The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1903-06-17
BELONG IN THE
PENITENTIARY
Ten Thousand Politicians Ought to
Be There, Says One Woman.

Not long since an eloquent lady
who had been a participant in
campaign in leading New Eng
land State gave out to the press the
assertion that something above
10000 OF the male politicians with
whom she had come in contact
should be tumbled headlong into
the penitentiary. She did not make
an estimate as 10 the number who
deserved death. The revel in ras-
cality which the good sister wit
messed discouraged and distressed
her greatly, largely because, as ex-
planned, she found a deal of it even
in Massachusetts.
1t is now announced that there
is to be a general round of investi-
CATION over New England. Massa-
chusetts will investigate the many
open charges of corruption in polit-
les. The Governor of Rhode Island
protests against the evil there, and
the Providence Journal declares
that there are linen in the General
Assembly who, if the law had been
enforced, would have been in jail"
And now comes the Hartford Cour-
ant with this broad confession:
ave know something about the
misuse of money in elections here
in Connecticut. The evil is not so
fragrant with US nowadays, We think,
rs with our neighbors on the east;
but it's more than bad enough. We
know something here also about
laws that make a fierce show of
teeth and don't bite. When has a
Connecticut vote-buyer been arrest
ed, tried, convicted, imprisoned and
disfranchised? We Yankees are in
no case to be Yirtuosly and beyond
measure shocked at the brisk cleo
ton day traffic in Delaware and
Notwithstanding as it is. We
have small-fry Addickses of our
own. Still less does it lie in our
months to denounce our fellow
Americans in States farther south
than Delaware and MARYLAND for
trying to reduce the evil to a min
imum by sweeping exclusions OF
VIGOROUSLY venal voters from their
celebrates. We wish they had gone
about the attainment of that end
in an absolutely single-minded,
straightforward, defensible way;
but, having said that, our criticism
is estopped."
The indianapolis Sentinel joins
in. 1t says: "We of Indiana are
confronted by the knowledge that
while Connecticut can not point the
finger of scorn at any of these sister
States, she still is entitled to ex-
press contempt for Indiana, and so
are all the rest. They at least have
laws for the punishment of the vote
buyer, and their officials are under
oath to enforce those laws, but In
diana alone makes vote-buying
legal. Indiana alone allows the
vote-buyer to proceed with his dis
graceful work without fear of pun
ishment. -. Today Indiana re-
mains the only civilized State in
the world in which vote-buying is
lawful occupation. That is pref
ty rough on Indiana; but the record
appears to bear it out.
Is there no place in all this vast
nation; or even in the wide world,
in which elections are held in a fair
and lawful manner? Is all politics
essentially corrupt? Is there no
means of coming down or of rising
up to rules and principles of fair
dealing in this important civic duty
of manning the public service?
In some instances fair elections
are held here and there. 1t must be
confessed that such fair events u.s.
ually take place after the real con-