New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-18
SNAIL MARYLAND BE GoEBELIzED'

1o++er which we print elsewhere III 'iiiS
iee,,o throws some light on the methous anu P''-
noses Of the Democratic managers "no az ~
ING to Goebelize the election system III W. !
Iend IT was Mr. Goebels belleI tnaI So ioi7
bo conId control the election machinery coulI'
tho ballots and pass on the ellglOllIS vi "o"t
he voters il mattered very httle "ne'Heh 10
nolicies were sound or unsOund, popul"t VI u,
ron,,Ior He thought both time and trouble couid
be saved by conducting the sta'e 49,,
on close corpora ton principles. he was pre-
nared IN relieve the people of all buroensoh'e
noIiticaI RESPONSIBILITIES. The Maryland ma
chine leaders are equally generous ana sen
sacrificing. They purpose TO estaolsh Iesllii
under which qualification for the suffrage Is W
he determined by guessing contest process, the
RIGHT 70 award the would-be voter Dlahk pe-
ing vested with partisan election oodru WHICH
might feel moved to disfranchise him merely pe-
cause IT did not like his looks or MS accent
The electorate is to be made as exclusive as
possible, Ancestry is to be set up as a test ol
privilege: and the unfortunates without an
cas+ors" are expected to resign themselves to
heino treated as political half breeds and citt-
Zens on sufferance.
Our Baltimore correspondent calls attention to
the progress already made toward the Demo
cratic ideal of suffrage restriction. In num-
Der of counties in Eastern and Southern Mary
land a law has already been put in force Win
the avowed intention of discriminating against
Republican voters The official ballot in these
counties has been so manipulated as to confuse
one class of voters and to aid another Voting
the Democratic ticket is made easy, and voting
the Republican ticket is made puzZling by irreG-
ularities in arrangement and the abolition OF
the party devices allowed to be retained in
other counties. Election boards have been
vested with added powers. and the old system
Of trickery, obstruction and unfairly applied
tests, abolished by the reform election law of
1895, has been partly re-established. II the
proposed constitutional amendment is carried,
control Of elections will again be vested in the
partisan agents of the Democratic ring, and
popular rule will be again suspended.
Decided as are the advantages assured to the
machine under the inequitable Wilson law, wa
do not think that the people Of Maryland will
sanction a surrender of the power they now
enjoy TO a voting syndicate Of Democratic poll
ticans. This is bad year for the boss and the
manipulation, for public feeling is intensely alive
to the mischief done in our politics by leaders
who have substituted machine rule for genuine
popular government. Voters everywhere are
aroused to the betrayals Of public trust to which
machine rule inevitably leads, and in no
mood to transfer their rights to political 60
betweens and dictatOrs. Recent events in New
ark and Philadelphia have emphasized this ten
dency. and in our opinion Baltimore is ripe for
a similar revolt against the domination of the
professional politicians. A fair and equal ballot
is one of the essential safeguards Of popular
rule, and the people of Maryland will doubtless
see to it that they are not stripped Of this
weapon of defence by group of covetous and
designing political conspirators