The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-07-15

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landed. there IS no further need Of a
rating. He is marked g. K. and the
/ only question is, How much viii he
| takeg',
We had Ill Cur legislature a man who
had served several terms in the gem
eral assembly Of a neighboring state
/ There. and with as. his record was above
/ par. He consistently voted against any
measure which was tainted with esen
Portable circumstances, and was a eitt-
zen OF considerable prominence in his
home community. A certain bill was
pushed through the senate by sheer
/ force OF Doodle, It came over to the
house, and the same corrupt methods
advanced it to a vote. This man voted
against it every time it came up, but on
the final vote he said Aye
Immediately after casting his vote he
hurriedly left the room and took the
first train for his home. Nor did here
turn, and none of US could learn the rea-
son for his unexpected surprising vote.
Some time afterwards | was told the
story. The record-seeker for the cor
poration which wanted the bill passed
had followed his back trail, had gone
back into this mans life until be came
to the place where the man. a quarter
of a century before. while intoxicated.
had taken money which belonged to his
nr,aY1,,var He af+aru,srdc r,,ada onod
the theft, no prosecution followed, and
the young man, leaving the town, had
lived down his past and become useful,
reputable citizen.
The sleuth hurried to the capital with
his Information, and the man was given
his choice; vote for the bill and nothing
would be said Of his early misstep; vote
against it, and the sworn facts would be
published broadcast He did not have
the moral courage to face the test, and
voted AYE .
We had another case II some ways
similar to the one | have cited but the.
man in the case was built of different
material, The emissaries OF the inter-
ests which we're trying TO put through
8 Doodle bill laid Eefore this man affi-
daFfts which related in detail the his
tory Of crime ne mad committed when
a young, inexperienced. headstrong
man. He listened attentiYely to the
reading Of the affidavits, then saying:
I will let you know how will vote ii
an hour. left the room Within the
promised time he sent back a note,
which, ~ substance, read as follows:
What you read me is correct IN every
particular-you didn't have to swear to
it. | shall vote no on your bill, and.
you can publish every word you read me.
but il you do, will shoot each one Of
you on sight and, as your affidavit shows,
when [ shoot, I shoot to KILL
He voted mo" in such a loud. def
ant tone that it attracted attention, but
the men who made affidavit to the fact
that he once had killed his man, burned
the papers. and kept their counsel. The
man himself told a few Of us. about the
affair, and the efforts of the blaekmail-
ers to force him to vote for their bill.
have cited these cases to show that
influences other than money are used
to get votes when votes are needed.
Men who want legislation enacted or
killed are not the spendthrifts which
common report says they are They
work every trick of the trade to win
votes without the payment of money.
1t is only when the boodlers in the leg
islature refuse to act on anything but a
spot cash basis that money is used. A
man can be convicted and sent to the
penitentiary for giving or receiving
money for a vote. but the lobbyist with
inpunity, can use argument. social in
finence, business pressure and even
threats Of the kind have suggested to
win the vote he covets.
Vote buyers always want to play a safe
game. That Il why they will spend
money and time to get a line on the new |
man-they may run across the skeleton
in his closet. And it often is the case
that the cost Of discovering the flaws in
a lawmakers record is greater than
would be the cost of his vote. but even |
the hardened, cynical vote buyer breads
the penftentiary-