The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-04-12

who shall represent the people o
of Maryland in the affairs of the
State
"Owing to the location Of the State
and its proximity to the city of Wash
ington and the individual centers 0
Pennsylvania and West Virginia there
is not the sli ightest difficulty for any
man to leave his home in any Of these
places and within several hours be at hi:
voting place in Mary land. The fact
is that large numbers have annually
engaged in this practice, and the
Court of Appeals of Maryland hele
that the voter who at any time resi-
ed in the State one year continuously
and presented himself before the resig
nation officer and stated that he haC
so resided in the State for one veal
and in the county or legislative district
six months and had not exercised the
right OF suffrage elsewhere and thai
he intended at some future and in
definite time to return to the State
could he REGISTERED and his name con
tinued on the registration book ant
that his vote should be accepted whel
he present Il himself at any election
thereafter.
This opened the doors SO widely
for fraudulent voting that it was the
belief of all who examined the question
critically that it was safe to inject into
our body polite sufficient number Of
votes in tue aggregate to control the
election in more than 10 counties o1
the State and at least one Legislative
district of Baltimore city.
:'As an illustration, take any of the
works of internal improvement where
1000 or 1000 persons, chiefly colored
and non-residents Of the State, are
employed, and such is the case to-day
to the exten: of several thousand
They live in shanties along the line ol
Improvements and are employed fol
more than one year. Under the Re
publican law they would have been
entitled to register, although they
were actually residents of other
States.
"This abuse Governor Smith and a
Democratic Legislature determined to
remedy and to re-enact the provision
of the law of 1890, which was passed
upon by the Court of Appeals OF
Maryland and decided to be constitu
tional and under which any man is
prevented from registering unless he is
an actual bona fde resident of the
State. And it would seem that nc
man who wants fair government in the
State ought to object to the provision
1t applies to all parties and to all
colors, and under its operation only
the actual presidents Of Mary land can
participate in her elections This is
the only change made in the registra
tion law at this special session of the
Legislature.'
THE BALLOT LAW
"What is to be said in explanation
of the new Ballot law?'
"In 1890 the Legislature changed
the Ballot law which had existed prior
to that time and under which Gael
party printed its own tickets, and by
Chapter 53S of 1890 framed Ballot
law modelled somewhat upon what is
known as the Australian system
ain 1896, the Governor and Legisla.
ture being Republican, this law was
repealed and re enacted with radical
notifications, from which beneficial
results were anticipated.
sin some of its features it was an
improvement. 1t Was claimed by its
authors that it would prevent bribery
intimidation and coercion. We could
not adopt the Massachusetts form Of
ballot, but the law provided that the
names of candidates of any party max.
ing nomination should be printed on
the same sheet of pap'r in separate
columns and authorized parry en-,
blems to be placed at the head of each
of these columns. The Republicans
adopted at once their emblems, the face
Of Lincoln; the Democrats, jackson
and the Hickory Tree.
The law provided chat cross mark
in the square opposite the emblem
would be regarded as vote for the
candidates of the party whose emblem
was at the head of that column. 1t
also provided that any voter who at
the time of his registration declared
that he could not read or write when
he presented himself at the poll could
call upon the two ballot clerks, one d
Democrat and the other Republican
and have their assistance in marking
his ticket.
OPPORTUNITY FOR CORRUPTION.
"This provision furnished the oppor
tunity for the corruption of the voter
All that it was necessary to do (and
that is what is exactly believed was
done to a great extenD was for the vo
ter at the time of registration to say that
he could not read or write. Then or
election day when he had made his
bargain to sell his vote he called upon
the two ballot clerks and they wit
messed The fact he either voted the