Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-11-16
STEALING ELECTIONS
John Wannamaker Strongly Advo-
Gates Ballot Reform.
IT is THE NATIONS GREATEST NEED.
Declares That There Illus Not Been An
IAUAest Election In Philadelphia
for Many HeurI.-Secrecy
Of Ballot Violated.

New York, November 1.-THE Word
publishes the following statement
from John WanOmuker dated Phila-
delphia, November Is;
THE recent revelations Of corrup-
ton In the conduct of elections In
Philadelphia ought 10 deeply impress
thoughtful citizens the entire country
over at the urgent necessity for ballot
reform. ly ballot reform | mean
such legal enactments and regulations
as will, first, make the ballot absolute
~ secret and, therefore, absolutely
free; and, second, such devices, wheth-
er mechanical or otherwise, MS will
make true count and return Of the
votes legally east rs near as may be
an absolute certainty. This, IL seems
10 me, IL the desideratum of modern
politics in this country.
"Poltical freedom and equality are
secured by constitutional and statu-
tory enactments, and the only thing
needful is an electoral system which
will enable the free men of the coun-
try TO cast their votes without intimi-
dation or coercion, and to have their
will, thus freely expressed, honestly
recorded and returned.
'In Philadelphia we have not had
an honest election for many years,
and the debauchery Of the ballot has
acquired the system and precision Of
science with the dominant so-called
Republican machine. This has not
been the growth Of a day or a year,
but has been perfected by steady,
systematic development of the most
minute details of original ingenuity.
The machine has educated its follow
ers In election crime, rewarded them
according to their perfection in fraud
ulent arts, and extolled and honored
the leadership which best knows how
to devise and avail itself of corrupt
practices and protect and promote its
debauched tools and disciples.
"0f course, II would have been im-
possible for the dominant machine In
this city to have 80 thoroughly subor-
dinated the electoral system to It's
dishonest uses had there been n mi
nority organization of even ordinary
honesty and competency. But there
10 no such minority organization in
this city. What is called the Demo-
cratic organization is but an agency
OF the corrupt Republican machine.
AS u result, the Democratic vote has
Bhrunk more than two-thirds because
honest Democrats declined to follow
the leadership which treats the party
organization as an article of merchnn-
disc and that has no principle or pur-
pose in politics other than its own
sordid gains.
"All the machines are against ballot
reform, for the machine cannot live
and thrive day If the people, the
honest Masses whose hearts are right,
can ever obtain an opportunity to ex,
press their condemnation freely and
have 1t honestly returned and recog-
ni2ed. Ballot reform, therefore, [
place first on the list of political needs
of the hour, and in Pennsylvania il ia
the issue which overshadows all 9TH
ers in its deep Importance and far
reaching effects,
Republican government does not
exist in this state because, while we
have Republican forms, we have no
adequate method for their ultimate
expression in n secret, free and pure
ballot, guarded and conserved by de-
vices competent to insure the purity
and protect it from dishonest perver-
sions at the hands of corrupt political
power"