New-York tribune., 1903-04-05
BRIBERY RAMPANT.
Some of the Queer Ways in Use IN
Rhode Island.


sns rel,,3o,s liberty which lie hath permitted us
to enjoy. looking 20 Him for blessing upon our
enaeavors and 10 transmit the same nnlnpa
TO succeeding generations DO ordsin ana ee'aoiSH w
ons.t,u.,o, a. government, Preamble OF the consttu
sion q, the Of Rhode Island
The trainers OF the constitution OF Rhooe Isl
and could they rise from their. graves TO at'ei,
modern country election in that State lhsteao %
seeing the sturdy Christian pioneer going 10 ~
polls with Bible in hand and baiio' N u 'ne
other woud see many of to-day Win d
ballo; in one hand and & bill IN the ~ 80,
Instead Of hearing the church bell aiihouii0
the customary prayer meeting pefofe ,',Sn~.as ele
would hear the rattle Of wagons and ouehooaiuS'
in which politicians were bringing in the easy
marks" 10 vote right perchance the iaueh.e. @
and tests Of a crowd who are being pioM ', - 'A
by the iron man. in neighoorins Blh NM
Since Iacius T. c. Garvin. the present 1o'eiioi
n. Bboss Island began his fight short time aso
srains, bribery in the elections OF that e'a.e'
MANY OF the secrets OF the system ps " -
commonwealth is now controlled pohucaiis Nc
been unearthed. Methods have been exposed ~hich
would seem TO defy imitation even IN iahihais
rau because OF their manifold variety, their su-
prerne hypocrisy and their widespread popuiai
In certain rural districts the taxing Vi d o
with many has become sheer habit, ana mas eN
listed so long that has entered into the ihaiio"
O. the rising generation Fathers who might o'nei
wise be ciassed as respectable have come 10 re-
gard Election Day as even happier hois - -.
Christmas for al this time they take anu o0 ~
hey 70 Women
ward TO the day with pleasant anticipation MANY
. RIG nov according 10 youth OF the TOWN
q. warren has TO go without his winter shateS'
..,rIe.s the old man get some IRON 81 'ae
November elections" and as the bine eseu oe
ter of a. farmer OF Scituate SAID:
sPs always gives me an Easter hae iioiii ~
town election vote ... l.,
Bv the township system OF represeii'"'i "
rhode Island, the State is governed ps Ae"
r,ral inhabitants in the sparsey populated out
Oar1rln
=. providence with its $1,000 voters. has no larger
representation in the upper house OF the ieeis
iarure than the little township OF west oiee
n1cn with ia voters Thus of the total 36 town
x,,Ds 1ha 1e smallest rural districts with f'4Oo
,,o,ars csn swing the whole State. with totai
of = 5sa voters These 70 dwarfs. which eAerl
.uch a giant power with their puny cohsttue.io'
os voters are follows: harrington Dos, Cn"i
town soc; East Greenwich bis: Exeter -4o' os' ~
sss. gloucester 456: aopkinton, SIC; jamestown
90. rit,le Compton. 267: Middletown. 24S; Nara
esnsett $50: New-Shoreham, s6e; North froNiue
s11: North smithheld, 80: Portsmouth S''; rrch. @
-oond $50: Smithfield. z64 Tiverfon. ga anu "eS
Greenwich. ia .,
,,,s have become prizes for political tboodlers-
Bribery is not practised in Providence 10 ols
tent For one thing. it would cost 100 nuoi'
with only a few hundred voters 10 Pure ~ l..
cor,r-v township, the briber is able 10 carry 80
"a. ,,,,-aoses at no great expense Wheh h''i0
money is spent by the opposition siz'VV' HAS '
known to carry a State election.
Tro-, the investigations of Tribune reporter
who studied the conditions eAlsuhs ilo' .
the nineteen smallest townships, put ~ NJ
a.,s.,v r,onuiated communities. like bristoi a
Warren where corruption was also louiu " 80 -
o,,en bribery where the buyer says give iLe
vote and iii give you the money = ~, x-,ao
%ned 70 the foreign vote. The aboriginal h@ ~,
50 she Scotch Irish English settler sum
retains a live enough spark Oh CONSCIENCE cohsclele -
soui-rn At the word -'bribe. Instead ne "aii "
shield himself with a cloak however n. -.
co,asne&z he explains that he was pala lor hs
g.. % Or .,ired out his wagon or was reooih-
,,ansed for making stump speech. .
.,.Lo,,ch r7l,ode Island is the smallest State IN
che Union and its-townships are the siilanes, CIV -
divisions in England. the lnhapilaI's u
-, % ;ts towns are almost completely fso-
,a,ed from the outside world. There is even Htoe
interchange OF thought or mutual coilii ioiii q, =
between one town and another customs wan 70
,,una in one town strfkingly different from those
=, an adjoining district and for this reason meth
oas ~ tribing conscientious" voters In oliereht
parts of the State are OF manifold variety
For example in the township Of Bristol, which Is
an che eastern side of Narragansett Bay, ana IN
e- @ -, - --nscl ,s inst across the water, two
..-5tinplx different systems are In use bflstoi
ts only now recovering from its town elecuoh a'
which money was freely used to elect to"I coui-
-, < s,,e men and some other town officials 1here
are : ses voters in Bristol and as local pohuclan
who took a foremost part IN the fight said;
This last election was the most costly one we We
had for many a year. Our side had 10 speho as
high as s. apiece for votes As A general thing
z,or car buv all YOU want in this town for s. and
che highest don't so over s. l myself know every
man in Bristol who Will sell his ote and what
his price is There lot Of dollar men, as we
call EN- fellows that are out OF Work good oeal
Of the time and will bite the first sight OF the
.sf,,sf' Then there's the merchant. or shopkeeper
who doesn't need the money especially but IL ne
gets a ~ he'll help your side"
.sKyhat made the last election so expensive
asked
~Because the mob got their expectations up,
,es -he nrompt answer. The opposition let out
.he story week before the election that they mad
g lot Of money ] suppose they thought they wouio
scare US out and then buy their votes at the low
est price One fellow that wanted TO get license
for a new hotel was said TO have loads or money
.o heat 1s and the crowd all prcked up their ears
We'll do you know. when election day came
everybody that had ever sold his vote was look
ing for rs high s., and lot Of EN- that mao
teeu sort of ashamed to ask for the STUFF were
hanging around the polling place instead of going
right in as they had done before and voting. But
we weren't frightened. We touched a certain cor
poratton that interested and were ready tC
meet the other side with as high as s. vote
But YOU ought the way that gang hung
around They were all waiting Cor money
Along in the afternoon found that the Other
side had made bluff and couldn't pay than
20 TO g. so we bought the crowd for just little
higher and won the election for about 5000.
How was the money paid2'
by the leutenants Of the bosses,'' answered the
politician For example. the bosses stand right
.n the polling place, and the voters UP tC
them and want 10 know how much they're giving
One boss names the price. and the voter goes
over 10 the other boss After he has learned
vhich-u pay the most, he goes 10 that boss and
says he'll vote for HIS at his price. Then tht
voter is sent 20 saloon with a lieutenant either
alone or a bunch Of em together, and drinks ar.
ordered Some Of 'en given the cold casl
har xzlH nfh hrfI- fhpir 0vVr