-
ism' Pushed to an Extreme.


In the course of q page article on the
corruption of Delaware politics the sun
tells the incident which follows 1t
illustrates the business mem in pol
itics and offers Il timely warning against
"Wanamakerism' as we are having 1t
exemplitied in our own state.
The scene is laid in the little state of
| Delaware in the county of Sussex, ana
| in the ancient town of Georgetown
1t is election morning. The polling
| place of the Georgetown Hundred Is
| at the Court House, an old-fashioned
| red brick building with white window
| frames and old-styled board shutters.
! painted green. The court house fronts
! a park, on two sides of which are
country taverns dignited by the name
of hotel A crowd has gathered around
| the front of the court house-just the
| sort of a crowd that may be found in
any rural district on an election morn
| ing. There are farmers and typical
/ countrymen with gee whiz swaggers
and b'gosh 't'lmighty assertions. There
are local merchants and business men
with just enough of the town about
| them to make them look bit down on
their farmer neighborS and to feel su-
perior by thunder, to anything that
| stood on two feet other than their own
| precious serves. Inefe was llc lOWl
bum and the customary assortment of
town loafers. They We're talking to-
gether not of the virtue or lack OF viz
| tue of the various candidates who were
to be voted for, nor of the great Issues
of the campaign. They were discussing
the price of votes and the possibility
of bulling the market. They We're Won
dering which side had the more money
to spend, which would succeed in the
contest for the debauching of the free
men, which was to continue the whole
day, although these freemen did not
call it by that name. They We're dis
cussing this thing with the calmness
and the freedom that would mark a
discussion by Sun readers Of the Cuban
war or the propriety of England's in
terfering in Turkey to prevent the mas
sacre of the Armenains. There We're
partisans just as there would be par
tisans in such q discussion.
TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
"I don't care" said one. "Jim told
me thet his fellers had 81 to the other
mems one"
"Jims a liar" said another "Bill told
me thet he he'd sent down enough to go
round twice If necessary, n there was
more where thet came from if they ran
short"
bills a lair" said another.
"Jims liar" said another.
"Betcher my vote agin' your'n Bill
amt no liar" said another.
"Whatcha think l ana millionaire?
Havin' 1 wait a hull year for it n
then t. resk it? Say, 1 betcha 81,
though"
And so it went. The discussion at
times WaXed warm, and then again 1t
almost died out, but never once did
the subject change. Finally, an old
man stepped up and Joined the crowd
| tn toto 10 a n n
low, with as fine an Anglo-Saxon face
as you would meet in a weeks jour
ney. He had mild, blue eyes that be-
tokened piety, CHEEKY manner that In
dicated perfect satisfaction with his
surroundings, and a certain bluffness
that was catching. AS he approached
the crowd from one side there came
his counterpart in cheeriness up on the
other. He was a younger man. he
might have been mistaken easily for
a district school master or class lead
er in Methodist church. He was jim.
The other was Bill; and when they
Joined the crowd there was an air Of
expectancy on many faces.
whats this you be sayin'?" demand
ed one of the two. "Ye think we can't
outbid them felers. Ye think We'll let
any furriner come inter the old county
: o'SusseX m take care n our people
better n we kin take care n 'em our
selves? Well. / guess not Here you
| Tom, YOU want to sell your vote. III
set the pace for EN-. I'll give ye $3t
for t."
All eyes turned to the other, the lool
, of expectancy increasing While Tom
who, by the way, Is called Tom merely
to hide his identity-a raw-boneo
American, who actually owned, fre'
and clear of enCumberance, one of tht
1 finest farms in the peach growing dis
7 trict, looked nightly pleased.
BRISK COMPETITION
"Ye must think votes amt wortl
$ nuthin'," retorted the other TN Civ
5 We thirty-fiVe. Tom; come on"
r Forty" said the first, thrusting hi,
hand in his pocket, while the men il
1 the crowd nudged one another Tom
e. face wore a smile that would rival
E sunbeam for brightness.
= "Forty-tive, Tom" said the secon
i bidder, showing his hand in his pocket
too.
, FIFTY" said the first. Fifty, y
get it, Tom. Ye can trust me. I've beer
e buyin your vote a good many years, y!
Il / never went back on ye yet, did L?
n "Fifty-hVe" spoke up number two
without moment of hgsitancg, II
hear that feller talk y might thin
$50 was q minto' money. Fifty-iiVe, {
: ye take it,"
:; Sixty" said number one. 90 y
Il think ye kin scarce me? Why, we go
5 money { burn"
y "SiXty-fiVe," said number two. He
/ a white man, m his votes worth IT,
p it's worth IL cent. SiXtY-five in har
cash"
e The crowd had crown in size an
t pressed closely around the bidders an
e he freeman who was selling his fran
Z chise. The spot they stood ON wa
=, almost precisely the spot on which i
- the days before the war, the Sheri
:, had sold many negro SlaVes-nigger'
. as these freemen contemptuously cal
q ed them. Less than fifty feet away, an
q in plain view Of all who had simpl
- to turn their heads to see it, stoo
:, the county whipping post that tn
n State of Delaware maintains still fC
l. the punishment of her criminals. Bl
g it was there only to punish real erin
c inals, petty thieves who steal chic
~ ems, or the like, 1t had no terrors 70
: these men. They We're not criminal
% They would not steal chickens.
Il Seventy" came back the first bic
Il der without tremor while the eye
=, of the men in the crowd danced an
70 they hugged themselves i'm sheer es
70 stacy and mentally figured what sex
= enty dollars would bring and no
l. much higher that was than the priC
l. they had been accustomed to gettin
for their votes.
-" "Seyenty- five" came back numbl
is two, with grin, and Toms eyes stoo
f. out.
w Eighty" called number one, will
IN out turning q hair,
n "Geewhilliken!" snorted one of II
T. outsiders, unable to restrain himse
Id longet and jumping up and down wit
ct joy as visions of new red topboo
te galore danced before his eyes.