New-York tribune., 1901-10-14
THE MARYLAND ELECTION
DEMOCRATS FIGHTING UNDER COVER.
REPUBLICANS IN THE OPEN-GOR-
MANS FLANs-INsTRUCTING
ILLITERATE VOTERS.
ILLITERATE VOTERS.

! out the State Mr.. German has not yet made
! single public utterance Only a few speeches nave
been made by the Democrats, and these IN deIehce
| OF the complicated disfranchising election law
which German had the legislature called in extra
session last spring TO pass for his especial oeneht
He has not declared himself candidate Tor ohlted
| States Senator to succeed Wellington ana ms
speakers and Iieutenants make reference TO IL
| The Democrats fear an independent movement hke
! that which swept the big Chief off his teet ana
| smashed the machine in 1885 German VIII not
come out into the open until toward the close OIL
| the campaign Then he will make one or t"o
| speeches, but he will make no aliusioh u "o ~
| atorship. 70
| When asked the question direct the other day II
| he was not the only Democratic candidate lor sen
| ator he smiled urbanely and said this was not 'iie
time TO discuss candidates. The duty OF the Dei'o
Gratis was to carry the State and to secure eo'roi
of the legislature 1t would then be time enough 10
| talk about candidates 49,,
II Is the greatest fight of Germans long politlcal
career He was never a believer in the efhcacS oi
| public political meetings. He would aVolo much
| nubIio dscission The machine organization. quiet
| work a campaign under cover, is the Gormah he'i-
| cd. Ever since the machine was oVerthro"h BIN
years ago he has been quietly and perslsIehuS ie
constructing it, with the assistance of Free haSih'
th poI,,r,ora CITY "boss' Murray Vandiver, chair
man of the State committee, and other ialtHlul
| friends They pretend to believe they are o"'o
more as strong they ever were but IN their qie
councils they show their anxiety ana uredu lndI
| the diSfranChiSing law may cut IISa'AF % --o-'
into the white Democratic ranks OF the ~ lIteI"''S
as they intend it should do among the negroes
NEGRO DOMINATION CRY.
While the real issue of the campaign is the su-
prenacy or overthrow of the German machlhe' the
Democratic bosses have raised the cry OF negro
domination TO offset it.
When General L. Victor Baughman, chier heuten-
ant of German in Western Maryland and leading
aspirant for Governorship honors' In speech AT
the recent Frederick County Democratic ConVen-
ton urged white men TO get together ana vote 10
sustain white supremacy in Maryland. he sounded
the German keynote of the campaign. The resou-
tions adopted by the convention in Baughmans
home county dictated by him. doubt, at the sug
gestion of German. declared that;
This government ought to he controlled by white
Of All our fellow citizens who do not wish TO see
and iIess negroes to vote with us in electing the
Democrats ticket. that white supremacy VIII
be assured
The race question made the chief issue OF
the last State campaign. when John Walter Smith
was elected Governor. The Repuoncan party. which
only four years before had gained control Of the
State for the time in thirty years, was defeat-
ed that issue. The Republicans fought IT bitter
" Their speakers on the hustings told the peo-
ple that there would he more negro domination
under Republican rule than there would under
Democratic control. but the leading Democratic
newspaper OF the State backed up the negro issue;
so did nearly all the other Democratic newspapers.
and AR Smith elected Governor on II. BY
the same issue German expects TO again carry the
State next November. and assure his election 10
the Senate
The uliterate Ballot law was passed by the extra
session OF the legislature last spring. called for
that purpose TO disfranchise the negroes The
Republicans are working hard 10 teach them by all
kinds of devices to mark the ballot correctly but
while the city negro is apt the country darky IS
dense. The negro issue in the campaign will be
brought prominently TO the 'front.' IN me closing
weeks of the contest. and the German leaders be
NeVe that il will be effective
HOPE TO DIsFRANCHIsE MANY.
It is said that the Democrats expect that twelve
thousand negroes will be dlsfranchised under the
provisions OF the Election law. The Republican
city committee on ilnteracy has established imi-
tation election booths in many Republican cuos
in this city and towns throughout the State.
1T is not said a member OF the committee
"only the illiterates and the people who cannot
read write whom propose TO teach There
are hundreds of voters who read all right. but
who do not know enough about the number Of
didates 10 be voted for avoid Overmarkng their
ballot and thus having it thrown out altogether
This fact win the State candidates who head
beth the Democratic and Republican tickets TO run
ahead of the other candidates as l believe many
others go. for fear of marking too many names
and having his ballot east out"
of every vantage point in the intricate laws They
admit the law has incensed a large class in addi
is spread wjdeeast and is grasped that the law is
that Of the colored man. and that it is designed 10
| It will be able eventually TO adopt a new State
constitution which will discriminate I'm favor Of
the white man and against the colored man at the
There is another scheme which some Democrats
say is feasible under the new law 1t is this Place
after the name Of each candidate on the ballot the
words: Nominee of the Republican party. nomi-
nee Of the Democratic party, or nominee Of the
Democratic and Prohibition" have been used
the ballots at the municipal elections thus far
| I'm the State to designate the parties The effect
of the OF the words nominee of" etc. is OBJ
who had been instructed pick out the words Re
publican" Democratic" or Prohibition"
MAY BE OF ADVANTAGE TO DEMOCRATS
Any confusion by which the ballot may ne sur
rounded must necessarily result in an advantage to
the Democrats, their iliteracy is in proportion
of l to Of the Repuhlicans-that is If the regis
is however. a great discrepancy between these reg
! straton book figures and those OF the Federal
census. In fact, the discrepancy is great that
aS by RT2p0FtoH Rsss is reduced from to % and proOa
The fact that the registration records show
greater iiteracy than the Federal enumeration is
explained on the ground that hundreds OF purchas-
able voters who not nliterate have claimed TO
be iterate, and are so recorded i'm the registra-
ton books. in order that they might receive as
sistance in marking their ballots from the ballot
/ being rendered the fact be established that the
vote had been delivered as bought ~
There is also a catch In this German Election Iaw
which will many defective ballots In other
States where similar laws prevail there has been
a guide as 10 how many candidates for each office
should be voted for At the head of the list OF legis
bs 9oce for Nc S sr for
appear on the Maryland ballot, and the voter will
! have 10 know, TO mark his ballot CORRECTLY how
many candidates for the legislature and other or
fees for whom he must vote.
All sorts of devices being used by the Repub-
lcan politicians in teaching the negro iterates
how TO mark their ballots. In the Eastern shore
ern counties the coiored Methodist and Rantit
preachers are giving lessons TO the illiterates IN