The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-24
FRANCHISE IS
A SACRED RIGHT"
REV. WILLIAMS ON ELECTION.
"LET HIM THAT STOLE STEAL NO
MORE" WAS HIS TEXT.

| "Dtscordant Element"
my Ballot Stolen" was the prelude
to the sermon by Rev. DR.. A..
M. Williams at Trinity Methodist
Church last night. 1t was listened to
by large congregation.
DR.. Williams took as his text: Let
him that stole steal no more" Eph
4:2S. He said:
The franchise is a sacred right.
Man is responsible to God as we'll as
man for its exercise. In the use of
that prerogative the Withholding of a
ballot is oftentimes a voters best
method of presenting a conviction.
The freest ballot system is the surest
manner of securing intelligent and
| conscientious citizenship. Pure govern
ment can only be secured by such
| citizenship.
I'm the exercise of such right, on
well-conceived conception of my pub
lie duty, 1 remained away from the
polls during the late gubernatorial
election.
Notwithstanding this fact the vot-
| ing lists in the possession of the
| State Department at the Capitol show
that one A. M. Williams, Third Dis
| trict, Chatham county, was voted on
that day. The Press investigation
confirms this statement, giving 500 as
the number of the ballot. In plain
English my vote was stolen.
More Precious Than Money.
Had $500 been stolen from me I
would have had universal sympathy
and the detectives would have been
set to work. My ballot is more pre-
cious to me than any amount of
money. When 1 protest against it's
robbery the politicians seek in every
way to make me odious.
According to my political creed, the
ballot is a sacred heritage. 1t is the
sign of freeman. 1t is the pledge of
| sound government. 1t is the basis of
civic righteousness. The obligation in
volved in the privilege is assumed by
me with sincerity, seriousness, earnest
ness. The disposition to trifle with it,
to treat it as a sham, to defile it with
fraud l detest. This is the offense
which justifies the character of the
one discordant element
appreciation of the franchise has
ever been a part of my sense of man
hood. The pride of the November
morning when 1 cast my first vote for
President still warns my heart. 1t
was for Samuel ]. Tilden, the great
patriot, the mighty Democratic reform
er, the foe of fraud, the successful
| prosecutor of political corruption.
Ever since 1 have regarded the
trust as most sacred. To every issue
l have given close attention, full read
l s,,rr f,rg !. Al
rive at just conclusions. My judgments
have been the result of painstaking
| consideration and conscientious en-
| deavor. Excuse the mention of another
habit. Regarding voting as a religious
! duty, I have gone from my closest to
| the polls just as l enter my pulpit,
with prayer.
"My Ballot Was Stolen"
"Such being my conviction what a
| fearful shock it is to find my ballot
| stolen. Robbed of my sacred right
| what Is left but solemn protest That
\ which could not be bought with all
| the worlds money is basely purloin-
ed. That which all the armies of the
earth could not coerce is forced by
| fraud to do the will of others. That
| which all the bowling. mobs of time
| serving opinion cannot intimidate is
thievishly dedicated to the service of
| the INSCRIPTIONS politician.
Nor am 1 alone. There were about
| 1000 other stolen ballots in the same
| election. 1 had a glimpse into the vot-
| ing lists held by the Secretary of
State Without written application
| for permission, passed on by the at
torney general, 1 could not make notes
or copy names. Being limited in time
and desiring to avoid publicity l did
not use that Formally. Hence l had
to depend on my memory. That is
| reasonably accurate. l give you
sample enough to show the quality of
the whole, just as the cotton buyer
tests his goods. From this knowledge
| l give both direct and circumstantial
evidence to establish my charge.
"Drect-Opening the first book that
comes to hand l see Cad d. Bryan.
Jr The name is familiar. In jail
| was the last report as to his location.
If the jailer did his duty, and he
claims he did, how could Bryan vote
Ballot 500 is credited to me. The near
est l got to the polls was the west
side of Bull street My memory held
a number of names of prominent cit
liens. Since my return personal in
quiry shows three who actually voted
all the others were voted without their
knowledge or consent. Enough such
cases are in my possession to estab-
fish the wholesale fraud.
Voting by Proxy.
Another illustration of this class of
! evidence is that of a man who told
| me he was on his way to the polls
when he was informed it was unneces-
sary, as he had already been voted.
Proxy voting, when and who legal
1 lied Il?
"The circumstantial evidence of
fraud is sufficient to convict. Every
man got identically the same vote,
4.520. In an honestly returned cleo
ton this is never the case. Mistakes
will occur Somebody will strike. Such
was the case all over the state in this
election. The very smoothness of the
vote shows doctoring. You notice, too,
| Il is the multiple of ten.
1.-THE boast was made the other night
that our local political machine was
the best in the land. OF course, II is.
| Nobody ever doubted 1t. You desire
education in corrupt machine politics.
High School, Tammany, New York.
College, the Republican machine In
| Philadelphia. Postgraduate course
the Savannah machine. II has reduced
II to a fine art. Did any machine
ever do a heater job? No odd num-
! bers. All strikers neatly trimmed. Let
Tammany send down a committee to
learn the best way 10 do II. Poll a
small vote, add a cipher, doctor the
lists All will be satisfied except the
one discordant element. Machine poll
| tics soon produces machine voting
Then all that is needed is the in
| fallible declaration of the boss that it