The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1900-04-20

| state tue IactS ABOUT the FORMER law.
Here are the exact words of the forme I
law, as Col. Campbell and all others
may see for themselves by reading
section I447 OF Kentucky Statutes;
80 long as their are two distinct
political parties In the Commonwealth,
the judges, clerk and sheriff in all
elections by the people, under the
constitution and laws of this State,
shall be so selected and appointed as
that one of the judges at each place
OF voting shall be Of one political par
ty and III other judge OF the other or
opposing olitical party; and the like
difference shall exist at each voting
between the sheriff and clerk of elec>
tiOls."
In the face OF this very grave and
misleading error, to say the least, at
the very outset Of Col. Campbell's ar.
gument to change the opinion of nine
teen twentieths Of the people of the
whole country, we are led not only to
scan closely the force Of his logic, but
to question the veracity of his state
ments.
believe the majority OF the people
OF Kentucky of all parties will decide
that his statement that in Democratic
counties the election officers were al
most invariably Democrats, and in
Republican counties all Republicans,
Is as far from the truth as the infer~
ence he leaves to be drawn as to the
provisions of the former law. That
under the former law, instances of this
action may have occurred, do not
deny; but that such cases were almost
universal l most emphatically deny,
and in this denial am sure will be
/ seconded by nine>tenths OF the voters
of Kentucky, whether they be Demos
Gratis or Republicans. The Democrats
will resent this insult to their honor
as quickly as Republicans, for il his
statement be true, 1t makes them
guilty In all previous elections of hav-
ing committed twice the fraud and
perjury that the Republicans have
committed, for they have always had
- khfc Ctata 81 1aagf fuua rnu,,fxy
judge to one for the Republicans.
shall not here attempt to defend
the law iuf her than to correct any
misleading statements or iniereuces
in the article Of Col. Campbell. ad.
NIT it had its defects, but insist that
facts and facts only be told concerning
1t. Taking his statement to be true,
however, which l refuse to admit, but
will grant for the sake Of argument,
that under the former law Democratic
judges appointed only Democratic Off
GERS and Republicans followed suit.
If this were true, it would give the
Democrats under the old law the credit
for doing twice as much stealing and
perjury as the Republicans, from the
fact that they have always had twice
as many county judges.
This ought to have satisfied him,
but it seems that 1t did not, and hence
the necessity, from Campbell's stand
point, OF the Goebel law, which gives
the Democrats the opportunity to do
all the stealing. This Is evidently the
way in which Col. Campbell regards
the matter, and this view throws light
on the famous saying OF Senator Black.
burn: "If ANY stealing is to be done
it will not be done by the Republi-
cans" The noted Senator, so famed
for eloquence, valor, generosity and
inconsistency, has for once, am sorry
to say, shown himself selfish. He
ought to have been willing to let the
Republicans do half as much stealing
as the Democrats, according to Camp
BELLS views of Kentucky honor, but
like a greedy, spoiled child, he grab.
bied the whole election pie and shout
ed, "Pm not going to divide with you
fellows any more; want a chance to
do all the stealing, and you shaut
steal ANY"
While shall not grant that under
the old law each party stole all it could
through perjury and fraud, 1t is read
lily seen that its provisions, should
men of either party resort to this, gave
vast advantage to the Democratic par
ty. think they did this very rarely,
but the new law gives them vastly
greater opportunities to commit fraud
than the old, and this time, according
to Campbell and Blackburn. ALL the
stealing is to be done by one party.
According to Campbell, under the old
law each party did all the stealing
possible. aud the Democrats had great.
ly the advantage in opportunity, and
il this were the case, human nature
remaining the same, under the new
law each patty will steal all 1t can.
and one party can't steal amy" and
therefore the other, by force of Camp
bellian logic based on his estimate of
Kentucky honesty, will do it all. In
the spirit of fairness which forms the
basis of government controlled by the
people, law should have been passed
that would have prevented either side