The Washington herald., 1906-11-18

voters TO come to the polls" and then.
almost in the same breath. asserted that
It was great pity that such should be
the case.
! Mr.. jackson .professed to believe, how
ever. that the present anti-bribery move
ment in Maryland is the result OF mere
newspaper agitation" as he called it.
and said with vehemence that he did not
care what the newspapers printed in their
/ columns.
They are saying, Mr. jackson" he
was told, that you spent fabulous sums
buying your election in the First dis
trict"
They are. eh? Well. they don't know
anything about it. Neither do you. and,
what is more you are not going to know.
/ It costs money to be elected down there,
and that is no mistake. l spent consid-
/ erebIe money. and so did the other fell
/ low. However, they can't prove that I
bought solitary vote. so what I spent
/ IS nobody's business but my own
/ Then you did not buy a solitary vote?"
/ he was asked.
! Not one, was the reply, but the speak
er went on to qualify his statement. Il
I Olu bIJClu 4 itii st EdNtpA4BA AliiN RIL
/ tho money in the hands Of a few Of my
/ friends. and how they spent it I cannot
say Of my own certain knowledge"
DO you think vote-buying is legiti-
mater"
NO, I do not But when the other
/ fellow Is spending his money. and it Is
certain that unless you do the same you
are going to be defeated, what are you
going to do?'
The constantly recurring question.
What are you going to do?'' seemed 10
epitomize Mr. Jackson's political philoso-
/ ply. He does not look upon himself as a
corrupt!onlst at all. His attitude OF mind
as he gave expression to #, is merely that
/ he fights the other side with its own tools
only he essays to fight harder. If hard
cash is the sinews of war, then his barrel
opens wide, and he seeks to outspend his
opponent He said as much in almost
those words.
'Mr Jackson" the Congressman-elect
was asked, ARE you willing to come out
openly and declare yourself solidly
against bribery and vote-buying in all of
its forms?"
"Yes, sir" he said, Il am. As said
before. I do not believe in buying votes,
whether il is with money or with whisky
"a means our Democratic friends are fond
Of employing-Or with anything else ma
teriaI
'But"--and here he Strengthened him
self in his chair and his eyes twinkled
with merriment-'I am net making prom
ises. / won't put any too much faith in
| the agreement of the party leaders Of the
other side not TO use undue Influence with
| the voters, for l have had plenty of eX-
peTience with them already. You agree to
something, and they agree. What do they
do? Just as sOcn as they see It to be to
their. advantage they forget about their
/ promises and turn around and spend ali
the money that they can get their hands
on.
Mr.. Smith spent plenty. of money this
year, but he did not get elected. Why
did he not? Because we carried the fight
right into the enemy's country We made
our great stand right in his own county
| Caroline-and the result was that he car
rjed it by only twenty-seven votes. They
did not catch US sleeping, you see," and
Mr.. Jackson laughed heartily at the
! reminiscence.
What would you suggest as remedy
for this evii?" was the next question.
do you favor stringent legislation
against this sort Of thing2"
| Legislation, nor Mr.. Jackson thun-
dered. 1T wouldn't do a bit of good.
We have law that says Thou shalt not
steal but men steal just the same. and
/ -rrH 3