The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-08
PLOT AGAINST BALLOT REFORM
D-CADY HBRRIGK SAYS THERE'S
A COMBINATION IN ALBANY
To sidetFack n ptiOn Bills for Drastic
Insurance Legislation and Fool the
PubIc-RefOFmers Entertained at City
'CIub-R. Fulton Cutting Speaks.

PubUc-RefOFmers Entertained at City
Club-R. Fulton Cutting Speaks.
That q combination had been formed
among the politicians at Albany to take
advantage Of the insurance agitation to
smother all the measures aimed to purify
the ballot and prevent the use OF money at
the polls was the charge made by former
Judge D-Cady Herriok at the City Clubs
electoral reform dinner last night, Judge
Herrick said that the insurance legislation
had better 90 by the board than that the
ballot reform and corrupt practices bills
should perish, but ex-Mayor Seth Low,
who Is associated with him in the move
ment, differed with him In this respect.
He was for the insurance bills first.
The dinner was rendered to the delegates
who have been here for two days attending
the National Civic F~ederation's conference
on ballot reform. r. Fulton Cutting was
POSTMASTER. With him at the guests
table were Judge Herrick, Josiah Quincy,
Seth Low, Congressman A. W. Terrell OF
| Texas, John E. Parsons, Richard q. Dana,
| Walter L. Fisher and Robert Luce. The
large dining room Of the club was filed.
Mr. Cutting, as Q preliminary to the
| speeches, eaid that se~ctionalism and bitter
ness Of party spirit had passed away now.
To-day he said, "the terms Republican
and Democrat have ceased to have any
meaning practically. The people want
q better form Of expressing their judgmen
at the polls
Mr.. Cutting said that one thing was
necessary and that was to get rid in our
political life Of class affiliations. Capt
%talists,' said he, 'deplore the stealing Of
franchises, and yet when dividends are
threatened they are not found opposing
such things. 1t Ia the same with trades
unions. Both the capitalist and the trades
unionist have got to get rid Of these class
affiliations and stand up and speak out
for the truth. There are more men every
day who are not ~atisfed with the party
emblem and want hereafter to express
their intelli gence.'
Judge Herrick said that while there were
many present from other parts of the
country he desired to oonfine his remarks
entirely to New York State. Continuing,
he said:
The reforms that we are ali interested in
that we have been working at for some time
are now in great danger Of failure. Our
demand for a reform of the ballot. our de-
mand for a law to prevent the corruption Of
the ballot box laws-which / regard as the
most important that have been before the
Legislature In y~ears-these proposed laws
! are In great dan ger. 1t seems to some that
the questions that have come up through the
summer and fall, and the results Of wi loh
are embodied in the insurance Investigation
and report. are In danger Of sidetracking the
very much larg question in which you and
/ are interested.
There Is no denying the fact that the poll
| tloians Of your party and Of my party'do not
desire a reform of the ballot laws. and they
think that they can get over 1t II they pass
some drastic insurance laws that every one
will talk about. That Is our danger. / do
not desire to deplore Insurance reform, but
II any proposed laws go down it is better
those than the ones We are Interested in.
The disclosures made In the insurance in
vestigation will have the effect Of preventing
q recurrence of these wrongs. at least for a
WHILE. SO that If anything is to be postponed
1 say It would be much better for the people
OF the State OF New York that the insurance
lie ~gislatlon fall than these matters In which
We are so int rested.
Judge Herrick said that he was one OF
ballot law. Experience on the bench, he
said, had In a few years made him see what
q mistake it was.
Il regard 1t now" he said. "as the most
vicious and worst law in our time"
o. SuTsS a H lsw liks we ebst On Of v Ta say fhss ne
and then talked about the corrupt practices
act. He said the prime feature Of this,
and one which had stirred up the politicians
the most, was that it punished the party
shown that laws which simply punished
individuals with fine or imprisonment
were failures. He went on:
There are always men ready to take q
chance with these. There Is a certain feeling
! Of loyalty among those that have the knowl>
edge that prevents them from exposing their
political adversarles. so that very few people
have the information and these refrain from
giving 1t, 90 what Is to be done2
While you and | as candid tes have es-
capped the vulRarlty and the indency of the
use Of money In this way perhaps, vet we
have contributed money 10 organizations,
and we have known 1t is going 10 be dis
tributed. Morally. we're all guilty. Reach
the men higher up. and not the poor fellows
who pay II or receive II. The men higher
up are the candidates and the political or
CARNATIONS that expend the money for them.
Mr.. Herrick described how the law would
reach these by FORGETTING the votes cast
in any election district where bribery was
shown and depriving the right of an organi-
cation of the use Of it's emblem in the case
Of primary frauds.
sThey say it's too drastic" continued
Judge Herrick. "Too drasticl Is anybody
to be injured by 1t who has not resorted
to dishonesty They say a man can come
up and spend money in behalf Of another
man he wants to defeat. Imay steal money
and put it in your pocket-put up a job
on you-but 1 never heard instances Of this
used az a serious argument against the
law Furnishing a man for stealing,
there is no law of such tfanscendent
importance as this, and yet they are trying
to defeat it. 1t is q law to prevent candi-
dates for Offices high and low from pur-
chasing elections for a price and to prevent
the further teaching of immigrants that our
grand American citizenship is simply some-
thing 10 be sold on election day, to teach
them that il is above price and ought not
to be put on the auction block
Judge Herriok's speech aroused a great
deal Of cheering. When it subsidized, MIR.
Cutting called upon ex-Mayor Low. Mr..
Low said that he and Judge Herrick, while
differing politically. did not differ one iota
on the corrupt practices matter.
But" said he Il must say that I regard
the insurance measures and our bill as
part of the same movement. What We
are trying to do is to reduce the power Of
money In elections. I believe that nothing
has been proposed more full Of promise
in this direction than these very insurance
bills. / don't think that they are enough
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