The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-04-24

belIWdIS WSIS 81 gnu elAI lhaI Wilt
out help they would be unable to ex-
press their wishes or preferences at
the polls. To them the ballot is a
puzzle, and unless they are given aid
they must either remain away from
the polls or else run the risk ofmark-
ing their tickets in such a way they
could not be counted. Defending his
own action in the matter, Governor
Hum declares, that, deeply as he re-
GREETED the existence of such condi-
lions, he could not approve the re-
pealing act without DISTINGUISHING a
large number of the voters.
eve cannot believe that the ig
norant vote of Delaware is so large
as these agents seem to have reported
to Governor HUM, or that it deserves
the consideration it has received at
his hands. For many years the poll
tics OF Delaware has been ufclean,
and the small State has been like a
pocket borough, bought and sold
year after year to the highest bidder.
These purchases have become motor
ious, and only by widespread bribery
and wholesale barter in votes have
dealers in political Offices been able
to deliver their goods. To them the
Voters Assistant Law has proved a
great boon, as by its workings they
have been able to assure themselves
that the votes purchased by them
were properly deposited in the
ballot boxes and not sold a
second time to some other buyer.
Under this law the voter, be he ignor-
ant or not, can call for any assistant
he may choose to help him mark the
ballot, and the purchaser of votes is
shrewd enough to see that the ballot
is marked in the way he wants by a
man whom he can trust. The law
has been constantly put to this use,
and no matter how honest may have
been the motives of those who passed
it, or how sincere Governor HUM
may be in its defense, it has proved
an ubiquitous measure-one which
encourages bribery, one which should
be removed from the statue books.
"Maryland's election law provides
assistance for those who are blind or
who, from other physical disability,
are unable to mark their tickets.
This assistance must be rendered not
by one man, but by two election
clerks of opposite parties, and in this
way all danger of fraud is minimized,
if not entirely eliminated. To such
a provision there can be no objection,
but the Voters Assistant Law of
Delaware belongs in a different cate
CORY. After a hard fight in the Legis-
lature in the interest of more honest
elections its repeal was secured, and
by refusing to approve this repeal
Governor Hum has given the cause
of suffrage reform a decided setback
in the little State"
NOT A PARTY OF MISFORTUNE.
The assertion has frequently been
made that Democratic success must
be preceded by misfortune. An erst-
while Democratic statesman, in a
recent interview in a New York paper,
took occasion to say that nothing
but panic would give the party any
chance of carrying the presidential
election next year. Of course, a
political revolution is more likely to
occur when people are disconnected
than when they are satisfied, but the
Democratic party is not party of
1nishaps and does not depend upon
calamity for success.
If we examine the history of the
past we will find that this is literally
true. The Democrats were success
full in the campaigns of 1884 and
1892. In May 1884 there was
financial panic, but it was entirely
confined to WallStreet and to certain
more or less speculative banking and
railroad operations, and its effect
was not felt throughout the country
which had prospered since the re-
sumption of specie payment in 1879.
Its exports of wheat in 1881 and
1882 were stupendous and it is
doubtful if the voters of the Novem-
Der election of 1884 were conscious
of a panic the preceding May. There
was nothing in the condition of the
country to create a demand for a
change merely for its own sake but
III spite Of this the Democratic ticket
was elected.
In 1892 the country was unprece-
IDENTIFY prosperous, The crops of
1891 were by far the most valuable
that had ever been harvested and
this set an amount of money into
circulation which made the country
boom the following year. This was
the second time that the Democrats