The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-11-28

Aher indictments or warrants against
a single officer for improper conducl
n the polls.
Il does seem strange that, with pa
pers filled full Of charges Of this kind,
no citizen should have brought the
charges before the proper tribunal.
The reason l know full well to be, is,
that the charges were false and that
Republicans making them were not
Wiling to submit them to the test Of
q judicial decision.
If they were true, why did not Re
publican politicians and Republican
newspapers, claiming to have evid nee,
present it to the proper authorities,
20 that the guilty might be punished?
Fhe Police Board publicly requested all
futizens who had evidence of improper
7 conduct Of the police at the polls to
present it to the Police Board. None
was presented. Abuse against the Po-
lice Department continued undated.
Il was the cry OF stop thiefl" to take
attention away from the real perpe-
lrators of crime.
That the Republicans in this election
we're bold and determined can not be
denied. The st. Louis Star, with much
glee, a day or two before the election,
stated that Sheriff Pohlman had sworn
in 1000 deputy sheriffs to be used at
the polling places on election day.
Mayor %Ziegenhein issued permits with
out number to carry concealed weap-
ons. These deputy sherihs had no
right under the law to appear in or
around the polling places. Mayor
%ziegenhein had no right to issue per-
mits to carry concealed weapons, And
yet with these facts staring them in
the face, Republican papers cry about
police intimidation and armed force at
the polls.
Armed force at the polls indeed!
There are many white-haired men in
this audience tonight who remember
she armed force at the polls in '66 and
6i and the years Immediately follow
ing the a There were armed forces
at the polls then, and wherever the
Republican party under guise of the
law or without it has been able to send
armed men to the polls, it has done so.
That these one thousand armed dep
uty sheriffs appeared and melted away
on election day is a matter for discus
sion rather than the conduct of police
men lawfully present in the perform
anqp of thpir nuh1ip dutiac
NESBIT LAW AND PASSAGE OF
THE NEW ELECTION LAW.
An election law wa passed by the
Legislature Of Missouri in 1899 which
came to be known as the Nesbit Law.
To this law Republicans have always
pointed as the reason for their defeats
in the City Of st. Louis. 1t proved to
be such a fruitful political topic for
Republican statesmen that at the last
session of the Legislature, in order to
remove the issue of election laws, a
committee of some Of our ablest men
drafted and prepared and finally Sc
cured the passage of one of the fair
est, most complete, election laws in the
United States. l do not believe that
the new election law can be honestly
befiticized by the most bigoted Repub-
lican. Fair in its most minute details,
providing every safeguard which hui
mar ingenuity can devise, it stands
upon the statute books to-day a monu-
ment to Democratic desire for the
avoidance of anything that might wen
tend to give color to the story of un-
fairness in elections. AS a matter Of
fact, however, | have never yet heard
a Republican who could point out any
grave defects in the old Nesoit law.
Every vote that was registered at the
City Hall was canvassed by a Demo-
cratic Judge and two Democratic clerks,
by a Republican judge and two Re-
publican clerks. Equal representation
was allowed both parties in the super
vision of this registration. No name
gould %fraudulently appear upon the
Registration books, unless 1t was there
through collision with Republican
judges or clerks. Each name, before
1t was presented to a polling place, "a
canvassed by an equal number of DEM
ocratic and Republican officials. These
officials received the ballots and count
ed the returns. l do not, therefore,
see how dishonest vote could re-
main on the registration books, unless
1t were with the knowledge and con-
sent and through collision of both
Democratic I'D Republican officials.
Certainly the Democratic party must
not be held responsible for the selec-
ton Of election officers made by the
Republican party.
The election law issue is in keeping
with that of the Metropolitan Police
law issue. In 1861 the present police
law was first passed. 1t has been
amended from time to time, but has al
ways contained the essential parts Of
the old law Of 1861. This law was re-
viewed by a committee appointed by
the Senate when that body was Re
publican. They reported in it's favor,
Republicans having at that time the
power to have repealed or amended it,
but they did not do so. No one dis
rutes the fact that / know of, that the
Police Department needed more men,
and for that matter It will need still
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