The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-10-18
To the Voters of the State of New

| that will elect a United States Senator,
| and for eight members of Congress to
represent the people of the State in the
House of Representatives at Washington.
The issues of the present campaign there
| fore, are both State and national, and the
| record of the Republican party for ability,
honesty and high patriotism so commends
| it to the favor Of the people that it APP
peals with entire confidence to the voters
OF the State for their support.
The government of the State for the
| past four years has been so able so hon
est, so free from public criticism, so near
| ly what it should be, that it is difficult to
realize that only four years have passed
since the condition of things throughout
the State was the exact opposite of what
it Is now.
| When in 1895 the Republican party
asked the people of New Jersey to entrust
it with the government of the State, it
promised to uproot the abuses that had
been fastened upon the public service, to
cleanse the State of certain foul infamies
and to inaugurate regime of decency
and good government. The people had
faith in its profession, and swept cor
rupt Democracy out of power. To-day
| there is no cleaner nor better governed
I State in the Union.
| The situation that confronted the Re
publicans Of New Jersey in the fall pre-
ceding the election of 1893 was dark and
discouraging. The State lay helpless in
| the grasp of uncomfortable political des
pots.
The principal agencies upon which
those who masqueraded in the name and
dishonored the traditions of the Democrat
ic party had-relied to reduce New Jersey
to condition of seemingly hopeless po-
litical bondage, were four in number:
First, and ooert0ppi1ag all others IN aoick
| ed7aess, acre stupend0ltS and u7ehedrd Of
frauds upon the suffrage. 1t was proven
| in official investigations, that the registry
lists had been padded with hundreds of
| fictitious names from barns, vacant lots
| and graveyards that thousands of fraud
| ulent ballots had been voted in a single
election in Hudson county, and that
gangs of repeaters, native and imported
went unchallenged from poll to poll.
These frauds have been practised for
years, not only in Hudson county, but in
most of the cities throughout the State
Second, the protection Of the race track
gambling deass at Gutteaa6erg and Gloucester
city, w1sich naturally Furnished large annual
contributions to the campaign fund Of the
Democratic party. These places of legal
lied gambling not only corrupted the pub
| lie morals, but poisoned the very foun-
| tain head of the government itself by
their enormous contributions to the Dem
ocratic corruption fund. The widespread
evil of the bribing of voters that had be-
come such scandal in this State, drew its
chief sustenance from this foul source.
Third, By turning our StGte penal refor
naGt0ry, educational, charitable and other
institutions into Democratic partisan ma
chimes. Boards of direction and manage
ment, composed of citizens eminent for
their character and public virtue, who had
given faithful and intelligent service were
ruthlessly turned out and Democratic pol
iticians installed in their places. The
government of these institutions was rev.
olutioniZed.
| The State prison, the State hospitals,
| the State Normal School, the Deaf Mute
School, and every non partisan board and
commission in the State were thus trans
formed into Democratic machines intro
ducing into our public affairs spirit of
malign and ravenous partisanship that
debauched every public institution and
every branch of the State Government
! Fourth, By a gerYynsa7sder Of the tegislG-
t50e districts, the most gr0tesqueLy outrageous
e0er attempted in this country. Its charac-
ter may be inferred from the boast openly
made by It's trainers that it was designed
| to make forty-two Democratic districts
out of the sixty. Nothing else was
thought of in It's construction but to secure
partisan advantage by the grossest un-
fairness. 1t well served its purpose. In
the Assembly of 1892 the Democrats had
forty two members and the Republicans
eighteen, although the Republicans polled
SO, 534 votes against 113, 084 polled by the
Democrats, emitting the former to twenty
eight members and the latter to thirty two
under an equitable system of apportion-
ment Under this gerrymander it requir-
ed 1914 Republican votes to elect a mem
Der, while it required only 1899 votes to
elect Democratic member
In other words, each of the Republican
members represented more than twice as
many voters as each Democratic member,
so that one Republican ballot counted for
less than half as much as a Democratic
ballot. Fortified by these contrivances
the party felt itself secure. Protected in
control of the State by the systematic stuff
ting of ballot boxes, repeaters and padded
registry lists, by huge corruption funds
drawn from their race track confederates
by an army of INSCRIPTIONS retainers who
had been billeted upon the State in every
position of public emolument and by a
gerrymander that made Democratic vote
count for more than two Republican votes,
its leaders believed that nothing less than
a political cataclysm could dislodge their
party from its intrenched position in this
State. In this fancied security, they
played the role that is natural to irrespon-
sible power The revelations that were
made by the Voorhees, Investigating Com
mittee filed the State with the odors of
corrupt rule. 1t aoGS found that e0ery glt1-
chase that ao0s made for the state under this
regime, e0ery piece Of ao0rk that aoGs done,
eoery coretfGct that aoas gi0eaa out, aoas satat-
rated Nth peculGtiOn and .j066ery.
But just when the Democratic party felt
most secure and its political control OF
the State was seemingly doubly clinched,
there was witnessed one of the most ma
iestic and remarkable moral uprisings of
the people ever seen in this country The
waters of public indignation, that had
been steadily but silently rising against
the accommodating iniquities, finally rose
like resistless flood and gathered up and
swept to destruction these cunning and
INSCRIPTIONS devices. The blow was sud
den and the victory complete. In the
Legislature of 1898 the Senate contained
sixteen Democrats and five Republicans
and the House of Assembly contained
thirty nine Democrats to twenty-one Re
publicans A year later the Senate con-
tain eleven Republicans to ten Democrats,
while the House stood forty Republicans
to twenty Democrats. So futile are the
most elaborate and formidable partisan
schemes against public opinion, when it is
righteously aroused.
The Democratic ringsters were so mad
dened by this unexpected reverse that
they concoted the infamous conspiracy to
steal the Senate, altogether the darkest
and most heinous crime against govern
ment by the people ever attempted by any
party in New Jersey. 1t was frustrated
by the Supreme Court, but the men who
concocted, aided and abetted the infamy,
are still high in favor with the Democrat
ic machine in whose interest it was at
tempted
When the Republicans came into power
in 1894 they found the government honey
combed with dishonesty, pervaded by
looseness and inefficiency, and so conduct
ed as to pour every source of revenue pos
sble into the pockets of Democratic party
favorites 1t was government of the ma
chine, by the machine and for the ma
chine.
This corrupt scheme of grab has been
transformed by the Republicans into sys-
tematic, efficient and honest government.
The political spoilsmen to whose tender
mercies the public institutions of the State
/ had been committed have been turned out
and non partisan boards, composed of citi-
zens eminent for their character and fit
ness, again placed in charge.
The various public boards and commits
sions that had been packed with Demo
/ cra tic r,nanhinf runrlrn hnun hnnr rnlnnad