The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-04-19
MORE ENDORSEMENTS FOR OUR
ELECTION LAW.

MORE ENDORSEMENTS FOR OUR
ELECTION LAW.
Our sympathy goes out to those
Republicans in Maryland who were
opposed to the recent ballot law on
the grounds that it would reduce
their vote in this State by preventing
the vote buyer from being able to de-
termine to a certainty that the goods
had been delivered after the bargain
had been comsummated and the price
paid. 1t will be remembered that on
the eve of the adjournment of the ex-
ira session an indictment was drawn
up denouncing in unmeasured terms
the action ofthe Democratic ma ority
in placing upon our statute books a
law looking to genuine ballot reform.
Since that terrible manifesto has gone
forth we wonder how many of the
Republicans would be glad indeed if
their hasty action in appending their
names thereto could only be recalled.
Little did they dream that the intelli-
gent public sentiment not only in
Maryland but all over the United
States would indorse the bill ''as the
fairest that has yet been enacted to
produce genuine reform, to prevent
the corruption of voters" Their ap-
peal to race prejudice and partisan
ship has been utterly lost and the
charges avereacted as a boomerang.
Able thinkers have gone so far as to
advance the belief that the action
of Maryland in thus making this bold
stroke for a higher and better order
of things, will before another Presi-
Dental campaign rolls around, bring
a new issue in the field. If this be
true, every man who recorded his
vote for the law may we'll point with
pride to a record which was the
initiatory ola higher and better order
of things. The name our common
wealth is being brought prominently
to the front today whenever ballot
reform is the subject of discussion
and leading journals throughout the
country are urging their respective
Legislatures to study carefully the
Maryland Law" 1t has been our
pleasure from time to time to record
some of the sayings of prominent
journals throughout the country and
let the people seefor themselves what
others think of the law. The article
below is taken from the PHILADEL-
PHIA TINES, and is on the line of
several of the prominent Pennsyl-
vania dailes who are trying to bring
about similar legislation in their own
State. 1t says:
Because it was a Democratic
measure, Republican writers and
speakers everywhere felt called upon
to denounce the ballot law recently
enacted by the Legislature of Mary
land. Naturally the Republican poll
ticians OF that State denounced it,
because it restricted theignorant and
purchasable vote which they con-
troll, but their complaints ought not
to have imposed upon any one who
would take the trouble to acquaint
himself with the law. Since its en-
actment, the hostile criticism has
died out and even Republicans in
Maryland now generally admit its
absolute fairness. 1t is a Republican
authority that, while denying Sena-
tor Germans sincerity of purpose,
yet admits that this law is, as he ex-
pressed it, $50 fair that it could be
defended in church." The complaint
is now transferred to the registry
law, which is so precise and clear n
its requirement of actual residence
that the Republican politicians are
afraid that in the border counties
they will not be able to get in their
voters who happen to be sojourning
at the date of registration in the Dis
trict of Columbia and in neighboring
States. In other words, it makes
the importation of foreign voters
difficult, and thus still further pro-
notes an honest ballot.
The careful provision for the per-
sonal registration of voters that is
made in the Maryland law is not
applicable in Pennsylvania without
an amendment to the Constitution,
but in all that relates to the ballot
and the method of conducting the
election the Maryland act is an ex-
cellent model. 1t isso complete that,
as we have seen, fault finding has
been silenced as it has become under
stood. The Democratic ballot bill
introduced in the Pennsylvania Leg
islature, generally known as the
Guffey bill, is in its essential pro-
visions identical with the Maryland
model, which is also that followed
successfully in Massachusetts, and
this general approval which the
Maryland act has received might
convince Senator Quay that it would