The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-24
Canada's Election Frauds.

IHEN it comes to election frauds
wv the Canadians. some of them
that is, are not so slow. The
prohibitionists across the border claim
to have evidence that the anti-prohibi-
ton majority in the province of Quebec
was dishonesty raised from 80, 900, the
actual figures, to $4,000. 1t will be re-
membered that on September 90, 1885,
all Canada voted on the question Of
prohibiting the manufacture and sale
of liquors. The liberal party had prom
ised the prohibitonists that an oppor-
tunity should be given the people to
express an opinion on the question if
the liberals We're returned to power
with the aid of the prohibition vote.
| The understanding was that if a ma
! jority voted in favor of prohibition then
| the liberals would introduce a bill into
parliament and support its passage.
The prohibitionists accepted the con-
| ditions and voted for the liberal candi-
dates, and it was largely through their
| aid that a liberal majority was returned
to parliament. When the prohibitionists
| made this agreement with the liberals
they believed they would be able to poll
so large majority in favor of prohibit
ton that the government would not
venture to ignore the popular verdict
FORMER votes in separate provinces had
shown majority of nearly two to one
in its favor. At the September cleo
hOwaNpr
and less than one-half the full vote of
the dominion was polled. Prohibition
carried the day, but only by 1854 ma
jority It had a majority in every one
of the provinces except Quebec. 1t had
total majority of 1O7 ,S99 outside the
province of Quebec, but in that prov
ince the anti-prohibition majority was
94,O15. This excited the suspicious of
the prohibitionists and they began a
systematic investigation, with the re-
suit that they now charge that Que
bees big anti majority was Fraudulent
ment itself for the purpose of wiping
out the prohibition majority or cutting
it down to so small a figure that the
liberals would have an excuse for re-
fusing to carry out their agreement
with the prohibitionsts
1t is alleged that certain back coun-
ties in the province of Quebec were
selected, the vote of which would not
excite particular attention, and that in
these counties trusted agents of the
liberal party stuffed ballot boxes and
changed the figures on tally sheets so
as to add many thousand votes to the
anti prohibition side. The report spoci-
fies different counties and election pre-
cincts in which these frauds We're COM
mltted and gives the number of alleged
fraudulent votes added in each. Five
days after election the anti majority
in Quebec was estimated to be less than
10000, but when the official figures were
announced it had mounted Up to 94015.
writer in the Philadelphia Press
points out that Mr.. Bourinot, a Dromi-
nent member of the Canadian gOvcrn-
ment, has written magazine articles t,
prove that there never could be a union
between Canada and the United States
on account Of our corrupt elections and
corrupt government But if the charges
of the prohbitionists are true, they re-
| veal much worse state of election af-
| fairs than any ever witnessed in this
country. There may be coercion and
corruption at the American polls hut
| the general government has never re-
sorted to ballot box stuffing.