New-York tribune., 1904-10-23

IT.
New-York. Moreover, II Has only
r--,.rrle made ~ tne Governor in the
lHs o,4b n the campaign, when he stayed
- night IN New-York City. that re-
- ,be prospective frauds 10 a point that
49, r,ar,,b,ican victory Just possible. But in
-. faoe Of en- approaching national election
II The possibility that New-York City might
80 the national campaign, as il did in 1854
:, ss-s-ne necessary 10 act at once and effective
: ..3 IS early as the winter OF 1893 plans
- - in progress which reached their maturity
orlv recently
e. rIeerion frasds in greater New-York are. in
80 main. frauds Of registration, and an honest
-.gist,ation would insure practically honest
.fsr+.or. Now, registration frauds may be sum-
-,s-ized thus:
First-Colonizing the voting persons who are
-o-re5 from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
l.ts- loCalites registered and voted as citizens
Nirapersona ting; the work of the gangs
.s-1ssr-rs. and Toaters. who 80 from district to
- ,oting under the names Of dead men and
{, ,-.-i7e~s Who have removed from the district
enc he last registration. having registered for
me- -onvict registration; that is. the regis
.-s,ior of men whose conviction as feiOns rem
5ered them ineligible 10 vote, except IN case OF
r-,.-rs Naturalization frauds. the use of
,sIee or fraudulent naturalization papers, or the
uralzed a. all
ro remedy these evils and prevent these
,-sr5s offered a task Of unexampled magnitude.
,rs e required arst Of all the devising Of a sys-
-, which should be founded on the recognition
&c, -ra local authorities and the local police
49, e hostile partisan instrument, moi to be
.o-r+e6 On for effective assistance. Moreover.
!, ~ssuired a vastness ot scope comprehensive
-Aer II is realized that the voting population
- ,he greater CITY passes seven hundred thou
s,-s. that the removals OF voters who change
.be,r residence ir the course Of the year exceed
g., -,o,lsz-d, that the fraudulent naturaliza-
80 -,sra-s az which records existed exceeded
eve rhousand while the death rate Of voters
sn5 The death total exceeded the total Of deaths
ir The State of Massachusetts,. Obviously, then,
=. p-as no small undertaking, the effort to Sc
cure an honest election in city of the size Of
NeU-Tork.
NarDrarv enough. the first step was to obtain
3 working basis Of voters; the seven hundred
thousand citizens Of The city must be examined
ss % their voting qualifications. and the natural
basis for this ygas the registration rolls Of 1903.
This formed q point OF departure. AS far back
ss Auzust nearly two hundred clerks, working
Quietly in Newburg. began tie task The first
step was The bringing Of the 1903 registration
Nst 10 to date The list OF removals furnished
by The Directory caEvassers supplied the hrst
data The names Of those who had moved since
1903 were stricken from the first list and placed
On q second, and this second, destined to be the
.suspscious" LIST thus had its origin To mark
che moving Of seventy thousand voters was
task SURPRISING in magnitude the preparation
of the records OF the standing army Of the
I-ritea States and II had 20 be done by e newly
organized bureau
The next step was the removal Of the names
ot the voters who had died since 1903. and the
-ttal statistics OF the city supplied these four
teen thousand names. which we're duly stricken
rom one list and entered on the second 4
similar list q convicts was made up from the
records OF the District Attorneys Office and
fhose Of the Superintendent of Prisons. and
The names thus secured were taken from the
one list and placed on the other. The names
C the holders OF fraudulent naturalization
papers so far as they we're obtainable. were
next removed from the eligible to the 'sus-
picious" list together with the names OF for
eigners who hat voted without the tormality
~ naturalization. This step was made the
easier because the field of fraudulent papers
had been recently canvassed.
VAST FRAUDS HAD BEEN COMMITTED.
The steps outlined above in q rough fashion
divided the voting population OF New-York
City into two sections. those who had not moved
from their voting residence Of 1908 and were not
for any reason ineligible TO vote In the same
election district IN which they had cast their
vore IN that year. and the voters who by reason
ot removal or other cause were ineligible. Of
course 1t should be remembered that the vast
majority o. those whose names were on the
suspicious" list were eligible 10 vote some
0here since residence IN q particular election
district in county for month before Election
Day is the required condition But in tha past
the names of these removals had been voted
under in their old districts while they used
them in their new districts, and thus il was that
vast frauds had been committed.
The list Of qualified voters having been
brought 70 working basis. II was used as a
means Or canvass Men were sent into each
election district armed with the eligible. the
- list" as Il was called, o. the district, and
any other changes OF removals noted and trans
'erTed from one list TO another. Thus It was
thar The voting lists were reduced 20 lighting
strength, the dead wood had been eliminated
and the first step in the task had been accom-
plshed. Now II remained 70 put these two
lists inJo effective operation. To 90 this II was
necessary 10 build UP an efficient local organi-
cation an ar-ny that could use the weapons that
had been provided. To build Up this effective
local organization the State chairman had
worked for Two years. Now, just before regis
'ration. he took a final step into the hopeless
Tamnany district, where frauds abounded and
Republicans We're scarce. He sent volunteer
workers 70 watch Inc polls. and 10 protect and
essist them ne depended on the deputies OF the
State Bureau of Elections. increased IN numbers
and efnosencv beyond all previous campaigns
To the deputies and the volunteer watchers
,he same order vas issued. each was supplied
With the suspicious" list for his election dis