The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-02-06
Corruption Funds.
From the Silver Knight.

The uS, of tens OF millions of money To elect
| Major Mckinley proves beyond controversy
that the rich are opposed to Republican GOV
| errmrnts ''dcrivng their Just powers from The
| consent OF the governed. The contest was
not between citizens Of the United States eX
erciSing the right of franchise according to
their best Judgment but between the people
on the one side and the money powers
on the other The money used by the pre-
vailing party was not expended 10 give the
voters an opportunity TO freely exercise their
choice as citizens because no large expenditure
of money could lcgitmately be GSrd for that
purpose. The vast sums Of money expended
we're confesSpdlv used to influence the election
and To prevent :: free vote and an honest count
The poverty and dependence of vast multi
tudcS of suffering people and the dishonesty OF
others, furnished the opportumlts which was
seized by the money powers t" Snbver the
will Of the people. If il be asserted that the
same reSul: would have been attained without
| the use OF money we ask. why were such vast
sums of money collected and expended!
There is no necessity of knowing the exact
amount of money which the victorious party
emploved because the lowest estimate Is, large
enough To stamp the election ~ fraudulent
and corrupt.
It the power of money can enable the rich
to seize the government. a. was done III the
last election, the capacity of man for self
government is IL myth and free institutions are
a failure. The spending of fifty or even ten
million dollars iii a Presidential election shows
that the republic is in danger from concen-
trated wealth Nothing can do more to deS
troy the faith of the people in free institutions
than the fact that the party which spends the
most money in elections is certain to be vie
toriouS When the honest voters feel that the
votes they cast are to be neutralZed by the
corrupt use of money in the purchase of votes
or the manipulation of election returns, they
will cease to regard the elective franchise as
a protection of their rights or As furnishing
them the power to maintain the free iuStitu-
tionS established by the fathers. They will
naturally look upon the money power as their
| enemy. and when they are satisfied that re-
| siStancc to the entertainments Of concentrated
| wealth at the ballot box is impossible history
will repeat itself in this country and anarchy
or revolution will follow. The audacity and
arrogance of the wholesale ote-buyerS in call
| ing the people anarchists because their ballots
are honest is exaSperating in the extreme.
| What proof have they that the six and-;i half
millions who voted for Bryan were not acu-
| ated by the pureSt motives of patriotism?
| What claim have those VINO expended tens
OF millions to get votes that they are honest
and law-abiding citizens Of the United States
when they are ostentatiously cOrrupting the
| fountains of justice and subverting the tunda
mental principles of free institutions? If an
archy Is an effort to overthrow established
| government why are not the money powers
who buy votes and Subyert the will of the peo-
! pie (Which is the governing power), by cor
ruption and fraud. anarchists of the most
malignant type? The rule of avarice is the
most malignant. despotic, cruel, and barbar
Gus Of all forms of tyranny, and when that
rule is secured by hired mercenarieS or in
timdate1 dependents all forms of representa-
tive government are mockery and the toun
dationS of free institutions are subverted
Nothing that the incoming administration
can do can repair the injury to civil liberty
which the expenditure OF tens of millions of
money inflicted in the last election. No mat
ter how good Major McKinIey's administra-
ti0n may be it can never heal the wounds
which the corruptioniSts who elected him in
| flicted upon our institutions. We already
hear the boasts Of concentrated wealth that
| the means they employed to prevent a fair
| election i'll 1896 will he redOubled if necessary
four years hence. We are told on every hand
| that money is too powerful for the people of
| the United States and that whatever happens
the money powers will rule the country If
this be so, the rule of the people is already
overthrow and this is an oligarchy of wealth
and not Republic of free men. We call the
attention of the rich and powerful who now
seem omnipotent, to the history of the past
and warn them against the danger of forcing
the people to desperation. The people of the
United States are long suffering; they love law
and order and will submit as long as hope
remains, but such examples as were furnished
at the last election of wholesale corruption by
the use Of vast sums of money will destroy
hope, and when that is done we have not the
heart to predict what must necessarily happen.
If the money powers deny that they are max
ing war on free institutions we simply call at
tention to the money they expended in the
last election. No excuse exists, no apology
can be given, no explanation can be made
for the expenditures of the vast sums of money
which were used in the last election 1t means
corruption, fraud, anarchy, and misrule, and
netting else. The people still have faith and
they are organizing to again face the enemy
of free institutions at the ballot-box in 1898
and 1900.
We believe that civil liberty is not lost and
that people will rally and by Constitutional
means restore the government of the United
States to the people for whom it was Or
daned. If they cannot restore it we fear that
the great republic will be the last experiment of
free institutions on this earth. If liberty can
not be preserved in free America, the anarchy,
bloodshed, and barbarism which will follow
will exceed the accumulated horrors which
history records in the destruction of former
| civilizations.