The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-09-16

ton commissioners and calls them
thieves and perjurers, and SO on ad
) nauseum, and finally winds up his
TRADE by admitting that he is himself
one<bf these terrible election commits
sioners, who is subverting the hber-
ties of the people, and that he ap-
proves and wants all of these laws to
stand except the one requiring the
governor to appoint a non-partisan
election board for each county. I'm
able to furnish any reason why their
party with its rotten record in the
past should be again entrusted with
power. and unable to find anything to
lay hold upon or to justify criticism
in the conduct of the States affairs
by the Democratic party, these Re
publicans bi-annually emit lot of
clap-trap and rot about the election
laws, and try to persuade themselves
that it is the election laws and not
their own worthless policies and the
: bad record of their party that bring
about their continuous defeat. They
/ were defeated before we had these
election laws, they have been defeated
: since, and as long as the people of
| Tennessee retain their senses and
| their self respect, they are going to be
! defeated. All of this ranting and pro-
! testing and declaiming is done for eff
! feet and to try TO get some votes to
| help them into Office. 1t is a twice
J told tale. You have heard it before.
Every honest man wants honest cleo
tions, but where lot of politicians
declaim so vehemently and so contin
! uously against safeguards being
thrown around the ballot box, and
particularly when they are the lead
ers of a party which has stolen or
tried to steal every office from presi-
dent of the United States down to
governor of Tennessee, it raises a
suspicion in the mind of the average
citizen that the reason these laws are
so Objectionable TO the Republican
politician. is not because they aid dis
honesty anywhere. but because they
prevent dishonesty in Republican
East Tennessee.
Let us examine these laws coOlly
and dispassionajely for a moment aud
see wherein they are defective. There
are four of them. The secret ballot, Or
Dortch law, which applies to cities
and towns of certain population. The
registration law, which requires the
voter in towns and districts of a desig-
mated population to register every
two years. The poll tax law,
which requires the voter to pay
poll tax for the support of the
public schools and to help educate
the poor children of the State
before he can vote. And then the
ls-w requiring the governor to appoint
three non-partisan election commits
sioners in each county to supervise
the elections.
These laws and every one of them
were passed in the interest of honest !
elections and to preserve the purity of |
the ballot box. AS the country grew /!
i'll population and that population /
Grifted to the cities and great centers /
of business all parties recognized that |
greater safeguards should be thrown (
g round the ballot box. And long be /
fore We felt the need of it, the great /
and populous States of the North and |
East, which were under the control |
OF the Republican party, enacted laws !
providing for the secret ballot, regis !
tlation, poll tax and other safeguards ;
OF the ballot The Republican State /.
Of massachusetts not only has the Sc
cret ballot and registration, nut there !
40 man can vote who has not paid |
rot only his poll tax but all other
taxes, and can read the constitution
and write his name.
The secret ballot prevents bribery
and intimidation. The voter goes into
the booth alone, and there, away from
the bride giver and the bulldOzer, he
' otes his honest convictions. Registra.
peating. You do not need it in the
where every voter is known
and can be identified, but in the towns
and cities, where there is a shifting,
changing poplation, registration is the
only meanC of identifying the Vorcr |
and preventing fraud. Two of the
great cities of the State, Memphis and
Chattanooga, lie in the corner of three
States, and before the passage of these
laws it was no uncommon thing for
hundreds of irresponsible negroes to !;
De imported across the line and voted,
md thus take from the people of these
heir affairs.
When these fair and just laws were I
in Tennessee in 1885 the Re I;
.ublican party bitterly opposed them, j
md members of the legislature boltad
md fed from the capitol TO break a
quorum and prevent their passage.
rhey were passed by the Democratic {
'arty in the interest of good govern
nent and have been in force for near i
V fifteen years, when 10 and behold, T
t this year, 1904, the Republican &
candidate for governor rises up and t
approves them and says: I
Let the Dortch law stand-it pro s
-ides for secret ballot. Let the reg '
stration law stand-it prevents fraud. +
Let the poll tax alone-it brings mon I
y to the public treasury for public c